Glazed & Confused

Been glazed and confused for so long it's not true.

Wanted a carrot, never bargained for you.

Lots of people cook and few of them know, 

soul of a veggie was created below.

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A solid glazing technique is essential to any cook's culinary arsenal.  At the most basic level, a glaze consists of three major components: a sugar, a fat, and a liquid.  The key player on this team is the sugar.  As the liquid evaporates, the sugar starts to caramelize, resulting in an smooth sexy sheen.  The fat molecules stabilize the glaze by providing some much needed lubrication.  Beware -- if you apply a glaze too soon into the cooking process, there is a good chance the liquid will completely evaporate, the fat will render and the sugars will "over-caramelize".  Try to keep the total cook time around 15 minutes.  

A glaze can be sweet or savory -- rudimentary or complex.  You can go hog wild w/ some fish sauce, Worcestershire, and rose jam or keep is simple w/ some sugar, chicken stock and olive oil. Let's start slow.

Glazed Carrots

1 quart carrots, chopped & blanched*

1 tsp salt

1 TBS sugar

1 TBS vincotto

1 TBS olive oil

2 cups chicken stock

1. combine all ingredients in a 12-inch saute pan.  bring to a boil, reduce to a vigorous simmer.  cook down for 10-15 minutes, long enough for liquid to evaporate and sugar to sheen. 

* to blanch carrots -- cut into equal sized chunks, place in a pot w/ cold water and a pinch of salt.  bring to a complete boil, kill the heat, drain the carrots and allow to cool at room temperature on a half sheet tray.

© 2011 c. c. villani @ "mission: insatiable - http://www.missioninsatiable.com