Ingredients Matter....no particular recipe on this blog.
I've been absent for a while because of one thing or another....holidays, work, being super lazy, etc. However, I'll be gearing up to make some fantabulous Italian cookies for weddings and thought I would share some of my own personal preferences for ingredients because....igredients matter!
I've had a conversation with friends on why recipes seem to flop for some people while the same recipe is a success for others. There can be a lot of reasons but sometimes it comes down to ingredients. I try not to cut corners on using the best ingredients I can find or make.
Quality of ingredients is key to making anything taste better. This doesn't mean you have to overspend on a budget. In fact, I think you might even save a few bucks if you have the time to invest in making some of your own fresh ingredients. I totally get that some people have neither the time nor the budget for 'extra special' ingredients all the time so just go for it with whatever you have to work with. But, on special occasions you might want to splurge to take something from ordinary to extraordinary.
There are a few ingredients that I'm getting picky about so I'll give you some of my own observations and opinions:
Ricotta: Most of the plastic containers of ricotta in the store contain 'gums' as stabilizers. If you're not going to bake with them, they taste OK but if you decide to use them for anything that you're baking, they can get watery as the gums breakdown. I have no idea on the chemistry here but they don't hold their form. So, if you have watery lasagna, the type of ricotta you use can be one of the big culprits. If you want to invest in ricotta that doesn't have these additives, it's not cheap. However, if you can afford to take 30 minutes of time out of your day, you can easily make a ricotta that is not only cheaper than even the inferior gummy ricotta but tastes so much better. There's a recipe in this blog that you can use. If you play around with it, you can tweak the flavor and texture to your perfect custom blend.....add salt to the final product, use lemon juice instead of vinegar for a slightly different flavor, cook at the lower heat for creamier version (lower volume)...or drain it a little longer for drier texture.....the tweaks are up to you based on what you're making. There are two products that come out of that simple heating of whole milk....the ricotta cheese curds and the liquid whey. This liquid is a great thing to substitute for water or broth when you're making cream soups, cakes, etc. It tastes delicious in cream based soup. Anyone with a serious lactose intolerance won't be eating ricotta but I will caution anyone with even a slight to moderate intolerance that this whey stuff is bad news so throw it away. For anyone else, it's delicious. Cheese has much less lactose than other dairy because it starts by separating the big bad lactose whey protein from the cheese curd. Although some cheeses still have small amounts of lactose, this liquid residue from making cheese can be pure poison for some of us with moderate lactose intolerance. I've learned that the hard way!
Flours: OK....gluten is an important ingredient in making pastas, pastries, pizzas. Under normal circumstances, you can use King Arthur, Pillsbury or any of the normal store brands. However, flours made in the US are from genetically modified wheat. This is one of the main culprits to anyone who has noticed that they might have a reaction or intolerance to 'gluten'. I noticed that when I ate bread products in the US, I would get bloated, achy and feel lethargic. I swore off most gluten for a while and only cheated for special reasons. When I was in Italy, I ate pasta and bread with gusto and it didn't bother me. I finally researched it enough to find out that most of the Italian grocery brands of flours and pastas were made with the readily available 'Caputo' brand of flours.....which are NOT genetically modified. It's more expensive than normal flour but you can order it on Amazon. You can substitute Caputo 00 flour for all of the recipes that I have in this blog. They make a few different varieties but the 00 is a good alternative to 'all purpose'. I think the finer texture of the flour creates a better product but unless you're gluten intolerant, I'm not sure it's worth that extra investment. For anyone who has less tolerance to gluten, you might want to experiment with Caputo. I still don't overindulge in bread products. A little of a good thing is a good thing. It's reassuring to know that I can use Caputo to enjoy pastries, pastas and pizza on occasion and not feel like I've been poisoned the next day with a gluten reaction. If you're CELIAC...Caputo 00 is not 'gluten free' so stay away!!! However, they do make a gluten free version that I haven't tested.
