alanamoana

I'm surprised to hear that because I've heard to dab the top of the creme if it has moisture on it after taking it out of the refrigerator. It does make sense that the sugar would stick better if the top were damp, though. Thank you for your thoughts. ← I think the poster meant to spray the sugar to dampen it slightly for an even caramelization. The only reason I would disagree with this is because it would take longer to caramelize in order to evaporate the water. With the little torch, this would be prohibitive I think.

nah, we're just going to ogle yours!!!

i think another tip is to make sure that the creme brulees have had a chance to sit in the fridge and get very chilled before attempting to torch or broil them. i don't think home broilers get hot enough to do a good enough job before the creme brulee gets too warm/liquidy. edited to add: the great thing about needing them nice and chilled is that you can make your creme brulees (cremes brulee?!) up to three days ahead of when you want to serve them. they keep fine, covered, in the fridge. torch them when you are ready to serve them. here's my method (after torching literally thousands of creme brulees in restaurants): 1) put a ton of sugar on top 2) dump the sugar off. you should be left with a thin layer of sugar stuck to the moist top of the creme brulee. clean the edges of the dish if you're worried about appearances 3) now add a touch more sugar, maybe another very thin layer 4) start torching. with the small torches, the flame might actually have to be touching the sugar but i find with the hardware store version, this isn't necessary. you can start out close and as the sugar melts (NOT crystalizes, wrong term to use) and carmelizes, you can adjust distance to keep the sugar from getting too dark which might end up making it taste bitter. 5) move the torch evenly over the surface until all the sugar is nicely caramelized 6) if you think the sugar layer is too thin, you can always add a touch more. i do this while the just torched layer is still very hot and liquid. continue to torch. 7) allow to cool before serving. you want it to be nice and crisp and it needs several seconds to cool down. you can throw it in the fridge if you want, but remember that if you keep it in there too long, the sugar layer will liquify with all the moisture. good luck!

While I don't disagree with you about the quality of some students or the reasons for allowing them to attend school, I think Thomas Keller and any number of chefs would take offense at this considering they did not receive a "formal" education in the culinary arts. This argument is the dead horse that has been beaten over and over. Take what you can from your education and the situation and overlook those other students. Trust me when I say that very few employers that are hiring for entry level positions in kitchens are worried about where you got your education. They are much more concerned with how you actually work in a kitchen. The assumption that the only positions available to people without a formal culinary education are dishwashers, busboys and McDonalds workers is ridiculous. I just wonder what someone like Bill Gates could have done with his life had he actually finished attending Harvard...

so, if it is just swiss meringue, the only real issue i see if you end up with "soup" is fat. make sure the bowl is clean make sure that you have absolutely clean egg whites (no yolk at all) make sure the mixer is clean (beaters, whatever you're using)

forgive my ignorance but is seven minute frosting just swiss meringue with flavoring?

do you have freezer space? you don't have to bake and freeze, you can make batters and freeze them shaped and bake off as needed. muffins scones biscuits cookies danish croissant most of these things freeze very well. you just take out a few at a time and bake them as needed. some might need a little bit of thaw time before baking, like take them out and fridge them overnight and bake in the morning. obviously with danish and croissant, they are yeasted and so might need proofing time as well. i'd stick to the first few items. muffins can be portioned into silicone pans and once frozen, removed and put onto sheet pans, wrapped well and frozen. you can then just pop them back into the silicone molds to bake (if that's what you use). you can also just portion them and freeze them in the muffin tins if you have enough to spare and the space to freeze them. scones, we used to make and spread the batter into a sheet pan. we'd cut them once they were semi-frozen and keep them in the sheet pan. just break off the number needed and separate onto baking pan and thaw a little before baking. brushing them with a little cream and sprinkling some AA sugar on top makes them a little fancier as well. cookies, all manner of doughs work well rolled into logs (for slice and bake) or pre-shaped and baked off after a brief thaw (not even overnight). you can rotate your production so that when you run out of one thing you can change the flavor and you won't be mixing and baking all day for something you don't sell much of. the great thing is, you can usually see if you're going to run out of something and bake more off as needed so you can start out with a little less and gradually figure out how much you're selling to minimize waste.

