If there’s a Paciugo Gelato near you, you may want to head over for a few scoops and see why the readers of DMagazine in Dallas chose it as “Best Gelato.”
Christina and Ugo Ginatta and their son Vincenzo moved from Turin, Italy to Dallas, where they started the city’s first gelato caffè in 2000. Using artisan techniques and the finest ingredients, they developed a recipe list of 200 flavors in rotation (with a selection of 30 to 38 available on any given day). The company is now a mini-chain of more than 40 stores in 11 states plus Mexico.
Just looking at the list of flavors makes you want to try every one (and if you really want every flavor, ask about having your own franchise).
What we especially like about Paciugo Gelato is its ability to provide a frozen treat for just about everyone.
Gelato for everyone! Photo courtesy Paciugo.
Vegan or lactose-intolerant? No worries: There are gelato flavors made with soy milk, as well as dairy-free sorbetto.
Cutting back on sugar? The No Sugar Added gelato is terrific: If No Sugar Added gelato tastes this good, who needs sugar?
On a lowfat diet? The fat content is 3.5%—much lower than a superpremium ice cream (which can be up to 16% milkfat).
While we’ve only gotten through eight of the 200 flavors, we’re in love with the Mediterranean Sea Salt Caramel and the No Sugar Added flavors (we tried NSA Hazelnut and Panna cotta flavors). (We haven’t tried the soy-based gelato yet, but we look forward to it.)
Lucini balsamic vinegar, a NIBBLE favorite,
is available at Amazon.com. Photo by
B.A. Van Sise.
THE NIBBLE pantry has a dozen different types of vinegar, from the basics—balsamic, champagne, cider, sherry and wine vinegars—to rice vinegar and our favorite flavor-infused vinegars (we have almost everything from Boyajian).
But what if a recipe calls for a type of vinegar that you don’t have on hand—and you can’t run out to buy it?
How To Repair Food, a book we love, advises that you can substitute another vinegar (although the dish will taste a bit different). Here are the substitutions:
Apple Cider Vinegar Substitute: distilled white vinegar for pickling, any wine vinegar otherwise
Balsamic Vinegar Substitute: red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar plus a pinch of sugar
Red Wine Vinegar Substitute: white wine vinegar
White Wine Vinegar Substitute: red wine vinegar
If you’re totally out of vinegar, use twice as much lemon juice as the required amount of vinegar.
Fall means pumpkins and pumpkin pie. Pinkberry is all over it with a limited-edition Pumpkin Pinkberry, available through the end of the year.
You can have it plain or with the [highly-recommended] paired toppings that create a frozen yogurt pumpkin pie: crunchy honey graham crackers, a dusting of cinnamon and whipped topping.
The pumpkin color is beautiful and the taste is tangy—more like the Original Pinkberry than a heavy pumpkin flavor. So even if pumpkin isn’t your favorite flavor, try it. The pairing with the graham crackers is delightful. Going forward, we’re going to enjoy all flavors of Pinkberry with graham crackers.
Also available for the holiday season are high-antioxidant pomegranate seed topping and pomegranate juice to top any flavor. Combined with the live and active cultures in Pinkberry yogurt, it’s practically health food (at least, that’s what we tell ourselves).
Skip the whipped cream: Candied bacon
rocks. Photo courtesy TerrenceBrennan.com.
As you may have noticed from the “pig candy” (chocolate-dipped bacon) phenomenon of the last couple of years, bacon and dark chocolate are a happy marriage.
We love this idea from Chef Terrence Brennan of Picholine restaurant in New York City.
It’s a chocolate tart garnished with ice cream, meringue and bacon. It looks impressive, tastes great. And it’s quick and easy to prepare if you buy the chocolate tarts instead of baking your own. All you need to do is candy the bacon and assemble the components.
You can make the bacon several hours in advance, but be sure to keep at room temperature. You can warm it for 10 seconds in the microwave before serving.
HOW TO CANDY BACON
Ingredients
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (you can omit this if your crowd doesn’t like the sweet-and-spicy combination)
1/2 pound thinly sliced bacon (about 18 slices)
Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Line a broiler pan with foil. Lightly coat broiler rack with nonstick spray or rub lightly with vegetable oil. Place broiler rack on pan.
3. Mix brown sugar and cayenne thoroughly. Coat one side of each bacon slice by pressing into mixture.
4. Place bacon sugar side up in a single layer on the broiling rack. Any remaining brown sugar mix can be sprinkled over the slices.
5. Bake 15 to 20 minutes until the bacon is crisp and the sugar bubbly
6. Drain bacon on paper towels; let cool on clean toweling or a plate.
7. Serve as whole strips or cut as in photo. Serves 8.
To Assemble
Top chocolate tarts with one scoop each of chocolate and vanilla.
Garnish with candied bacon.
The meringue puffs are a nice touch, but not necessary to complete this dessert—the top of the tart is amply full. If you love meringue and want to make them, your guests will appreciate it.
If you like to bake cheesecake (and we love to!), you know that a water bath, or bain-marie, keeps the cheesecake top from cracking.
If you’ve never used a bain-marie: All you have to do is set the springform pan into a roasting pan filled with warm water. As the cheesecake cooks, the moisture from the water protects the cheesecake from cracking.
Now for the real tip: No matter how good a springform you have, water from the water bath can leak in through the bottom while the cheesecake is baking, creating a soggy crust. To fix this problem, all you have to do is wrap the bottom of the springform in foil before putting it into the bain-marie.
Cheesecake perfected!
Here’s a fun fact: The water bath was originally invented by alchemists, who needed a way to heat their materials slowly and gently. The alchemists were trying to change base metals into gold and create an “elixir of longevity.”