Butter: Growing up in the US has meant that most of us have grown up on Land O'Lakes or store brands of butter. In some grocery stores, you are starting to see Kerrigold or French 'cultured' brands of butter. Anyone who has spent extra on these butters knows that the volume of butter has more fat and less liquid hidden in that brick. I made the mistake of buying Kirkland butter at Costco and wanted to throw it away. The volume of water that came out of it when I tried to cook anything was disappointing. In shifting to unsalted Kerrigold, I found a vast improvement in flavor and searing power. You might be paying less for Kirkland but because it has more water content, a lot of it evaporates when cooked and it seems to steam food instead of sear it. Making your own butter is another option and it's super easy. It's something that most cooks have done when they've turned their backs on a mixer while whipping cream. Ooops.....water and clumps of butter. I've now learned that simply leaving quality cream out overnight can make an even more delicious form of 'cultured' butter. Apparently, it has that more interesting depth of flavor like French butters (which are twice as expensive as Kerrigold Irish sweet cream butter). I'll be testing this butter making approach when I redo one of my Italian pastry recipes. However, for those of you who don't want to 'churn' their own butter using their mixer or blender, if you can afford to use Kerrigold, I think it's worth it. Just make sure you get the unsalted variety for baking. If you want more salt, add it separately.
Eggs: I love Costco and the big box stores for a lot of things...but not for butter or eggs. I want the yolks to be yellow. Organic, or better yet, cage free eggs have a much better flavor when scrambled so I know they have an impact on the flavor of anything else they're used in.....pasta, cakes, cookies, etc.
Olive Oil: There are lots of personal preferences when it comes to olive oils....especially depending on what you're using it for. Extra Virgin is my 'go to' oil for sauteing most vegetables or for making salad dressings. I don't buy anything but extra virgin...and I test different brands all the time to find one that isn't liquid gold but still has a lot of great flavor without being bitter. I own one or two versions of liquid gold for very special salads or dipping sauces but wouldn't think of cooking with it at the volume I go through in a month.....it's a matter of being practical at some point! However...it's good to have that special stuff around for drizzling on a bowl of soup...wouza!!!!
Mozzarella: I've completely dissed Costco on a couple of things so I'm making it up to them on the Belgioioso brand of fresh mozzarella that they sell in the cheese section at most of their stores. Other grocery stores carry Belgioiosi.....but at a higher cost. Their other packaged brands are generally like rubber. I've tried making mozzarella once...and will probably give it a shot again but I don't think I can make it cheaper or better than this Belgioioso brand. That brings up the choice to use whole milk vs. skim. I just don't use skim for anything. I used to think that it was healthier until someone told me that skim products try to trick the body chemistry and it can backfire. I have no idea if this is true but I'm going to believe it because I like 'fatted' stuff better. In fact, I don't skimp on using the right fats for the right result...and that includes Lard when it's called for.
Spices: I have an entire large drawer in my kitchen dedicated to carefully organized spices in exactly the same sized jars. I'm totally obsessed with my spices. I buy the best spice I can afford. Some brands can be much more expensive than others but sometimes it's worth taste testing because a pinch of one can be more effective than a tablespoon of another. We have a local spice store in our town. It's a great option when I need something special. They have about 10 different types of cinnamon as an example. If you don't have a good spice store, check out Penzeys online store. Because spices are such an important way to flavor everything we cook, experiment with a few brands and see if you have a preference.
Cooking with wine: This is a fun one because you sometimes have a great excuse to open a nice bottle while you're cooking. We love wine in our family and I've come to respect the difference between good and bad wine. However, you don't need to cook with expensive wines. That doesn't mean you can cook with crap. Never ever use wines labeled as 'cooking wines'....or 'cooking sherry'. A much better alternative is to keep a few small box wines in your pantry. If we have dinner parties, I sometimes have leftover bottles of wines that aren't great to drink after a day or two. I look for recipes to use them up but I've never noticed a huge difference in using these really good wines vs. decent box wines when I'm making a basic sauce. Just don't mix red for white or vice versa...or sweet for dry. A really good use for leftover wine or box wine is to make wine biscuits. I'll have to include that recipe soon. I've used every variation of wine in these biscuits and they are all good.
I've said this before, while some of the above ingredients matter, the most important ingredient you put into anything you make is the love that goes into the preparation for special family and friends.
If you're adventuresome, you can really take cooking to new levels with a little extra effort. Give it shot for a special occasion.
Buona Mangiata!
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