Food Word of the Day: Genoise

courtesy of joepastry.com

Damn. OK, so was watching Top Chef: Just Desserts and totally love it, but it made me realize that I need some sort of food dictionary on hand. So, we’re going to have “Word of the Day” on Chasing James Beard. They’re going to be words that you hear and go “Say Whaaaa?” Or maybe they’re words that you hear, but don’t know the total or real definition of. But they’re words that are going to make us understand, eat and enjoy our food more. I don’t know why, but in my own head I feel that sometimes understanding food more allows me to in turn, enjoy it and appreciate it more. Do you feel the same way at times?

Today’s word of the day

Genoise (pronounced Jeh-nwah)

According to Wiki, Genoise is an Italian sponge cake named after the city of Genoa (located in Northern Italy) and is used frequently in Italian and French desserts. After clicking around the internet, it looks like genoise cakes are used to make many different desserts from layered cakes to jelly rolls. At least now we know the term for it, we’ve all probably eaten it at one point in our lives not realizing the correct “term” for it. It’s light, buttery and springy (in texture). Consisting of flour, butter, sugar, eggs, salt and vanilla, it is a very basic and pure cake.

Joepastry.com has a great step-by-step guide, with pictures, on how to make one. Why not give it a whirl yourself and experiment? I know that once I get some free time I definitely will.

-Joyce Huang