Recipe: Brown Sugar Glaze

Brown Sugar Glaze

Happy & Healthy Cooking,

Fun-Da-Mentals Kitchen Skills

• drizzle :

  to trickle a thin stream of a liquid ingredient, like icing or sauce, over food.

• measure :

  to calculate the specific amount of an ingredient required using a measuring tool (like measuring cups or spoons).

• whisk :

  to beat or stir ingredients vigorously with a fork or whisk to mix, blend, or incorporate air.

History and Use of Glazes in Baking and Cooking!

• A dessert glaze is a liquid, like milk or beaten egg, that gives baked foods a smooth and shiny finish.
• Glazes used in baking may have originated in medieval Britain, and an Elizabethan glaze has been mentioned in records of that time. It was made of lightly beaten egg white and sugar used on pastries.
• A simple doughnut glaze is usually made of water or milk and powdered sugar. For a cinnamon roll glaze, use powdered sugar, milk, butter, and vanilla. A glaze for a fruit pie or tart is typically glassine, meaning it is glossy and transparent, and jams or jellies that complement the fruit are used to accomplish that.
• Some cakes are covered with a "mirror" glaze, which may be made of unflavored gelatin, water, granulated sugar, sweetened condensed milk or cream, fruit purée or chocolate (milk, dark, or white), and food coloring.
• Glazes used in cooking include demi-glace (half-glaze), which originated in France, a rich, glossy brown sauce served with meat. It is made with beef stock which has been reduced (partly evaporated) to which wine is added.
• Another example of a savory glaze is the type used on ham. Ham glazes are made with a sweet component for caramelization, like brown sugar, honey, or maple syrup. They also include a tangy element such as mustard, vinegar, orange juice, or pineapple juice. Finally, various spices are added, like cinnamon, cloves, garlic, ginger, and rosemary.

Let's learn about England!

• England is ruled by a Monarch, a Prime Minister, and a Parliament. Windsor Castle is the oldest royal castle in the world that is still being used by the royal family.
• England is on the island of Great Britain, along with Wales and Scotland. It is also part of the United Kingdom, which consists of those three countries and Northern Ireland. 
• Did you know that there's no place in the UK that is more than 70 miles from the sea?! 
• Stonehenge is a construction of immense stones that the early inhabitants of what's now Wiltshire, England, began building around 3100 BCE. The final sections were completed around 1600 BCE. Scientists are still not sure how or why they built it. One theory for its purpose is an astronomical observatory. It is very popular with tourists.
• Other popular tourist spots in England include the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben and Parliament (Palace of Westminster), the Roman Baths and the city of Bath, and the Lake District.  
• London, the capital city, wasn't always called that. In the past, its name was Londonium.
• England took part in the briefest war in history. They fought Zanzibar in 1896, and Zanzibar surrendered after just 38 minutes!
• There have been several influential English authors, but perhaps the most well-known is William Shakespeare, who wrote classics such as Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, and Hamlet.
• English computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee is credited with inventing the World Wide Web.
• The British really like their sandwiches—they eat almost 11.5 billion a year!

What's It Like to Be a Kid in England?

• Most schools in England require students to wear a school uniform. 
• Sports kids play include football (soccer), cricket, rugby, tennis, netball (similar to basketball), and rounders (similar to baseball). They also play video games, watch the telly, and ride bikes or skateboards.
• Boxing Day is a unique holiday kids celebrate in England the day after Christmas, December 26. The official public holiday is the first weekday after Christmas if Boxing Day falls on a weekend. When the English created the holiday, it was the day to share the contents of alms boxes with the poor. Today, it is mostly a day off from school and work, although some small gifts may be given out to family and employees, or collected to give to the poor.
• English kids may have different names for everyday items also found in the United States. For example, a kid will call his mom "mum." Their backyard is a "garden." A big truck is called a "lorry," and the trunk of a car is a "boot." Biscuits in the US are closest to the British "scones," and cookies in England are "biscuits." A TV is usually called a "telly." Bags of chips are referred to as bags of "crisps." French fries, like those from a fast-food hamburger place, might be called "fries," but if they are thicker, like the ones typically served with batter-fried fish, they're called "chips" (fish and chips). Finally, kids call the fish sticks they might have for lunch "fish fingers.