Panna cotta (Italian for "cookedcream") is an Italian dessert of sweetened cream thickened with gelatin and molded. The cream may be aromatized with coffee, vanilla, or other flavorings.
History
The name panna cotta is not mentioned in Italian cookbooks before the 1960s, yet it is often cited as a traditional dessert of the northern Italian region of Piedmont. One unverified story says that it was invented by a Hungarian woman in the Langhe in the early 1900s. An 1879 dictionary mentions a dish called latte inglese 'English milk', made of creamcooked with gelatin and molded, though other sources say that latte inglese is made with egg yolks; perhaps the name covered any thickened custard-like preparation.
The Region of Piedmont includes panna cotta in its 2001 list of traditional food products of the region. Its recipe includes cream, milk, sugar, vanilla, gelatin, rum, and marsala poured into a mold with caramel. Anotherauthor considers the traditional flavoring to be peach 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, either by infusing spices and the like in it, or by adding rum, coffee, vanilla, and so on.
