alanamoana
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Posts posted by alanamoana
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If you're not worried about price, then Kaygetsu would be your best bet in SiliValley.
They are in Menlo Park...a little further than 20 minutes, but not by much.
There's a little place, more of a hole in the wall in Los Altos. It is behind Los Altos Grill on (near) 3rd street. I can't remember the name of the place, but I have eaten there and it is decent to good.
Overall, after having lived in New York City for four years, I've been pretty disappointed in the quality of the sushi down here. San Francisco has some better offerings, but New York has a surprising number of very good neighborhood places along with the several really great places that just can't be beat.
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or melted white chocolate, for those times when you should have started earlier than you are
and you need it to dry faster! It can be messier than royal icing, and is probably not a good choice for something very large, but for gluing walls, doors, etc, from the inside, it worked really well for me last Christmas season.did you use coating compound (candy melts)? i would think that untempered melted white chocolate would take longer to set up than royal icing that is made particularly dry.
also, if you're concerned about your cookies getting soggy, you can also spread a thin coating of the royal icing on the back of the slabs (walls) and let this dry. this acts like a seal on the back preventing the absorption of some moisture.
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they're both silicone, just not sure if they're formulated the same. i know that we used the dark red (gastroflex?) ones once to try to mold butter for the restaurant and there was a definite flavor transfer, so we stopped. this was with no heat added either.
i'm not too keen on using anything but silpats for baking (otherwise, i like metal pans). don't like the result i get with the flexipans. i prefer to use flexipans for frozen applications.
i realize that isn't what you were asking, sorry!
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i'll reiterate what fg mentioned above in a slightly different way:
restaurants don't want to take the time and energy to educate the staff properly on cheeses. aside from specific high end restaurants, most restaurants also don't have the proper storage facility to handle the special needs of cheese. so even if you can get a cheese plate at some places, you might not want to because the cheese hasn't been handled properly and won't be served at the proper temperature, etc.
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to be honest rob, the representation found in PAD is probably based on magazine politics more than anything else. there are some discussions on eG from years ago about the magazine.
while i don't doubt Vanille Patisserie's greatness and i certainly agree with FPS being one of the top pastry-only schools in the nation the large percentage of hotel, country club, cake decorator and culinary school type pastry chefs represented by PAD (in the past as well as present) just shows a general ignorance of what is going on in restaurants around the country.
of the top ten pastry chefs listed in this current issue, only Gale Gand is a restaurant pastry chef (not affiliated with a hotel/casino). since she and her husband are running several outlets themselves, she is more of a corporate pastry chef after all.
sure, johnny iuzzini and some of the new york guys have made the PAD top ten in the past, but i think statistically, you'll see a completely different demographic of pastry chef represented in the magazine.
*this isn't to ignore the fact that some of the best restaurants in the US are now in the Chicago area. but i'm sure the magazine wants to give some representation to chefs who aren't living in SF or NYC.
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better late than never
thanks for responding!
that's why we pay you the big bucks (oh wait, you're a volunteer! thanks!)
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gotta love that the pastry chef is making less than the executive sous even though they're probably in charge of the entire pastry and baking department...
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i think the "whimsical bakehouse" book would be great for a 12 year old. it describes (with pictures) most steps in layering and making cakes (including the "topsy-turvey" cakes that are so popular now).
the colors are extravagant and fun and most of their information seems sound, so it would be a good place to start.
they list all of the equipment needed as well.
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they are great added into florentine-type batters
infuse them into milk to make a white colored chocolate ice cream. delicious.
caramelize them and use them in chocolate candies
it is also wonderful added to toffee/buttercrunch recipes (think: cocoa-nib roca)
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Any suggestions on pastry shops /restaurants with top pastry chefs in California? San Francisco, Monterey, Carmel, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Palm Springs, San Diego...
Thanks in advance
filipe, knowing the type of pastry that you are interested in from past posts...i would recommend "providence" in los angeles. their pastry chef is a poster (xdrixn) here on eG as well.
many of the places that are being referred to are very good, but not necessarily pushing the envelope. this isn't a bad thing, but i don't think that california has jumped on the "molecular" bandwagon the way that chicago and new york have.
