Thoughts from Quail Thicket - Observations from a country home.

December 4, 2018 – Furoshiki [fabric wrapping] Tiramisù and rubber band hacking.

Trust me, these three topics will all come together in this little discussion.

I’ve gone back to sewing and I noticed I have kept many pieces of extra fabric – purposely – for the Japanese wrapping of gifts or for transport of goods.

Furoshiki, the art of Japanese fabric wrapping, is said to have been founded by Minoro Takohama around 1935 or 1936. I thought it was more ancient than that – but still, it is a handy art to learn.

When I was sorting through my fabric, I cut the leftover fabric into squares of various sizes to wrap future presents or for carrying a couple bottles of wine or other items. I folded these new, Furoshiki wrapping cloths neatly and tucked them away for the future.

The future arrived this last Sunday when I needed to transport a Tiramisù to a fancy Christmas Party. When I sent my R.S.V.P., I indicated I would be bringing a dessert – Tiramisù.

Once my husband cleared out of the house Saturday morning and I had the kitchen all to myself – I laid out all the items for the making in stages so that it would go together with less fuss.

Over the years, I have received many copies of Cook’s Illustrated and I’ve tried and kept many of the recipes. Below are links to the recipe I am mentioning. As I believe, their recipes have copyright as noted by the “must subscribe” page that pops up – I first apologize that I cannot set out the recipe herein, as I don’t want to be sued by a major corporation. I will leave it up to you on obtaining the recipe.

What I loved about this article and most of Cook’s Illustrated articles is the in-depth discussion on what they tried and what failed. I use the fresh ladyfingers from the bakery – not the hard ones – as I couldn’t locate any of the latter. I also use the cooked egg yolk version – I just prefer to know that I won’t poison anyone when it comes to cooking with raw eggs vs. cooked eggs. That is just a personal phobia of mine.

I usually make it in a fancy glass 9 x 9 square dish – it is taller, uses less ladyfingers, makes a richer filling volume and presents better at the table. But, this time I used the 13 x 9 glass dish [lasagna type dish] because I was taking it to a Christmas Party where there would be a crowd and I thought it would serve more people.

The original recipe goes into a discussion that Mascarpone is a must and also discusses the strength of the coffee or espresso and the brandy, whiskey or dark rum. I use Myers original dark rum – I like the flavor.

This is one of the few recipes I use a double boiler – so that the egg yolk, cream and sugar mixture comes to 160 degrees without scorching, however, if you don’t have one, you can improvise with a metal bowl over a saucepan.

Work on your extra strong coffee first so that it can cool to room temperature. Second, do the egg yolk dance – cracking the eggs and keeping the yolks and letting the whites pour into another bowl. Then do the double boiler part of the recipe. Once that is done and while it is cooling get all the rest of the ingredients out and about.

Put a small deep mixing bowl for the cream in the refrigerator with the beaters to chill for the next to last step.

I set a small sifter to the side with the Dutch powder mixture divided into two small cups.

Pre-plan the ladyfingers. Break them apart and see how many you will need for two layers in your 13 x 9 dish – put them in, move them around to check their fit. Then, set them aside for later.

Once my final mixture is ready to assemble – then I quickly do the wetting of the ladyfinger cakes and assemble. [I do this part sitting down at the kitchen table – easier for me.]

I don’t dip the store bought lady fingers as they fall to pieces. I use a basting brush dipped in the coffee rum mixture and paint the bottom, then the top, then place in the 13 x 9 dish. I paint the bottom holding each ladyfinger, then turn it over onto two fingers and paint the top so that the liquid drips off over the coffee rum mixture bowl, then place each in the bottom of the dish for layer number one. You don’t want any extra liquid sloshing around in the bottom of the dish.

Neatness counts on this project. You don’t want to slop the filling up the sides of the dish. Spoon it in and smooth it gently to the sides over the soaked ladyfingers – then dust with the cocoa and on to layer two of the ladyfingers.

You assemble this quickly.

The hacking part of rubber bands comes into play at this stage. I have a bag of assorted rubber bands and you often get some that are 8 to 10 inches in diameter. Grab two of those and slide them over each end of the casserole dish and place them at 1/3 from the end over the top of the Tiramisù so that the cling wrap doesn’t drop down and destroy the smooth top. [Me, I am too cheap to buy one of those 13 x 9 glass dishes with the snap on top . . . so I have to hack my way through life to save money.] If you have such a dish with a cover – lucky you.

Next the Furoshiki [fabric wrapping] technique. Not only am I too cheap to buy one of those covered dishes, I also ruined my last casserole carrier due to spilling some chowder in my carrier that wouldn’t launder out and I never replaced it. Now I use the Furoshiki technique.

Just before I left for the party, I folded a large square of fabric – 41 inch square is a traditional size – in half into a triangle so that the showy side of the fabric facing each other. You then take one of the points at the folded end and gather it into a point half the length of the unfolded portion to the point. You tie a simple knot. You do the same to the other point. Turn this inside out so that the knots flop inside – this creates the bottom. Once turned inside out you spread these knots to the sides and flatten the area in between. [If these instructions make no sense – just look at the directions or videos noted at the bottom of this blog.]

This is where you will place your casserole dish or items. I fold a dishtowel in thirds and place over the top of these two knots so that the tails are centered underneath for cushioning. I then place the casserole dish on top of these and bring up the sides. You then take the final points of the triangle and tie off a knot about half way down to the dish.

TA-DA – you have an instant casserole carrier that is STYLISH as well as useful. If you feel unsafe with only one knot, you can go to the trouble of tying the tail ends below the handle knot to make a double knot.

At your destination, you simply untie the handle knot(s) and you access your casserole.

But me, the show-off type – I untie all the knots and very carefully fold the Furoshiki completely flat and flap it over my purse. Later when I need to take my dish to leave, I go through the folding and knotting process again and many people pay attention – and they all learn the subtle art of Furoshiki without being told by “show off” me.

“Where did you learn that?”

“I’ve been around.”

The two wine bottles with the 41 inch Furoshiki is another delightful trick that gets attention – the men like that one. Very useful for stepping onto a pontoon boat or into a canoe – the twin wine bottles over your shoulder securely.