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