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The "high-ratio" method was developed when shortening started to be used in place of butter. This type of cake is popular at high volume commercial bakeries. The high ratio shortening used, contains emulsifiers which allows the recipe to hold a larger percentage of liquid ingredients in the batter without breaking. Of course with this method, you are usually using a chemical leavening agent to incorporate air.
The creaming method doesn't always (in fact, rarely) incorporate folding in of egg whites. Creaming is a method to incorporate air (mechanical leavening) into the batter. A traditional pound cake is based on the creaming method and will use no chemical leavener at all. All of the air needed in the recipe will be formed during the creaming of the butter and sugar.
Egg foam cakes (sponge cakes, for the most part) do require good folding technique usually because the air needed for leavening is incorporated in the process of making a meringue which shouldn't be broken down when incorporated into the rest of the batter. In the case of genoise, it is a whole egg foam that needs the delicate handling.
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in addition: high-ratio type cakes offer you the "box cake" result, but made from scratch. try to find some recipes like that.
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I would appreciate any help from pastry experts.
First, I am not a wedding cake baker, but find myself in a situation where I am making the cake for our "daughter". I want this to be the very best cake possible.
Our neighbors are fattening up for hibernation with all the recipes I have tried.
Buttermilk makes a coarse cake, whipping egg whites makes the cake dry..so. I have eliminated that. I have tried recipes with cake flour, unbleached flour and all purpose flour. I have also tried a yellow cake using oil and wine. Perhaps I am being too critical of myself but I am ready to reach for the Duncan Hines or the Pillsbury with pudding.
Any suggestions would be would be greatly appreciated.
Lib
As you note, you're not a cake baker...is it at all possible that just following a recipe isn't enough to produce the type of cake you're looking for? Please don't take offense, but "The Cake Bible's" buttermilk cake is very moist and delicious, so could it be your mixing method? Over aeration can cause dryness or coarseness in cakes. Whipped egg whites shouldn't cause dry cakes either.
Also, many cakes which are meant to be layered are also meant to be soaked with some sort of syrup. Take that into consideration and you might be happier with the results.
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I have been testing a few recipes for my own version of this classic, but honestly: I'm not sure what the texture is supposed to be. They seem to fall either in the biscuit/cookie or the more tender cake-like area. I know that traditionally you fill the cakes and let them sit overnight, so firmer dough seems to make more sense.
Help?
While sorghum molasses was considered not suitable in most cakes and pies, it worked very well in the stack cake. Sometimes cooks varied the amount of sweetening by adding brown sugar to the sorghum molasses--one-half cup of sugar to one-third cup of molasses. The apple stack cake is a low fat, not sweet, many-layered cake. It is made with stiff cookie-like dough, flavored with ginger and sorghum molasses, and a sweet, spiced apple filling. When served, the cake is tall, heavy, and moist. The dried apple stack cake was a favorite pioneer wedding cake.from Appalachian Heritage Magazine
I've never heard of the cake
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my experience with indian food is very limited, but we often eat at Shan which is located on Stevens Creek @ Lawrence Expressway. it is across the street from safeway and in the same strip mall as bed bath and beyond. it is a bit of a hole in the wall, but the food is always tasty. but, i haven't eaten at the other places mentioned. this is just our local go to place when we want something spicy and delicious.
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from what i understand, schotts' class tends to be very specific to his style and most of the work is done for you. wybauw's class will definitely include many more styles and techniques.
with wybauw's class, there will be discussion of tempering (theory, methods, etc), but you probably won't be doing any actual tempering yourself due to time contraints. the chocolate is going to be held in warmers at temper for the duration of the class.
in wybauw's class, we used an enrober and hand dipped.
i think sote23 would have more information on the schotts' class as he took it earlier this year.
