Cook's Alphabet 'D'

Cook's Alphabet 'D'

This is the fourth in my series of 28 postings going through the entire alphabet, as it relates to cooks and cooking. As you can see, today I'm dealing with the letter 'D'.


The letter 'D' is, of course the fifth letter in the alphabet, and today's recipe is for a classic German pie that both begins with the letter 'D' and which contains damsons, a 'D' fruit as a main ingredient:

Damson Plum Torte

125g unsalted butter, softened
120g sugar + 2 tbsp
180g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
pinch of salt
24 halves pitted damsons (or other dark plums)
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Cream together the butter and 120g sugar until soft and fluffy. Add the flour, baking powder and salt and beat into the mixture before adding the beaten eggs a little at a time. Mix thoroughly to combine then spoon this batter into an ungreased 22 or 25cm springform cake tin. Cover the top with the plums, placing them skin side down.

Mix the cinnamon with the remaining sugar and use to sprinkle over the top of the cake. Place in an oven pre-heated to 170°C and bake for between 40 to 50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake emerges clean.

Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or clotted cream. The cake also freezes very well.

(This recipe reproduced, with permission, from the Celtnet Damson Plum Torte Recipe page. Which is part of the site's German Recipes collection)



Today's cooking process is Demi-glace Sauce: Demi-glace Sauce is a classic French rich brown sauce often used by chefs. It's made from a reduction of clear stock and sauce espagnole (a stock that has been thickened with a roux, diced vegetables and tomato purée) and is the basis for classic sauces such as Madeira, Diane and reform sauce..



For more information on cookery-associated terms and information beginning with the letter 'D' here are various links that may well be of interest:

Recipes beginning with 'D'
Spices beginning with 'D'
Herbs beginning with 'D'
Wild foods beginning with 'D'
Cook's glossary 'D'