Culina Europe: Dine with Europe’s Master Chefs brings together more than 250 recipes from over 100 award-winning chefs in Italy, Greece, Spain, France, Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Luxembourg, Great Britain, Portugal, Norway, and Austria. I will also be sharing a recipe for Encharcada (Portuguese Soaked Eggs) from Chef Maria Santos Gomes following the review.
Disclosure: I received this book from H.F.Ullmann in exchange for my honest review. All opinions and statements are my own. This post contains Amazon affiliate links. If you purchase something through the link, I may receive a small commission at no extra charge to you.
Culina Europe
This massive collection in 608 pages showcases dishes meant to impress. The recipes are the star with two pages devoted to each, step-by-step photos, and not much fluff in-between. At the end of the book, you will find profiles of the featured chefs with photos and background information along with a glossary of specific techniques.
Chapters are divided based on course: Cold Appetizers, Hot Appetizers, Fish & Seafood, Meat & Poultry, Desserts, Pastries, Basic Recipes, The Chefs, and The Pastry Chefs.
The photography is provided by Studio Lucien Loeb, Maren Detering. Every single recipe includes a photo of the finished dish along with step-by-step photos to help with the technique and another smaller photo of the ingredients. The name of each dish is listed in English or the original language.
Headnotes are included with historical information and tips. There is a label with 1-3 stars to indicate the level of difficulty and the name of the chef and the country of origin are listed in the bottom left corner. Measurements are provided in US Customary and Metric, though the use of a kitchen scale is strongly encouraged.
Encharcada (Portuguese Soaked Eggs)
Encharcada is a Portuguese dessert consisting of beaten egg yolks cooked in a sugar syrup lightly flavored with cinnamon. This incredibly rich and sweet dish was provided by Chef Maria Santos Gomes. She set up her restaurant Conventual, The Convent, in a former monastery and highlights this dish (invented by religious orders in the 17th-18th centuries) as a specialty.
Overall, this is an easy dessert to make with only 4 ingredients. It does use a whopping 15 egg yolks, so this would be the perfect recipe to make when you have yolks leftover after making a meringue or something else requiring a lot of egg whites. Since the eggs are the star, try to use the freshest eggs you can find- particularly local and pasture-raised.
Looking for more Portuguese recipes?
Try Cogumelos Marinados com Bacon (Marinated Mushrooms with Bacon), Broa (Portuguese Corn Bread), and Filhós à Alentejana (Portuguese Crispy Orange-Flavored Alentejo Pastries).
Other Dishes
I also made the Sheep’s Milk Cheese Ravioli with Yellow Pepper Cream, Tomato Soup Alentejo, Gramigna with Mild Bacon and Balsamic Vinegar, and Tiramisù Bianco. I didn’t realize until I was typing up this review that I stuck to two countries out of fifteen. Apparently I was in an Italian and Portuguese mood over the past couple of weeks.
The Sheep’s Milk Cheese Ravioli with Yellow Pepper Cream Sauce comes from Marco Cavalucci of Italy. A basic pasta dough is filled with a mixture of seasoned ricotta and aged sheep’s milk cheese. It is topped with a blended yellow pepper cream sauce and strips of red pepper. I loved the combination of cheese-filled pasta with the mild and slightly sweet peppers.
The Tomato Soup Alentejo comes from Maria Santos Gomes of Portugal. This thick tomato soup is seasoned with peppers, onions, and garlic. It is served over slices of country bread and poached eggs for a light summer-time lunch.
The Gramigna with Mild Bacon and Balsamic Vinegar comes from Romano Tamani of Italy. This one was one of my favorites. Gramigna is a type of hollow pasta shaped like couch grass with a little twirl at the end. The pasta is tossed with bacon that has been braised in a reduced balsamic vinegar sauce and topped of with grated Parmesan cheese.
Tiramisu Bianco comes from Flavio Perbellini in Italy. A Savoy sponge cake base is cut into three layers and soaked in a coffee syrup. The cakes are layered with a light mascarpone cream and topped with flaked, toasted almonds. This cake was light and decadent all in one. I loved the addition of the toasted almonds to add a bit of texture and nuttiness.
Encharcada (Portuguese Soaked Eggs) Recipe
Adapted from Culina Europe
Encharcada (Portuguese Soaked Eggs)
Ingredients
- 2 cups (500 grams) granulated sugar
- 2 cups (500 ml) water
- 1 small cinnamon stick
- 15 egg yolks
For serving:
- Ground cinnamon
Instructions
- In a wide pot, heat the sugar, water, and cinnamon stick over medium heat.
- In a large bowl, beat together the egg yolks until smooth.
- Once the sugar has dissolved into the water and small bubbles start to appear, remove and discard the cinnamon stick. Pour the beaten egg yolks through a fine mesh sieve into the hot syrup.
- Reduce the heat to low/medium-low and simmer the mixture, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon and scraping the edges to prevent a crust from forming, until the eggs are cooked through and only a little syrup remains.
- Transfer the Encharcada among 4 broil-safe bowls and broil briefly over low heat until the tops are golden.
- Serve immediately garnished with ground cinnamon.
Dannii
The flavours of this sound delicious. I was in Portugal recently and I didn’t see anything like this, which is a shame.
Lisa | Garlic & Zest
I’ve never heard of this egg dish before and I’m actually not certain what to make of it. Did you enjoy it? That’s definitely a lot of egg yolks to use and they seem to make up the bulk of this dish. The other recipes from the book look really intriguing, particularly that pasta dish. I’ll be on the lookout for this tome!
Tara
I actually really enjoyed it, in the appropriate serving size. Due to the richness, I was good after a few bites. My husband however, couldn’t seem to put the spoon down and ate way more than he probably should have in one sitting. I was particularly drawn to it since it was unlike anything I had ever come across before.
Michelle | The Last Food Blog
This is really interesting, but wow 15 egg yolks?! I love eggs but I don’t know if I could go for 15, at the same time I’m intrigued so may well try it!
Mary // Chattavore
Oh wow! I have never seen anything quite like this recipe! It sounds very interesting and worth a try.
Natalie
This is one amazing recipe. I’ve never heard of something like this. So interesting. 15 eggs? Wow… But I bet this tastes just incredible. All dishes look delicious. I see you’ve enjoyed much 😉
sue | theviewfromgreatisland
This whole post is awesome, the book sounds like it’s right up my alley, and the eggs do too! I love to discover authentic recipes that can’t be found anywhere else, I need to get a copy!