Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well (70 page)

The name is pretentious, but not wholly unmerited.

150 grams (about 5-1/4 ounces) of powdered sugar

100 grams (about 3 1/2 ounces) wheat flour

50 grams (about 1-2/3 ounces) of potato flour

80 grams (about 2-2/3 ounces) of sultanas

20 grams (about 2/3 of an ounce) of candied fruit

5 eggs

a dash of lemon zest

2 tablespoons rum or cognac

First put on the fire the candied fruit, chopped into pieces the size of watermelon seeds, and the sultanas with enough cognac or rum to cover them. When the liquid boils, light it with a match and let it burn, away from the fire, until all the liquor is evaporated. Then remove the sultanas and candied fruit and place them to dry between the folds of a table napkin. This done, blend the egg yolks in which you have dropped the lemon zest with the sugar, stirring the mixture vigorously with a wooden spoon for half an hour. Beat the egg whites with a whisk until stiff, and fold into the mixture; then add the wheat flour and the potato flour by sifting them over the mixture, stirring slowly and gently until completely blended. Finally, add the
sultanas, candied fruit, and two tablespoons of rum or cognac, and pour into a smooth mold or baking dish that will give the cake a high, round shape. Grease the mold with butter and dust with confectioners’ sugar and flour. Make sure to put the mold in the oven immediately after pouring the dough into it, so that the sultanas and candied fruit do not sink to the bottom. If this does happen, the next time you make the recipe leave out one of the egg whites. Serve cold.

300 grams (about 10-1/2 ounces) of Hungarian flour

150 grams (about 5-1/4 ounces) of butter

30 grams (about 1 ounce) of brewer’s yeast

20 grams (about 2/3 of an ounce) of sugar

5 grams (about 1/5 of an ounce) of salt

6 eggs

Dissolve the yeast in warm water and a quarter of the flour. Knead until it’s just the right consistency, and then shape into a small round loaf. Cut a cross onto the top of the loaf; place in a small baking pan with a film of flour on the bottom, and set aside to rise in a warm place.

Take the rest of the flour, make a hole in the middle, and put the sugar, salt, and egg in the hole. Using your fingers, mix all of this together, and then add the butter, cut into small pieces, and begin to work the dough, using first the blade of a knife and then your hands. Put the dough in a bowl so that you can work it better. When the little loaf that you set aside has become twice its original size, add it to the dough in the bowl and knead thoroughly. Add the remaining eggs one at a time. Then put the bowl in a warm, unventilated place, and when the dough has risen, divide it into pieces big enough to fill twenty small tin fluted molds halfway to the top. Before filling the molds, grease them with melted butter or lard and dust with flour mixed with confectioners’ sugar.

Let the dough rise again, gild with egg yolk, and bake in the oven or in a Dutch oven.

One day my dear departed friend Antonio Mattei from the town of Prato (of whom I will have occasion to speak again) tasted this pastry at my house and asked for the recipe. Being an industrious man, it didn’t take him long to refine and perfect the recipe and begin to sell it in his shop. Later he told me that the success of this sweet was so great that hardly a dinner was given in Prato without it being ordered. People wishing to make their way in the world are quick to grasp any opportunity to seduce Lady Fortune, who—though capricious in how she dispenses her favors—is never a friend to the idle and lazy.

120 grams (about 4-1/4 ounces) of potato flour

120 grams (about 4-1/4 ounces) of powdered sugar

4 eggs

the juice of one lemon

First, thoroughly beat the egg yolks and the sugar. Add the flour and lemon juice and work for more than half an hour. Lastly, beat the egg whites and fold them into the rest of the ingredients; but do so gently, so that they don’t go flat. Pour the mixture into a smooth round mold or an appropriately sized baking pan, greased with butter and dusted with confectioners’ sugar mixed with flour, and place immediately in the oven. Let cool, then remove from the mold and sprinkle with vanilla confectioners’ sugar.

170 grams (about 6 ounces) of flour

170 grams (about 6 ounces) of sugar

150 grams (about 5-1/4 ounces) of butter

50 grams (about 1-2/3 ounces) of sweet almonds and pine nuts

1 whole egg

4 egg yolks

lemon zest

Using a wooden spoon, thoroughly beat the eggs with the sugar in a bowl. Then add the flour a little bit at a time, continuing to stir. Lastly, add the butter, which you have melted over a
bain-marie
. Put
the mixture in a baking pan greased with butter and dusted with confectioners’ sugar mixed with flour or bread crumbs. Garnish with the almonds and pine nuts.

Cut the pine nuts crosswise in two, and after blanching the almonds in hot water, split them in two lengthwise and then cut them crosswise into four or five pieces. Make sure that the cake isn’t more than a finger and a half high; otherwise it won’t dry properly in the oven, which should be kept at a moderate temperature.

Let the cake cool and sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar before serving. It will be greatly enjoyed.

I’m going to give you two different recipes for almond cake, because after I saw a professional chef make the first one, I decided to modify the recipe to make a better looking, more delicate cake.

