Sadly, the headline of this post says it all. I recently tried to make Panna Cotta again, this time with powdered agar agar instead of agar agar flakes, and the whole thing was a mess. Basically, a sad, unsettled soup-like mess.
I used David Lebovitz's popular Perfect Panna Cotta recipe and despite googling around to make sure agar agar powder could be substituted in the recipe without modifying the directions, the agar agar didn't firm and settle the heavy milk/sugar mixture. I let the mixture sit in the fridge overnight, and still no settling. Ultimately, I think the problem could either be with a) the agar agar itself that I used (which I tried to modify the amount to fit the gelatin called for in the recipe) or b) not cooking the agar agar with the water and cream to have it dissolve more thoroughly throughout the panna cotta.
But thankfully, unlike the first Panna Cotta attempt, at least I knew it was a failure upon sight instead of having a deceptively good-looking dessert with undissolved agar agar shards throughout to ruin the eating experience.
If anyone has any recommendations on how to make a good agar agar Panna Cotta, please post in the comments!
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