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it sounds like you're doing things pretty well already. what i would add is that maybe stacking the boxes three high is a bit much. the weight of the boxes on each other could be causing some of the breakage. i send similar cookies, wrapped similarly in cello bags with ribbon, but not in boxes. i don't do huge quantities, maybe about 50 at a time and just pack them loose in a cardboard box with lots of padding around them. don't get much breakage and the cookies are not thicker than 1/4".
try individually wrapping the boxes in bubble wrap before stacking.
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Hi Kerry,
The Chocolate Show can be a total madhouse. Be prepared for huge crowds! The website doesn't have a list of the demos yet, so I can't tell whether any will be good or not. For the most part, the demos are restaurant pastry chefs doing a dessert or two that focuses on chocolate. There really aren't demos that are specific to chocolate confections (at least there haven't been in the past). They are aimed at the general public as they do hand out tasting portions after the demo.
From my experiences (which haven't been too recently, I admit), the exhibitors show up for a tradeshow type experience, but the public shows up to try and get a lot of free product. As I said, it can be a madhouse.
You are not really near Bridge or JB Prince (they are both on the East Side, the show is on the West Side nearish to Chelsea), but you shouldn't have a problem getting to either with public transportation or a reasonable taxi ride.
With regard to hotels in New York City...lets just say that it isn't anything like Chicago. Every hotel room is expensive in New York, even if you have to share a communal bathroom! Definitely try something like Priceline.com or something like that in order to get a deal.
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i knew kerry would know where and how to get a bargain!
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david, while not ideal, i successfully used a glass table top to make a ton of chocolate cigarettes. probably much cheaper than getting a slab of marble to start off with. but you don't have to use marble either, you can use granite or other stone counter material as well. probably best if it is sealed.
good luck with your experimentation.
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hey david,
just so you have a picture:
of a chocolate cigarette "kit" from pastry chef central.
i wouldn't worry about having the comb notches shallow enough. you should be able to control the thickness of the chocolate with your spreading technique. practice makes perfect, you know...
do you have any problems making regular cigarettes? maybe you should practice those first and then move on to the shorter curls. once you have the angle of the scraper down for making sure the chocolate curls in the first place, it should get easier.
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Martin, thanks so much for putting this together and making it available to all of us! I'm sure it was a lot of time and effort to do. I'll be sure to distribute it to any of my students who are interested in this sort of thing.
Thanks again,
Alana
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sounds to me like you just made a relatively saturated sugar syrup. using acid and simmering will help to invert some of the sugar, but this is in no way similar to a manufactured invert sugar such as Trimoline or Nulomoline. these products have been treated with an enzyme (invertase?) which breaks down sucrose into the monosaccharides glucose and fructose. if i understand correctly, i don't think you can reproduce this at home, unless you are using invertase.
the properties of invert sugar that you're looking for when making confections are tying up loose moisture (lowering the AW) and keeping things like ganache smooth, creamy and to keep them from drying out.
i don't know if the syrup you've made at home will do all of those things the same way that a manufactured product can. also, invert sugar is "sweeter" than sucrose, which you'd need to account for in your recipes as well.
but, someone else with more knowledge, please chime in. i guess, the recipes wouldn't call for these products (especially by name) if you could just make them at home
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I am traveling to the bay area to do a wedding cake and need about 32-40 oz of passion fruit puree.
I tried Perfect Puree of Napa Valley, but it's only available thru wholesale sources that have large minimums and I don't have accounts with (since I don't live there). I could buy it here thru my wholsale supplier, but then I have to try to travel with it frozen. Also, don't want to pay big amazon prices.
Has anybody tried this one from Natures flavors? http://www.naturesflavors.com/product_info...roducts_id=4062
Many thanks.
You can get it at the market across from Satuie(bad spelling) winery, called Dean and Deluca.
that's V. Sattui winery. right across the highway from Dean and Deluca
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check out this thread for pay scale information.
there's a lot of stuff already written with regard to your query...please be more specific:
your geographical location?
willing to move?
your experience level/jobs you've held before?
what exactly are you looking for?
you can always check out reviews of restaurants, particularly in the las vegas (southwest) forum, to get an idea of individual restaurants which are run by hotels. vegas is in a class by itself when it comes to hotels and their restaurants.