"a small thin or twisted bunch, piece, or amount of something." Oxford Languages
"something frail, slight, or fleeting" Merriam-Webster
The above picture is described as a Chinese soup of whispy beaten eggs in chicken broth, and I guess they are the nearest thing I can find to illustrate the notion of wisps with reference to food. Other than some snack foods that I found - see below:
Anyway here I go with things that are definitely slight and fleeting. Ethereal is probably not quite appropriate. Here today, gone tomorrow though - and I guess that could be applied to all food.
Cream as a sauce
"Cream is the cheapest date ever: just tip it into whatever’s left behind in the pan or the roasting dish, swirl it around with one aromatic herb and there it is – a gorgeous finish." Virginia Trioli
I actually was going to write a whole post on this topic, but decided in the end, that Virginia Trioli's quote said it all really. This was really brought home when I tried to find a suitable picture and/or dishes to illustrate and failed. This is the best I could find, from a Recipe Tin Eats recipe.
Indeed when I looked at articles on deglazing pans, very few of them talked about deglazing with cream but I really cannot see why not and I'm sure I have made many pan-fried recipes that have included a process of deglazing the pan with cream, although maybe some alcohol may have been added first, and maybe I might also have sautéed some onions or mushrooms first as well.
So I'll just leave it to Virginia and give you one recipe from Rachel Roddy for Pasta with vegetable ragu and Parmesan cream, which looks gorgeous and I'm going to try for later in the week and of which she says:
"This dish is a good reminder of how a little cream brings a little luxury"
You could add even more luxury by adding in some truffles as well, as I saw somebody do. Leave out the vegetables altogether, add ham, or fish, or substitute the vegetables for ham or fish ...
And chicken of course is the ideal candidate for such sauces with or without extras such as wine, mushrooms, capers, tomatoes even.
Brookies
This comes from this recipe in a recent Coles Magazine - Brookie ice cream sandwiches not because I fancied making them but because I had never heard of Brookies before. So I checked it out on the net and found that:
"The name brookies represents the mash-up of the two desserts: brownies and cookies. Brookies are sometimes called cookie brownies or brownie cookies, too."
Which led me to a whole host of recipes on the net - all looking slightly different, but not at all like the Coles ones which frankly just looked like chocolate cookies. 'Fudgy' was a word that was endlessly used when describing the brookie recipes that I found. But where did it come from? Well it's American of course, but I don't really think anyone knows. Zach Zimmerman on the Medium website, has an article which summarises the whole thing both from the point of view of varieties of the cookie and also origins. With no definitive conclusion on the latter.
This was a recipe from Claire Thomson in the Guardian's Feast newsletter which I rather fancied. I love prunes and don't use them enough - either in a savoury or a sweet way, and this looked like a perfect way to use them. It might be a while before I try it though.
Dubai Chocolate or' Can't Get Knafeh of it' is a milk chocolate bar filled with a creamy kataifi and pistachio mix, invented by Sarah Hamouda a British/Egyptian entrepreneur when she was pregnant. It was somehow picked up by an influencer and became a massive world-wide success, to the point that people have been arrested for smuggling it.
Lorraine Elliott of Not Quite Nigella has a recipe if you want to give it a go.
Ice and cream - not ice cream
In his latest book A Thousand Feasts, which is a series of small essays on all kinds of things I came across this remark from Nigel Slater in his piece on Whipping Cream.
"I like to pop an ice cube into the wires; it helps to keep the cream cool but also melts a little, and your result will be lighter and more airy for it."
This, of course, is only if you are whipping your cream by hand as it were, but it's sort of hard to visualise isn't it? Later on in this piece he talks about Crème Chantilly for which he also recommends ice because
"it is crucial to keep everything cool and its addition will lighten the cream to a fluff. As you whisk and feel the cream start to thicken, add a small handful of crushed ice to the bowl (about two tablespoonfuls to a 250ml pot of cream) and keep whisking. Your cream will lighten and aerate."
Somewhat pretentious? And tricky to keep the ice block in the right place I would think. Hmm.
A somewhat lackadaisical post I know. Apologies. A dull day provokes a dull brain.
YEARS GONE BY
February 18
2024 - Nothing
2023 - Entry level pleasing pickles 2022 - Nothing
2020 - The Italian tradition myth
2018 - Dripping then and now
What is a Wil of the Wisp between freinds! Certainly not as delicious as half a Brookie - all that my health conscience soul will permit. 🤣