Italian · Dessert
Semifreddo al Caffè
- Intermediate
- 30 min
- roughly 2 of 4 for cost
- Vegetarian
Leads with richness that coats and comforts.
Ingredients
- 6 egg yolks
- 180 g caster sugar
- 60 ml water
- 1 g fine salt
- 500 ml double cream, cold
- 90 ml espresso, strong and cold
- 20 ml dark rum
- 80 g amaretti biscuits, roughly crushed
The skills inside
Allergen screen
Found: gluten · dairy · egg · alcohol
Screened for: gluten, dairy, egg, nuts, peanuts, fish, shellfish, molluscs, soy, sesame, celery, mustard, lupin, alcohol. Not screened: sulphites.
Screened by keyword from the ingredient list, not reviewed by a person; check every label for what the list cannot show.
Method
- Boil the sugar and water without stirring to 118C (245F), the soft ball stage.
- Whisk the syrup into the yolks and salt in a heatproof bowl, set it over simmering water and cook to 82C (180F), whisking constantly, then take it off and whip 8 minutes to 10 minutes until pale, thick and cool to the touch. 8 min
- Whisk in the cold espresso and rum, whip the cream to soft peaks, and fold the cream through in two additions, keeping as much air as you can.
- Fold in half the amaretti, scrape into a lined 2 litre terrine, cover the surface and freeze at least 6 hours. 360 min
- Turn out, slice with a warmed knife and scatter the remaining amaretti over.
How to tell it is going right
This dish has no standard of its own yet. It is judged on the technique it exercises: checked at the pan, while there is still something to be done about it.
Whipping a meringue 40 recipes
- Bowl and whisk are clean and dry with no trace of fat or yolk. Grease prevents the foam outright, and there is no recovering a bowl that had it partway through.
- The sugar went in gradually once the whites were already foaming, rather than all at once at the start.
- No grit: a little rubbed between finger and thumb feels smooth, so the sugar has dissolved into the foam rather than sitting in it.
- Stiff peaks means the tip stands with a slight bow when the whisk lifts, and the bowl can be tipped without the mass moving in it.
- Glossy and smooth rather than chalky or dull, with no liquid gathering underneath it in the bowl.
Where it goes wrong It was whipped past stiff peaks. A minute beyond glory the protein network tightens and tears, the foam turns grainy and matte, water weeps out beneath it, and folding that into anything gives a mixture that collapses on the way to the oven.
At the Table
- The Pour
- Sauternes
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The sweetness rule is absolute: the pour must be sweeter than the plate, and acid keeps it from cloying.
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