Making Italian Panna Cotta

 Making Italian Panna Cotta. By: Vicki Riley

Panna cotta is a famous dessert from Italy. It is made with vanilla pod or vanilla flavoring, heavy cream, unflavored gelatin, white sugar and water. I would compare it to a mix between the texture of cream of coconut in the can and vanilla pudding because of the texture. Some recipes I found on how to make panna cotta mainly involves gelatin leaves or Italian fish glue/gelatin for the sticky texture. Panna cotta at times can be compared to other cultures desserts such crème brulee, or the Spanish equivalent of flan, due to the custard of it. Unlike Spanish flan and crème brulee, panna cotta is not made with eggs. Panna is cooked, and cotta is cream so basically panna cotta is cooked cream. Panna Cotta can be eaten by itself, or with fruit compote toppings if you like, such as various berries.

History:

Panna Cotta roots are mysterious, because there are many ideas of it’s origins. In many articles online it is said that panna cotta originated from Piedmont within Italy. Some say it came about in the early 1900’s, by a lady of Hungarian descent, who lived in Langhe area of Piedmont. Rumors circulate that panna cotta had been known in the region ever since the middle ages. In Piedmont, panna cotta was initially made with cream and stiffened with eggs whites instead of gelatin. Panna cotta can now be found all over Italy. The origin idea of Piedmont came about because that northern part of Italy is famous for cream. In the Piedmont region, it was unsuitable for growing olives efficiently. So people used cooking materials like butter and lard a lot, instead of oil. In order to get butter and lard, they raised cattle, hence milk and cream became abundant in the region. Therefore, that’s a reason that one of the old-fashioned sweets of the area involves lots of heavy cream.

 

The recipe that I’ll be using for my Panna Cotta is:

·      1 ½ cups Heavy Cream

·      1 ½ cups Milk

·      1 ½ cups of Domino White Sugar

·      2 tbsp. vanilla flavoring

·      1 envelope of ‘Knox’ unflavored powdered gelatin

 

       Step by step instructions.          Cooking Time: 25-30 minutes

1.      In a medium saucepan add 1 ½ cups heavy cream, 1 cup of milk, ¾ cups of sugar, and 2 tablespoons of vanilla together, and make it get to a boil.

2.      Next, with the remaining ½ cups of milk, sprinkle 1 envelope of unflavored powdered gelatin(equivalent to 1 tbsp. of gelatin)on top of the milk and let it sit for 5 minutes.

3.      Next add the gelatin mixture and ½ cup of sugar to the mixture in the medium saucepan while still boiling on medium fire.

4.      Whisk the sugar and gelatin mixture in the medium saucepan until both dissolves.

5.      Turn off the stove, and remove the mixture from the heated area. After it cools, sieve/strain the mixture into a bowl.

6.      Lastly put the mixture into small cups for shaping or it can stay in the bowl and place in the refrigerator overnight, or at least 6 hours so it can turn into a solid and be ready to eat!

 

 

 

Sources: www.thekitchn.com, www.blog.cookitaly.com, www.wišegeek.com/what-is-panna-cotta,http://blog.italian-connection.com/italian-food-culture/italian-desserts-panna-cotta-recipe-technique-and-sauces,  http://www.italian-dessert-recipes.com/panna-cotta-recipe.html, http://www.lidiasitaly.com/recipes/detail/1199, http://blog.cookitaly.com/2011/05/panna-cotta.html