Semolina pudding by Myšák confectionery
Semolina, milk, a pinch of salt and a dollop of sweet imagination on top - semolina pudding sticks in the memories of guests, but also on the menus of businesses that play with texture and sprinkles and serve children's food in the form of elegant fluffy espuma. What is it made of and why do we enjoy the combination of butter and cocoa so much? The answers and instructions for home preparation are packed in the Myšák confectionery shop!
Semolina or flour?
In the base of semolina pudding, milk is commonly mixed with semolina. At Myšák, they use coarse flour because it has a finer granulation than semolina and is therefore easier to achieve smooth texture. In addition, the size of the cereal particles is ideal for the preparation of espuma - the smaller pieces of ground grain create a creamy foam on the plate without stalling in the siphon bottle.
The coarsely ground flour represents a specialty of Czech mills - you wouldn't get it anywhere else in the world. Its properties predestine it for recipes for cooked dishes such as dumplings and gnocchi, savoury and sweet porridge. Less processed grains do not absorb as much water and contain less gluten than plain flour. It would form lumps in the milk and cause the porridge to have a cakey consistency.
Fat multiplies the taste!
The butter is an essential ingredient that contributes to the smooth consistency and taste. The fat mixed into the porridge sticks to the tongue - the food stays in contact with the palate for longer and the palate can then better perceive the different flavour layers of creaminess and fullness. A raw egg yolk is also enough to ensure creaminess and fullness, just mix it with the butter just before serving.
Bold advice: Fat has the ability to transmit flavour! Try mixing vanilla essence or a pinch of cinnamon straight into the butter or egg yolks and watch the difference in experience. Cook your porridge with good quality whole milk. You can pre-infuse it with spices, such as leftover vanilla bean.
If sugar, then malt!
Each of the five basic flavours has different shades. So sweet is not just sweet! The confectioners at Myšák have decided to layer the sweetness, and flavoured their recipe with vanilla sugar and caramel malt. The unusual sweetener is made from green malt, which is sugared in a roaster, giving it a caramel flavour and roasted aroma - and deepening the shallow taste of the milk and flour.
Tip: Caramel malt is available in beer shops. Just grind it finely in a powerful blender and sift it through a sieve! You can also flavour the pudding with the dried barley malt.
What's on top?
The sprinkles on the semolina porridge should crunch, smell and balance the overall flavour of the dish. At Myšák, we like to use cocao, a hot chocolate mix made of cocoa, 53% chocolate and vanilla sugar, but we also use crushed biscuits, (caramelised) nuts or homemade granola.
Few people would deny themselves cocoa and a joyful serving of butter on this classic pudding, which is traditionally sprinkled with a spoonful of sugar - and there's a scientific reason for it! Fat in conjunction with sugar supposedly activates the brain's sense of reward. In addition to the classics, a spoonful of nut butter, oil or brown butter which is particularly popular with roasted hazelnuts.
Even sweet dishes call for acidity! The semolina porridge will balance out sourer fruits, whether the bowl is garnished with blueberries and currants, or perhaps or sweet and sour compote. You can bet on fruit poached with a little cider or apple cider vinegar, a spoonful of sour cream and grated citrus zest. By the way, cocoa and high percentage dark chocolate are also sour.
Don't forget the salt! A pinch in the milk and a few flakes of salt on the finished porridge will bring out the sweetness of the porridge, possibly soften the bitterness of the cocoa and develop other flavours. How about salted caramel?
Recipe from the patisserie
Ingredients:
- 500 ml of milk
- a pinch of salt
- 60 g a pinch of Myšák's flour mixture (contains coarse flour, vanilla sugar and malt)
- 2 egg yolks
- a teaspoon of butter
Procedure:
- Pour the milk into a saucepan and add the salt, pour in the Myšák mixture and let it slowly come to a boil, stirring constantly (!).
- Boil until thickened - it takes about two minutes.
- Set aside and stir in the egg yolks and butter to soften.
The trick: If the mixture is heated along with the milk, gradually, the gluten reacts differently than if the flour is poured into the boiling liquid - it needs to be stirred throughout the cooking time so that it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan and become lumpy. Confectioners therefore first whisk the flour in a little cold milk and then whisk it into the boiling milk in the saucepan. Semolina is treated in a similar way - it is worth soaking it in milk for at least half an hour so that it softens and swells and can be cooked into a smooth porridge in a short time.
From the mill and kitchens:
Semolina (from different types of cereals) is produced immediately after the first crushing of the cereal grain, which is ground several times, sieved and cleaned of flour particles and bran in a special purifier. Crushing develops gluten, which is why semolina swells so quickly when cooked in milk or other liquid. While the gluten forms a network and therefore a specific structure, the thickening is largely due to the starches, which is why porridge can be made equally well from gluten-free cereals.
The harvested grain is chopped in mills - the wet grain is elastic and makes good semolina and coarse and semi-coarse flour. The least milled semolina is normally dried, primarily for longer shelf life. In addition, dry grains bind the liquid better (not only) in the preparation of porridge.
Semolina tends to have different ash contents (mineral content) and several degrees of coarseness - the finest are suitable for pudding, while the coarsest are used in dumplings, gnocchi and pasta. Semolina is also used to thicken soups, in desserts such as flameri or in sweet and savoury pastries - used pure or in a certain proportion with flour, it can compact and firm the dough.
It is worth looking at old cookbooks for interest. In the Podkrkonoší region, semolina and milk were used to make a thin porridge, which was then used to pour over the leftover vánočka on the plate - seasoned with sugar, cinnamon and butter. Recipes include pusmifl: Half a kilo of corn semolina was boiled in a litre of salted water until it became a thick paste, and then pieces were cut out with a spoon. They were served drizzled with butter and sprinkled with either cheese or carrot.
Marie B. Svobodová 'For good pudding, 70 g of butter, 70 g of sugar and a little more than 500 ml of milk or cream are boiled, then 140 g of semolina is added, stirring constantly, and boiled until it thickens. In the meantime, put a pint of good cream in a shallow casserole dish in a well heated oven, and when a browned layer has formed, scoop it off onto a plate, repeating until all the cream is gone. Shortly before finishing, the porridge is thinned with the warm cream in which the vanilla has been boiled until it is smooth and thick, then the scooped layers are carefully stirred into it, giving it a very delicate flavour, put on a plate, sprinkled with sugar, and heated with a hot spatula until the sugar starts to dissolve. The cream layers must be particularly thick, otherwise they would be stringy.'
