Grated Citrus Zest

Appears in

Published 1989

About

Grated citrus zest is produced by lightly grating the fruit over the very tiny holes on a box grater or hand grater, taking care not to remove any more of the white pith than is necessary. Turning the fruit as you work so that you grate the peel in a new spot with each stroke facilitates that result (Figure 1-9).

Figure 1-9 Grating orange zest using a hand grater

Savory Recipes

The following recipes don’t really fit into any of the other chapters in this book. They are included here because, in my experience, the pastry department is usually called upon to help with the preparation and baking of such items as quiches, cheese puffs, and puff pastries like ham or cheese croissants and cheese straws. This, of course, makes sense, as these items are all variations on basic pastry doughs and products, and we usually have much better ovens in which to bake them. Also, in the old classical menus (which typically consisted of as many as 14 courses, each accompanied by the appropriate wine), a savory dish was always served between the sweet, which could be just about anything sweet that did not interfere with the dessert, and the actual dessert. Typical favorites for the sweet course were blancmange, Bavarian creams, and ices. Then a savory such as cheese straws was served, followed by the final dessert course.

Many of the puff pastry hors d’oeuvres in this chapter, such as Anchovy Sticks, Cheese Straws, Cumin Bow Ties, Ham or Cheese Croissants, and Sausage Cuts, can be made up in advance and frozen to bake as needed.