120 grams (about 4-1/4 ounces) sweet almonds with a few bitter almonds, blanched

170 grams (about 6 ounces) powdered sugar

70 grams (about 2-1/3 ounces) candied fruit

60 grams (about 2 ounces) butter

lemon zest

Make some dough with two eggs and some flour, and cut it into strips the same width as the noodles you would use in soup.

In a corner of the pastry board, make a pile with the almonds, sugar, scraped lemon zest, and candied fruit, cut into small pieces. Using a mezzaluna and a rolling pin, chop and crush all of these ingredients until they have been reduced to the size of grains of wheat. Then take a copper baking pan and, without greasing it or adding anything else, place a layer of strips of dough in the middle (if the baking pan is big) and cover them with the above ingredients. Then make another layer of strips and cover. Repeat until you’ve used up all the ingredients and have a round cake that’s at least two fingers high. Once this is done, pour melted butter over the cake, using a brush to cover the surface thoroughly and to ensure that the butter penetrates the whole cake evenly.

Bake in the oven or in a Dutch oven. Actually, if you want to save on coal, you can use just the lid of the Dutch oven. Sprinkle generously with confectioners’ sugar while, still hot. Let cool before serving.

Make a shortcrust pastry
⁹⁷
dough with the following ingredients:

170 grams (about 6 ounces) of flour

70 grams (about 2-1/3 ounces) of sugar

60 grams (about 2 ounces) of butter

25 grams (about 4/5 of an ounce) of lard

1 egg

Use some of the shortcrust pastry dough to make a layer the thickness of a coin on the bottom of a copper baking pan 20 or 21 (about 7-3/4 or 8-1/4 inches) centimeters in diameter (grease the pan with butter first). On top of the layer of pastry, pour a marzipan made with the following ingredients:

120 grams (about 4-1/4 ounces) of sweet almonds and three bitter almonds, blanched

100 grams (about 3-1/2 ounces) of sugar

15 grams (about 1/2 an ounce) of butter

15 grams (about 1/2 an ounce) of candied orange

1 egg yolk

Crush the almonds with the sugar in a mortar. Add the candied orange cut into small pieces, and blend in the butter, egg yolk, and a tablespoon of water. Using the rest of the shortcrust pastry, make a circle of dough. Dip your finger in water, and attach the circle of pastry all around the edges of the baking pan. Spread the marzipan evenly in the baking pan and cover it with a layer half a finger high of small strips of dough. The strips should be thin so that they look like decoration, not like the bottom of the cake. Using a brush, cover the strips of dough with 20 grams of melted butter. Bake in the oven at a moderate temperature. Cut ten grams of candied citron into small pieces and sprinkle over the cake after it’s done; then sprinkle the cake with vanilla confectioners’ sugar. Serve a day or two after cooking, because the cake gets softer and more delicate with time.

Use one egg and the appropriate amount of flour to make the dough for the strips, though you will actually use only half of the strips this amount of dough will yield.

This tasty, delicate pastry cake was recommended to me by a man from Venice, a true gentleman.

120 grams (about 4-1/4 ounces) of potato flour

120 grams (about 4-1/4 ounces) of confectioners’ sugar

4 eggs

5 grams (about 1/5 of an ounce) of cream of tartar

3 grams (about 1/10 of an ounce) of baking soda

lemon zest

First mix the egg yolk with the sugar, add the potato flour, and blend with a wooden spoon. Then pour in the melted butter, and lastly the beaten egg whites and the other dry ingredients. Use a baking pan small enough so that the cake will be two fingers high. Grease the pan with butter and dust with flour mixed with sugar. You can bake it at home in a Dutch oven.

Make a shortcrust pastry dough using half of the ingredients from recipe 589 A.

Make a custard with the following ingredients:

4 deciliters (about 1 -2/3 cups) of milk

60 grams (about 2 ounces) of sugar

3 egg yolks

a dash of vanilla

Take 100 grams of sponge cake and cut it into slices half a centimeter thick. Grease a medium-sized copper baking pan with butter and cover the bottom with a layer of the shortcrust pastry dough. Cover this layer all around the edges with a border of the same dough, one finger wide and two fingers high. Dip your finger in water and moisten the pastry around the edges to make it stick better.

After you’ve finished lining the pan, cover the dough on the bottom with half of the slices of sponge cake, which you’ve sprinkled with citron cordial.
⁹⁹
Now use a whisk to beat two of the three egg whites left over from the custard; when they’ve become stiff, add 130 grams of confectioners’ sugar a little at a time and blend gently to make the meringue to cover the surface of the cake. Leave the border of dough uncovered and gild it with egg yolk. Bake in the oven or in a Dutch oven, and when the meringue has become firm, cover it with a sheet of paper so that it doesn’t become discolored.

Remove the cake from the pan after it has cooled, and sprinkle lightly with confectioners’ sugar. People who don’t object to very sweet things will find this cake delicious.