Tips on cooking and baking with Tararua products
Here are some tips and suggestions for getting the best out of cooking and baking with Tararua cultured milk products.
Sour cream
Tararua Sour Cream is a flavoursome way to thicken casseroles and sauces. But make sure you remove the food from the heat before you stir it in - it can separate or curdle if the temperature is too high. A high salt content can also cause sour cream to curdle.
Sour cream also makes baked goods softer and more tender. However, baking made with acidic ingredients like sour cream can develop a metallic flavour if baked or stored in aluminium. If you're baking with an aluminium tin, line the base with baking paper before your pour in the batter.
After opening you may notice some liquid separating from the sour cream. Just pour it off or stir it in.
Cream cheese
- Tararua Traditional Cream Cheese is best for cooking. Tararua Spreadable Cream Cheese is likely to curdle when it's heated.
- Soften cream cheese in the microwave before adding it to other ingredients or to bring it to room temperature for serving at the table. Try microwaving it on 50 percent power for 30 seconds. (Make sure to remove the foil seal first!)
Crème Fraîche
- Use Tararua Crème Fraîche instead of cream in soups and sauces - it won't curdle when it's heated.
Butter Milk
- For a substitute to cream sauce, try one cup of buttermilk mixed with a tablespoon of cornflour. Flavour with a little mustard, black sauce or tomato sauce.
- In baking, buttermilk recipes usually use baking soda rather than baking powder. It's best not to substitute buttermilk for fresh milk in recipes that use baking powder.
- There is no butter in buttermilk. Traditionally, buttermilk was the name given to the whey that separates from cream when churning butter. Buttermilk is very low in fat.
Tips on our recipes
We've put together some cooking tips that will help you with some of the recipes on our site.
Cheesecake bases
Cheesecake bases are very easy to make. For a baked or unbaked cheesecake base, all you'll need is a packet of plain sweet biscuits and melted butter. The ideal ratio is half the amount of butter to the weight of breadcrumbs.
To line a 20cm pie plate, you'll need 180g of biscuits and 90g of butter. For a taller cheesecake, use a springform tin. For a 20cm tin, you'll need 250g of biscuits and 125g of butter.
Put the biscuits in a plastic bag and crush finely with a rolling pin. Sieve the crumbs to remove any lumps. (Or just throw the biscuits in the food processor.)
- Add the melted butter to the crumbs and mix well. The mixture should cling together when you press it between your fingers.
Don't overcook a baked cheesecake - stick the specified cooking time. When it's done, turn the oven off and leave it there to cool with the oven door ajar. This will help stop the base from shrinking or the yummy filling from sinking in the middle.
Perfect brownies
- For a lighter brownie, let the chocolate mixture cool completely before adding it to the egg and sugar mixture.
- Once the brownies are cooked, wait until they've reached room temperature before you cut them.
Pastry tips
- The secret to perfect pastry is cold, cold, cold. Make sure all the ingredients are well chilled - some chefs even chill the flour. A chilled marble board to work the pastry on is ideal.
- It's also important to mix the ingredients quickly.
Essential recipes
Here are some recipe staples you might find useful.
Vinaigrette dressing
Just mix three parts olive oil to one part vinegar or lemon juice and you can't go wrong. Add a couple of cloves of peeled garlic or a little prepared mustard for extra flavour.
Cooking pasta
Whether cooking fresh or dried pasta, you need to use plenty of water (about five litres to 500 grams of pasta). Wait until the water boils before you salt it - it will come to the boil faster. The pasta is cooked when it's al denté (firm to the bite). Drain it and toss it in olive oil to stop it sticking.
Perfect mashed potatoes
There are lots of ways to pep up mashed potatoes. After mashing, try blending in a generous spoonful of Tararua Cream Cheese. Or add a little milk, butter, pepper and about half a teaspoonful of baking soda (for a family size pot full). Mix until fluffy. Milk, butter and a little minced onion is another s-mashing idea!
Roux sauce
To make a basic white sauce, melt 60g butter, remove from the heat and stir in 3tbp flour. Gradually add 2 cups of hot milk. Return to the heat and stir until the sauce boils and thickens. Use more or less butter and flour for a thinner or thicker sauce. You can also make it in the microwave, but don't cook it for more than 30 seconds without stopping to give it a good stir.
Make parsley sauce by stirring in finely chopped parsley and a little lemon juice at the end. Make mornay sauce by adding 125g of grated cheese. Stir in, off the heat, at the end until the cheese melts.
Cream cheese dip
Turn out a pottle of Tararua Spreadable Cream Cheese onto a serving platter. Top with salsa, chutney or relish and serve with crackers or carrot and celery sticks. Cream cheese mixed with passionfruit pulp is fabulous on crackers.
Send us your favourite recipes, and tips
Please email us (customer.inquiries@mainland.co.nz) your favourite basic recipes for quick, easy meals and snacks. We would also be pleased to receive any cooking tips you think other visitors to our site might find useful.
You can write to us at Tararua, PO Box 397, Dunedin.
