Chilling to firm: the fridge as binder

How to tell it is going right

• It went cold before it was handled any further, and it went in spread flat and covered rather than as a warm mass that insulates its own centre.
• It is cold through rather than cold at the edge: tested at the middle it is as firm as it is at the rim.
• It holds its shape unsupported; it can be cut, portioned, rolled or lifted without slumping, tearing, or sticking to the hands.
• The fat in it has gone solid: it feels firm and waxy to the fingers rather than greasy and yielding.
• It survives the step it was chilled for, going into heat or a coating or a mould still holding its form rather than collapsing the moment it is touched.

Where it goes wrong It was given twenty minutes instead of the hours it needed, so it is firm at the rim and soft at the core: it slumps out of shape as it is portioned, and everything made from it spreads or breaks apart in the pan.