Tag: holes

Cheese with holes strengthens the immune system – Italian Cuisine

According to the results of a research, Emmentaler Dop helps our defenses thanks to a fatty acid that is formed during its processing

Our health also passes by food since there are foods that act in a beneficial way on the body by helping the immune system. And one of them would be Emmentaler Dop, the Swiss cheese with holes. To prove this, a study recently published by Agroscope, the Swiss Confederation's Competence Center for Agronomic Research, affiliated with the Federal Office of Agriculture.

Because Emmenthaler Dop helps the immune system

Emmentaler AOP naturally contains a high percentage of propionic acid, a short-chain fatty acid that is formed during the cheese processing phase during which the typical “holes” are created. Now scientific research has shown that an increase in the content of short-chain fatty acids such as acetic acid, but also propionic or butyric acid, in the diet is an important factor for the purpose of reduce the risk of overreactions or deficient reactions of the immune system also acting as a kind of "Anti-inflammatory brake".

Short-term fatty acids are naturally produced during the fermentation of fibers in the large intestine. In a low-fiber Western diet, the consumption of natural foods with propionic acid fermentation such as Emmentaler PDO can help meet the daily requirement of propionic acid, the researchers write in a summary of the specialist article. Propionic acid bacteria can produce numerous biologically active compounds, such as vitamins of group B: vitamin B12, vitamin B2 or l'folic acid.

It is not the first time that we talk about the benefits to the immune response determined by the consumption of cheese: in the past a study published in "FEMS Immunology & Medical Microbiology" had proven its effects on improving all immune defenses, especially among the elderly. The conclusion now reached by the researchers is that the consumption of Emmentaler PDO helps to preserve a greater variety of intestinal flora and to also exercise a positive action on the regulation of metabolism of sugars and fats. Furthermore, being a raw milk cheese, protects against allergies and promotes health. And being without lactose, even those who are intolerant can consume it.

How to make a poke cake, or the cake with holes – Italian Cuisine

There poke cake it takes its name from the English verb "poke" which means "to make a hole".
The peculiarity of this cake is the fact that the cake is cooked and then bucata with the handle of a wooden spoon or a small knife and in each hole is inserted filling which can be a cream, a jam, a syrup, a bagna or a ganache like the one we propose.

Chocolate poke cake recipe

This is perhaps the most delicious version of this dessert because inside it has one milk chocolate ganache and the decoration is made with whipped cream and chocolate chips.
The base is a simple cake that is particularly soft and buttery with a vanilla flavor, but you can enrich it with cocoa to give it color or you can flavor it with cinnamon.

The base

To obtain the base of the cake, they are mounted 2 eggs with 180 g of cane sugar finely chopped.
They are then added 100 g of butter with cream, 125 g of plain yogurt, a tablespoon of vanilla extract and 100 ml of milk or fresh cream.
When the mixture is well blended and mounted add it one sachet of yeast and 300 g of 00 flour.
Then pour everything into a small square or rectangular baking pan (20 × 20) and cook a 180 ° in a static oven for 30 minutes.
Once cold, the base is extracted from the mold and gods are practiced equidistant holes over the entire surface without getting to the bottom.
You can use a wooden spoon, a small knife or even a tool to extract the apple core.
At this point you just have to fill every hole.

The chocolate ganache

The ideal filling for the poke cake is the ganache because it is soft and creamy and is softly absorbed by the base dough.
To prepare this chocolate cream just cut 150 g of chopped chocolate and mix it with 100 g of very hot fresh cream.
We suggest you use milk chocolate, but if you prefer dark chocolate the proportions are the same and the result is just as good.

The final decoration

Once stuffed all the holes decorated the surface of the cake with the whipped Cream and completed with chocolate flakes.
To make them, just grate a tablet with a grater with large holes.
The cake should be cut and served in cubes of the same size and can also be eaten with a spoon.
It is very good even cold, but it cannot stay in the refrigerator for more than three days because it dries up.

Are you curious to try so many variations of this delicious cake? Scroll through our suggestions in the tutorial

Grater: can you use all the holes? – Italian Cuisine

You say grater and the thought immediately runs to an abundant dusting of cheese which completes a steaming pasta dish. Correct, but this simple and functional tool also has the dowry of the versatility and is capable of reserving numerous surprises.

Which material should you choose?
Let's start with the materials: on the market there are graters of various shapes, sizes and prices. The most common, those in steel, they are also the most resistant; able with the right maintenance to last for decades.
Cheaper, but less precise in the work and more easily subject to breakages, those in plastic which can however be useful in travel situations or, for example, to involve children in the kitchen without fear.

The graters have a fascinating retro flavor porcelain or glass, which present themselves with the characteristic shape of a saucer with the part to be used for grating in relief. Precise and perfect, for example, for ginger, they are widely used by parents dealing with it weaning precisely because of its ability to easily reduce fruit in the finest pulp.

A grater, many uses
To combine practicality and reduced space in the kitchen, graters are very useful today Multifunction: small parallelepipeds that on each side have a different blade, to achieve types of cutting suitable for different foods.
The greatness of the holes – more or less large – determines the way in which foods are grated and consequently the type of recipe in which to use them.

Grater going, recipe you find
THE tiny holes are necessary for the nutmeg, to be added to creamy puree or wrapping bechamel home made; this type of grater is also perfect for making it zest of citrus fruits to be used to perfume the dough of cakes or to give a fresh touch to savory dishes such as roast or velvety vegetables. A grating of fine dark chocolate can be a refined finishing touch for desserts, but why not try it on the classic too tiramisu as an alternative to the classic cocoa?

The grater a larger holes it allows to obtain a rustic cut, like the one needed for the Apulian cacioricotta on the orecchiette or to prepare the potatoes for the Rosti, the typical pancakes of Northern European cuisine.

Modern graters can have, as we said, even less common blades: those with square holes allow you to easily and quickly make julienne vegetables more or less fine (depending on the size of the holes). The grater with one blade, similar to the mandolin, which allows to realize, without too many fears for the safety of our fingers, lamellae of vegetables (such as potato or carrot chips) and perfect cheeses to enrich decorating savory quiche, colorful salads or even to fill a delicious sandwich.

Space then to the imagination and the desire to be amazed by the many potentials of the grater!

Claudia Minnella
March 2019

DISCOVER THE COOKING COURSES OF SALT & PEPE