How to Use a Cheese and Chocolate Curler
If you're one of those cooks or hosts who just has to be on the cutting edge, there's a kitchen gadget just for you. With the Swiss-made cheese and chocolate curler known as a Girolle, you can turn out beautifully shaped, tasty ruffled rosettes of cheese or chocolate, right before your guests' eyes. Here's how to use a cheese and chocolate curler. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Get acquainted with your Girolle. The Swiss-made cheese and chocolate curler comes in a variety of models, from the classic to the colorful and futuristic, but all share the same basic parts. Look for a round base with a spindle in the middle. Attached to the top of the spindle is a pivoting blade (it looks a little like a flag) with a handle.
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Choose your cheese or chocolate. The Girolle cheese and chocolate curler was invented to make rosette-shaped curls from one particular kind of cheese in all the world: a nutty, rich Swiss cheese called Tete de Moine ("Monk's head"). This cheese comes in flat, round wheels with a hole in the middle for the Girolle spindle. You can also buy chocolate wheels made to fit the Girolle, but you can adapt any round, flat block of hard cheese or chocolate to the curler by using a heated metal skewer to make a spindle hole in the middle.
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Put the cheese or chocolate wheel on the spindle. Depending on the model, you can lift the blade off the spindle or lift the whole spindle assembly out of the base to insert the cheese. When correctly placed, the wheel of cheese or chocolate should rest firmly on the base, with the spindle through the center. Adjust the blade-assembly height so the blade rests on the surface of the cheese or chocolate.
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Use a gentle pressure to turn the handle of the blade assembly clockwise. This drags the blade across the surface of the cheese or chocolate, scraping off a thin layer that will, like magic, roll itself into a ruffled rosette.
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Serve your cheese or chocolate curls. Curls of Swiss Tete de Moine are traditionally served with wine as an appetizer or after-dinner savory course. You can do the same with your favorite cheese, offering guests a little pile of cheese rosettes on glass plates or letting people cut their own. Serve chocolate curls with coffee, use them as a topping for frozen desserts or fruit or decorate iced cakes with a ring of chocolate rosettes.
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Substitute a simple floating-blade vegetable peeler for the Girolle if you want cheese and chocolate curls but don't care about going the high-tech, impressive route. Warm dark chocolate very slightly before making curls; cheese and milk chocolate are fine for cutting when cool. Run the vegetable peeler along the side of a block of cheese or chocolate, and you'll get irregular curls-not rosettes-that are great for garnishing dishes and desserts.
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Tips & Warnings
Find Tete de Moine cheese and Girolle-ready chocolate wheels at specialty cheese shops or online.
Look for Girolle models with glass covers if your cheese and chocolate curling becomes a nightly habit or you want to keep your high-tech gadget on display.
Follow the manufacturer's instructions for cleaning and maintaining your Girolle cheese and chocolate curler. The instruction book also contains recipes and other useful tips.
