I happened to notice that today is Parchment Day. My first thought was that maybe I should get some fancy animal skins and a quill pen and write someone a letter, sealed with a wax stamp. Sounds pretty fancy. But that’s not the type of parchment the day is intended for. It’s about cooking parchment.
Although I have seen it done, I have never tried it myself. I have used parchment paper when baking. Mostly because I got tired of burning the bottoms of my Christmas cookies. So I tried it. And it does help solve the problem a bit. Although it also tends to slide around a bit on a cookie sheet. The end result has been a few trays of flying cookies sailing around the kitchen. I have to constantly remind myself to be careful while using parchment paper. Although the dog loves it when I forget. Flying cookies and some of her favourites.
But really this day is about cooking actual meals wrapped in paper. Which is something I have never done.
I did learn the trick many years ago of wrapped things in aluminum foil and tossing them in a fire to cook. Usually hot coals. Too much heat can burn holes in your foil, which isn’t good. I imagine if you tried throwing paper wrapped food in a fire it would not go well.
So the idea is to carefully wrap the food in parchment paper and bake it. It does seem top work. Although anyone who suggests I do this has probably never seen me wrap a Christmas present. It usually gets covered. Just not very well. So I’m thinking this is not a good cooking method for someone with my particular lack of skills in this area.
Although if this ends up as slippery as cookies on parchment on a baking sheet, the dog would be quite pleased with the result.
However, cooking with parchment, or en papillote as they call it, is supposed to be a very healthy way to prepare food. It seals in the juices and the flavour of the food without using sprays or oils. And it makes cleanup easier. Just compost the paper and you’re done.
I like the easy cleanup part. I may have to give it a try, in spite of my bad wrapping skills. Just don’t expect a bow on top.