Kitchen acetate

No, not the salt of acetic acid; think more along the lines of what you used to use on overhead projectors (if you’re old enough to remember such things). If you’ve ever bought a mousse cake with a clear plastic “collar” around it, you’ve seen culinary acetate.

I’ve been meaning to get around to it for a while, but I’d never used acetate at home until my recent dinner party, when I used it for the white chocolate citrus plaques in dessert and, especially, to line the cylinder molds for the carrot flan, to help them release more easily.

Why use acetate? Because it’s perfectly smooth, which adds a level of finesse to your finished products by keeping them perfectly smooth as well. Used properly, it’s one of those tools that can give your food the aura of restaurant-grade presentation. (A lot of Alinea recipes call for it.) Many of the uses for acetate can be approximated with parchment paper, but parchment has a tendency to wrinkle, especially when you bend it, while acetate will stay smooth. It’s great as a surface for dehydrating crispy chips made of purees, since it peels off very cleanly.

If you do decide to use acetate in the kitchen, make sure it’s food grade! It’s not uncommon to see recommendations to pick up acetate from art supply stores, but those sheets can be any of a variety of plastics, and may not be safe for contact with food. Given the relatively minor expense involved, it’s worth springing for the real deal. I get mine from Golda’s Kitchen, both as cake collars and full-sized sheets.