DO-IT-YOURSELF CRÈME FRAÎCHE: AN EASTER WEEKEND STAPLE $0--&$5*7*5 r$0..6/*5:
ANDREW COPPOLINO andrewcoppolino@gmail.com
When slightly warm, transfer the cream- buttermilk mixture into a clean glass bowl, cover with a clean kitchen towel and let stand at room temperature, or warmer, for at least 24 hours and until the concoction gets quite thick. Stir the crème fraîche and refrigerate. Home-made crème fraîche can’t be frozen very well, but it can be stored, tightly sealed in your refrigerator, for about 10 days. Crème fraîche is versatile While I can’t say that crème fraîche will never, ever split, it is in fact a much more stable dairy product and can withstand being incorporated at high temperatures even to the point of boiling: it resists “splitting” or separating which occurs when fats coagulate and separate from their liquid components. This quality makes crème fraîche quite versatile and suited to both sweet and savoury dishes. Consider adding a tablespoon or two to soups and sauces. But as well, its smooth and tangy taste is a great garnish to be dolloped onto fresh fruit and desserts such as cobblers, crisps, and clafoutis, the latter the fruit-and-batter dessert of the Limousin region of France. 5IFQSPDFTTGPS%*:DSÍNFGSBJDIFJTBMTP a good activity for teaching kids a bit about science in the kitchen environment. Food writer Andrew Coppolino lives in Rockland. He is the author of “Farm to Table” and co-author of “Cooking with Shakespeare.” Follow him on Instagram @ andrewcoppolino.
With Easter just around the corner, home cooks will fire up barbecues and snap on their ovens to prepare traditio- nal dishes such as roast lamb or glazed ham served with an assortment of side dishes – after the kids have polished off the treats they found during the Easter egg hunt. As you plan your menu, here’s a sugges- tion for a simple home-made condiment to garnish a creamy asparagus soup, accom- pany a side dish such as a potato galette or to be dolloped on a piece of strawberry- rhubarb pie or pineapple upside-down cake: do-it-yourself crème fraîche. This thick cream is a bit tart and tangy, is satin in texture with full and round mouthfeel and often carries a slight buttery or nutty flavour. Depending on the quality of the ingre- dients used to make it and the time allowed for it to set up, the viscosity of crème fraiche can vary from a sour cream consistency to that of something approaching margarine. Louis Pasteur had a hand in your crème fraîche As it often does, culinary history inter- twines with other, often more serious, events JOUIFXPSME/BQPMFPO GPSFYBNQMF QSFUUZ directly helped spur on developments in canning and preserving food in order to feed his marauding imperialist armies in the early 1800s. When it comes to crème fraiche, if we could easily get unpasteurized cream (which is not permitted by law) with the necessary helpful bacteria already in it, we could get crème fraîche naturally. This is where Louis Pasteur, a French microbiologist and chemist born in 1822, comes into play: as his name indicates, Pas- teur is responsible for the food-preservation process known as pasteurization (as well as helping prove the germ theory of disease and developing a vaccine for rabies). Pasteur did research in Dijon, in Burgundy in eastern France – which of course is famous for both its mustard and its wine – before moving to Lille to become the dean of the faculty of sciences. There, Professor Pasteur was primarily involved with solving the problem of beer and
La crème fraiche est un peu acidulée et piquante, sa texture est satinée, sa bouche est pleine et ronde et elle a souvent un léger goût de beurre ou de noisette. Elle s'utilise sur une variété de plats d'accompagnement comme la galette de pommes de terre ou sur une part de tarte aux fraises et à la rhubarbe. (Andrew Coppolino)
wine spoilage, a major economic concern in France in the mid-1800s. In the course of his work with dairy, howe- ver, Pasteur changed our world – and crème fraiche – forever: as everyone likely knows, our milk and cream has been pasteurized, or heated, and does not have fermenting agents in it. That’s a good thing, of course: because it has been heated to about 80-degrees C for 30 minutes and then quickly cooled, the milk has been purged of the bacteria that is responsible for typhoid fever, tuberculosis and polio. Of course, that heating also means it is stripped of some nutritive qualities and the chance to have “natural” crème fraiche. When you buy commercially-made crème fraiche, it is usually milder and less tangy than sour cream at the same time it has a higher fat content and, depending on the ingredients used to make it, may have fewer additives and stabilizers like carrageenan and locust bean gum (which many liquid dairy products have). Crème fraiche: the DIY version So, rather than buy an expensive crème fraiche from a specialty grocer, make a delicious and simple home version yourself – and maintain the safety of pasteurized dairy.
Here’s how to do it. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, add two tablespoons of buttermilk (or sour cream) to one cup of 35% heavy cream or whipping cream. Stir and warm the mixture gently. (It’s an unfortunate logistical characte- ristic of our dairy packaging, but if you can only buy buttermilk in one-litre cartons, plan to make other dishes with the remainder: perhaps cornbread, buttermilk pancakes or ranch-style salad dressing.)
Cabane à sucre Bertrand Buffet des sucres : 8 mars au 20 avril 2025 Du lundi au vendredi sur réservation pour groupe de 50 personnes et plus Samedi : Buf fet : 10h30 à 14h | 16h à 19h30 Dimanche : Déjeuner : 8h30 à 9h30 Buf fet : 10h30 à 14h Réservez tôt pour le dîner ou le souper de Pâques! • Promenade en carriole (gratuit avec le repas) • Tire sur neige • Produits d'érable sur place • Permis de la SAQ • Mini ferme gratuite • Animation le samedi et dimanche Bienvenue à tous!
La cabane à sucre : un plaisir renouvelé chaque année! D’une année à l’autre, la tradition de la cabane à sucre reconquiert le cœur des amoureux de l’érable. Les plats savoureux, l’ambiance unique, la tire sur la neige… tous ces attraits (et bien d’autres!) font de nos cabanes à sucre des emblèmes de notre héritage culturel. L’INDÉTRÔNABLE SIROP LES 1001 ACTIVITÉS Avant ou après un repas aussi copieux, il est bon de se dégourdir! La plupart des cabanes à sucre offrent des activités pour tous : tour guidé de l’érablière, danse et musique traditionnelles, visite libre de la fermette, randonnée pédestre, jeux pour enfants, etc.
Visitez le www.cabaneasucre.org et partez à la découverte des établissements sucrés de votre région!
Saviez-vous que plus de 90 % du sirop d’érable canadien produit annuellement provient du Québec? Présent dans une majorité de plats de la cabane, il est un sucre complètement naturel obtenu grâce à l’ébullition de la sève (ou eau) d’érable, dont la densité varie au cours de la saison des sucres : plus celle-ci avance, plus le sirop devient foncé et caramélisé. LES PLATS TRADITIONNELS Bien que les cabanes modernes s’efforcent d’actualiser leur menu (offre végétarienne, accords mets et vins…), certains plats demeurent incontournables. On pense entre autres à la soupe aux pois, aux fèves au lard et à l’omelette, sans oublier la délicieuse tarte au sucre ou les fameux grands-pères dans le sirop!
9500, ch Côte-des-Anges, Sainte-Scholastique (Mirabel) Pour réservation : 450-475-8557 www.cabaneasucrebertrand.ca
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs