This probably sounds stupid to some people. They are thinking, "Duh, grate the orange. Done." NO. It's harder than you think!
Once, when I worked at Allyson's Kitchen, I was making a big batch of soup (probably a few gallons) for the cafe. It was some sort of Curried Carrot soup- or something very similar.
Anyway, the recipe called for the zest or two oranges, and I only had one. To problem solve, I just grated that dang orange reeeeaaaaly well. I thought I was genius- I was wrong.
You know that white stuff underneath the peel? The stuff that looks like fake snow? That stuff is called pith, and it's evil. Well, not evil- it's actually healthy for you and has lots of health benefits- but it's bitter as crap.
From only one orange I ruined the entire batch of soup. One orange. No joke. I learned my lesson big time. Every cooking class I helped with after, I mentioned this story so people know what NOT to do.
So, to properly zest an orange, use a fine zester (I love my Microplane Zester that I got at Macy's for around $15. It's "grate" for cheese too... haha) and zest one layer, then pick up the zester and begin in a new spot. Don't go over spots twice, as if you were grating hard cheese. There are only a few millimeters between sweet and evil bitterness. Be careful!
There are a few recipes on my blog that you will need to zest an orange, like Orange Rosemary Shrimp and Pomegranate Cranberry Sauce. Don't worry. As long as you are careful, there's no reason to fear ruining anything:-)
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