Panna cotta (; ; ) is an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

dessert Dessert is a course (food), course that concludes a meal; the course consists of sweet foods, such as cake, biscuit, ice cream, and possibly a beverage, such as dessert wine or liqueur. Some cultures sweeten foods that are more commonly umami, ...

of sweetened cream thickened with

gelatin Gelatin or gelatine () is a translucent, colorless, flavorless food ingredient, commonly derived from collagen taken from animal body parts. It is brittle when dry and rubbery when moist. It may also be referred to as hydrolyzed collagen, coll ...

and molded. The cream may be aromatized with

coffee Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...

vanilla Vanilla is a spice derived from orchids of the genus ''Vanilla (genus), Vanilla'', primarily obtained from pods of the flat-leaved vanilla (''Vanilla planifolia, V. planifolia''). ''Vanilla'' is not Autogamy, autogamous, so pollination ...

, or other flavorings.

History

The name ''panna cotta'' is not mentioned in Italian cookbooks before the 1960s,Luigi Carnacina, Luigi Veronelli, "Panna Cotta," ''La Cucina Rustica Regionale'' 1:156, 1977, based on ''La Buona Vera Cucina Italiana'' (not seen), 1966Camilla V. Saulsbury, ''Panna Cotta: Italy's Elegant Custard Made Easy'', p. 14 yet it is often cited as a traditional dessert of the northern Italian region of

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

. One unverified story says that it was invented by a Hungarian woman in the Langhe in the early 19th century. An 1879 dictionary mentions a dish called ''latte inglese'' (), made of cream cooked with gelatin and molded, although other sources say that ''latte inglese'' is made with egg yolks, such as ''

crème anglaise ''Crème anglaise'' (; ), custard sauce, pouring custard, or simply custard is a light, sweetened pouring custard from French cuisine, used as a dessert cream or sauce. It is a mix of sugar, egg yolks, and hot milk usually flavoured with vanilla ...

''; perhaps the name covered any thickened custard-like preparation. The dish might also come from the French recipe of ''fromage bavarois'' from Marie-Antoine Carême in ''le pâtissier royal parisien'', which is the same as the modern panna cotta, except that one part of the cream is whipped to make chantilly and included in the preparation before adding the gelatin. The Piedmont region includes panna cotta in its 2001 list of traditional food products. Its recipe includes cream, milk, sugar, vanilla, gelatin,

rum Rum is a liquor made by fermenting and then distilling sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice. The distillate, a clear liquid, is often aged in barrels of oak. Rum originated in the Caribbean in the 17th century, but today it is produced i ...

, and marsala poured into a mold with caramel. Another author considers the traditional flavoring to be peach ''

eau de vie An ''eau de vie'' ( French for spirit, §16, §17 ) is a clear, colourless fruit brandy that is produced by means of fermentation and double distillation. The fruit flavor is typically very light. In English-speaking countries, ''eau de vie ...

'', and the traditional presentation not to have sauce or other garnishes. Panna cotta became fashionable in the United States in the 1990s.

Preparation

Sugar is dissolved in warm cream. The cream may be flavored by infusing spices and the like in it or by adding rum, coffee, vanilla, and so on. Gelatin is dissolved in a cold liquid (usually water), then added to the warm cream mixture. This is poured into molds and allowed to set. The molds may have caramel in the bottoms, giving a result similar to a

crème caramel Crème caramel (), flan, caramel pudding, condensed milk pudding, or caramel custard is a custard dessert with a layer of clear caramel sauce. History Custard has a long documented history, but crème caramel or flan in its modern form, with sof ...

. After it solidifies, the panna cotta is usually unmolded onto a serving plate. Although the name means 'cooked cream', the ingredients are only warm enough to dissolve the gelatin and sugar. Italian recipes sometimes call for ''colla di pesce'' ('fish glue'), which may literally be

isinglass Isinglass ( ) is a form of collagen obtained from the dried swim bladders of fish. The English word origin is from the obsolete Dutch ''huizenblaas'' – ''huizen'' is a kind of sturgeon, and ''blaas'' is a bladder, or German ''Hausenblase'', ...

or, more probably, simply a name for common gelatin.

Garnishes

Panna cotta is often served with a coulis of

berries A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone fruit, stone or pit (fruit), pit although many wikt:pip#Etymology 2, pips or seeds may be p ...

or a sauce of caramel or

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cocoa beans that can be a liquid, solid, or paste, either by itself or to flavoring, flavor other foods. Cocoa beans are the processed seeds of the cacao tree (''Theobroma cacao''); unprocesse ...

. It may be covered with other fruits or

liqueur A liqueur ( , ; ) is an alcoholic drink composed of Liquor, spirits (often rectified spirit) and additional flavorings such as sugar, fruits, herbs, and spices. Often served with or after dessert, they are typically heavily sweetened and un-age ...

Related dishes

Bavarian cream is similar to panna cotta but usually includes eggs as well as gelatin and is mixed with

whipped cream Whipped cream, also known as Chantilly cream or (), is high-fat dairy cream that has been aerated by whisking until it becomes light, fluffy, and capable of holding its shape. This process incorporates air into the cream, creating a semi-soli ...

before setting.

Blancmange Blancmange (, from , ) is a sweet dessert popular throughout Europe commonly made with milk or cream, and sugar, thickened with rice flour, gelatin, corn starch, or Chondrus crispus, Irish moss (a source of carrageenan), and often flavoured wit ...

is sometimes thickened with gelatin or

, and sometimes with cornstarch. Panna cotta is sometimes called a custard, but true

custard Custard is a variety of culinary preparations based on sweetened milk, cheese, or cream cooked with Eggs as food, egg or egg yolk to thicken it, and sometimes also flour, corn starch, or gelatin. Depending on the recipe, custard may vary in con ...

is thickened with egg yolks, not gelatin. A lighter version substitutes cream with Greek yogurt.

References

{{Cuisine of Italy Italian desserts Puddings Gelatin desserts Cuisine of Piedmont

History

Preparation

Garnishes

Related dishes

See also

References