often the term "deglaze" is used when you're making a sauce or something and have residue left in the pan. you add a liquid (like wine or water or whatever) to the hot pan and that removes the extras (flavor)...everything in the pan is used in the sauce. in pastry, people often use this to mean adding liquid to a caramel that has reached the proper stage of cooking.

sooooooo jealous! it looks like everyone had a great time. as everyone upthread has already mentioned, kerry is just amazing! her energy makes us all look like slackers. maybe we can have a west coast conference one day?! thanks for posting pictures and everything everyone

They look great! I was wondering if you had followed up on your project.

put 1 1/3 cup sugar with 1 T corn syrup and 1/3 water in a bowl over a double boiler. use hand mixer and mix (with the double boiler at a simmer) till firm peaks are formed you don't need anything else with this? it seems strange that you can just whip sugar, corn syrup and water over a bain marie and make it form stiff peaks...am i missing something?

check with gfron1 (rob) as he has made it recently.

ever eaten a churro? that's what they are, more or less.

just for future reference: there are sheets you can get from chef rubber, called chablons, that are used for making chocolate discs and other shapes in bulk by spreading tempered chocolate on them. you can also have transfers made to fit your chablons and thus make your own custom items.

just do a test run with those silicone molds. i'm not a huge fan of those (i pretty much hate anything silicone except silpats or VERY simple shapes) because even when frozen solid, i find they don't release softer concoctions perfectly (that sounds like a contradiction, but i mean things like mousse and bavarois). i know you have a store, so maybe you have a more reliable freezer situation (and colder) than a home fridge, so you'll probably be fine. just work quickly because as soon as they soften, even a little, they will lose shape very easily.

been using your bo friberg books?!

i was taught to use a mixer, but my most recent boss had me make it by hand. no biggie to do so. use gloves and knead until smooth! just make sure your gelatin mixture isn't too hot when you add it so you don't burn yourself.

for such a small number, it might not be cost effective to do it this way. most places call for a large amount of money up front for set up and a minimum order of several hundred (i ordered from American Chocolate Designs a few years ago, but price wasn't an object for the order). here is another site that claims to make custom transfer sheets but they don't have any info readily available on their site. is there another way to do this, like just making a piped design...monogram or something for the top of the dessert? edited to add: some places do generic messages that might be cheaper, but if your customer wants something very specific you might be out of luck. you could always ask Kerry to help you out since she's sort of figured out the whole silkscreening thing! don't kill me Kerry

you could use the marzipan to make a frangipane filling by just reducing the sugar in the recipe. butter, marzipan, eggs some flour. this can be used in about a zillion things. filling danish, baked into a tart shell and then topped with fresh fruit, etc. you can use it to make a sort of macaroon cookie...

to be honest i think that is completely subjective. i actually like mine softer because i don't like it when it sort of sticks to my teeth too much, which can happen when they're cooked longer. sounds like your texture would be nice.

remember that the op mentioned he only has that day to prep everything. i would rule out anything that needs to set up in the fridge (bavarian) as the likelihood that something will go wrong is just too high.

"use a little heat" / "a la minute service" ... you're paraphrasing what I said! ← i guess i misunderstood you. i thought you meant adding the heat before frothing the milk. and what i was trying to emphasize was that it doesn't take "brute force". i am not trying to make the case that you will have anything very stable like whipped cream.

actually the method with the french press doesn't take much effort at all. you start with cold and only use a little heat to stabilize a little (and so you don't end up with cold coffee). it could easily be something that you used in a restaurant on a line for a la minute service.

protein. that's why skim actually makes great foam for espresso drinks. high protein content, no fat. thus the instability. but, when heated, it can set the protein and you get a little more stable foam. i think mcgee covers this pretty well in "on food and cooking". edited to add: you don't even need a bamix to do this. you can use a french press (i think i posted this in another forum or thread), rapidly moving the mesh up and down in skim milk to create a nice thick foam and then heat for a few seconds in the microwave to make a great espresso drink.

while i don't know for sure, i would say that there isn't enough lecithin to make a difference. it DOES need to be VERY chilled, but it DOESN'T need to be chilled overnight.