Tempering is a process where you bring a food up to a given temperature. In other words, it’s a lot less complicated and chemistry-like than it sounds at first!
Eggs are the most frequently tempered food; that’s because, when you’re making a cake or a custard, you want to have all your ingredients at the same temperature so that they combine evenly and your batter doesn’t curdle.
When you use ricotta cheese in cooking, whether spread on crunchy baguette slices as a filling for our freeform ravioli, you’ll want to bring your cheese up to room temperature before using it. This is mainly for taste reasons: you don’t want to bite into a ravioli and be shocked with a chill. You’ll also taste an even creamier, fresh flavor when the cheese isn’t super cold.
To temper your ricotta, simply remove the container from the fridge about an hour before you cook. You can also place the container in a bowl of warm water for about 10 minutes. Both will eliminate the chill and get your ricotta ready for optimal enjoyment.
