N is for Nap and Newburg

N is for Nap and Newburg

Short entry today. Both N words are pretty straightforward. There are harder N words I could have chosen, but I decided not to, so nectar will show up in blog post later this year. But I do have an N recipe for you at the end of the post!

Nap is a verb in the food world. Its etymology, however, is from the French (naturellement!) noun, nappe, meaning “tablecloth.” In keeping with its etymology when you nap a food, you completely cover it with a thin, even sauce layer. You could nap ice cream with chocolate sauce or cover your chicken piccata with caper sauce. To nap means the food is totally covered.

If you’re lucky enough to have dined on lobster Newburg, you’re lucky enough! (To paraphrase an expression)

Newburg is a sauce that got named a style of food. Traditionally, Newburg is dish of chopped shellfish (crab, shrimp, or lobster) in a white sauce with a butter, cream, egg yolks, sherry, nutmeg, and cayenne pepper emulsion. This one is not for already-high cholesterol folks! Again, traditionally, Newburg is served over buttered toast.

There are variations--there are always variations--of Newburg sauce, but try the classic version before others. It is still my favorite.

As a caution, when making your Newburg sauce, add the sherry right before serving so the full flavor comes through. Oh, and do you like Eggs Benedict? Try it à la Newburg sauce instead of your Hollandaise. Bet you won’t go back!

Here’s the N recipe! Just created these for DH, and he loves them. Two-bite desserts are a big favorite in my home!

Nutty Caramel Chocolate Cream Cheese Pielets (about 2½ dozen)

2 pie crusts

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

¼ cup caramel sauce

¼ cup mini chocolate chips

¼ cup pecans, chopped fine

Preheat oven to 375°.

Cut pie crusts into 30 circles. (I use my Pampered Chef Cut-and-Seal)

Blend cream cheese, caramel sauce, chocolate chips, and nuts thoroughly.

Place a heaping teaspoon of cream cheese mixture down the middle of the pastry circles. Fold over to make half circles. Crimp with the edge of the crescent.

Bake on ungreased cookie sheet for about 16-18 minutes or until golden brown. Cool and eat. Refrigerate leftovers.

Five (or Six) Mother Sauces--a primer

French cuisine is noted for its sauces; rich, varied, and interesting, all of them. When my friend, Lee, asked me to explain them, I came up with this. This is kind of complex, but I think I have distilled it to something understandable and not overwhelming.

The five Mother Sauces are the base sauces upon which hundreds of other sauces are created (those variants are called "small sauces").

Escoffier named them (a huge food guy in the early 20th century who modified a 19th century guy's list of four sauces). Rarely do you see the Mother Sauce used. More commonly served is a variant, a “small sauce.”

Mayonnaise is a small sauce for the Mother Sauce, Hollandaise; Mornay (using Gruyère) is a small sauce for the Mother Sauce, Bechamel; Bordelaise is a small sauce for Espagnole, and so on.

The five Mother Sauces are:
Béchamel (milk base thickened with a white roux)
Espagnole (brown stock base (typically veal) with a brown roux)
Velouté(white stock base with a blond roux)
Tomate (tomato base with roux)
Hollandaise (egg yolks, butter, and an acid like lemon juice or vinegar)

Some have added an oil and vinegar sauce, Vinaigrette

As an FYI, a roux is melted fat, often butter, with incorporated wheat flour, cooked until the flour has no raw taste. Interestingly, the darker the roux, the less thickening power it has!

On a whimsical note, one of the upcoming titles in my culinary mystery series is Roux the Day!