alanamoana

Foreign Cinema in San Francisco

Swan's Down cake flour is good and usually available all over the place.

if you make it ahead of time, you just have to be careful how you store it. make sure it is covered, etc. so it doesn't absorb odors from the fridge etc. also, you'll have to reconstitute your buttercream before you use it, which will result in less volume (not as fluffy as freshly made) but will make the texture perfectly acceptable on whatever you bake.

brushing with egg wash is either aesthetic - to give shine to a baked product...or...glue - to help something stick, either to itself or another food product to it. so, if you made the "breadsticks" without anything sprinkled on them, then they didn't need an egg wash. if you were to have sprinkled more cheese on top before baking, then you might have needed some sort of wash.

sometimes yes, it can help control where the cracking happens. but they are supposed to crack and puff and get big and be light and empty and crunchy. i think if you're looking for perfectly smooth tops on your eclairs (i assume for glazing purposes), you might try egg washing just the tops? that might keep the top smooth and allow the cracking to take place on the bottom. oops, you're right, a bit off topic.

you don't necessarily have to make choux/eclairs with a plain tip. some people like the texture that a star tip gives the final product. also, when making swan bodies, a star tip is nice.

the reason it is pink is to keep people from mixing it up with regular salt or sugar since in the wrong quantity it is poison. himalayan pink salt is just another fancy salt probably colored due to the minerals inherent in its makeup.

not all dressings need to be emulsified...but the cooks should learn to STIR before ladling dressing onto salads!

i think it is beautiful and what a great fourth of july dessert. i know what you mean about the ginger on the berries...it might have been better with ginger if you had topped the cheesecake with peaches as those flavors go better together.

What's wrong with them? Maybe someone could help you troubleshoot. ← They inevitably turn out 'crunchy,' for lack of a better word. Vanessa/Desiderio had this problem with them too, and started a topic for them. I thought it was the flour, but I'm using pastry flour...is that a problem? ← are you keeping them covered while proofing? it seems that you might be overbaking and/or letting them develop a tough skin on the dough before baking which turns into a crunchy crust. pastry flour also isn't ideal for a bread-type dough. all purpose or even bread flour would be more appropriate i would think. it could also be a case of oven temperature...too hot and the outside cooks too fast and gets crunchy.

Lindacakes, along with the serrated knife option, please cut starting on the corners. this way, you have less chocolate to cut through and have to use less force. when you run out of corner (it becomes too flat/wide) turn the bar/chunk of chocolate and attack another corner. it's all about working smart...not hard

Anna, Village Imports carries some Weiss products. They have an open warehouse sale once a month. Check out their website and it usually has some information. From what I can see, they don't have the white, but they supposedly carry several versions of their bittersweet/semisweet chocolates. Cheaper than $10/lb from what I can tell. (they are located near the SF airport in Brisbane)

start with a hot oven and the pie close to the bottom (if that is where the heat originates in your oven). then you can turn down the oven to finish baking and as john states above, you might have to protect the top crust or the edges a bit toward the end of baking.

italian meringue freezes pretty well...think baked alaska...

well FG, i don't think that we're non-planners...it is just that "the life" tends to make it impossible to plan. you never know when one of your staff is going to call in sick or when the chef needs you to be at work because a restaurant critic happens to be dining there that evening... obviously this is more the case with people in management positions as opposed to the typical line cook. i think people in "the life" tend to be pretty carefree about a lot of things outside of work. because they spend so much time at work, they tend to enjoy any free time they have. they don't worry too much about the future (how can they when they earn next to nothing?) and tend to live in the moment.

i'd leave the vanilla bean in to round out the flavor of the brulee. the matcha will be a personal preference as to how much you use. start out with your basic recipe and add about a teaspoon of the matcha powder to the cream. make your base and then taste (once you add egg and everything else, the flavor will be diluted). add more matcha as necessary. you shouldn't have to adjust sugar or anything unless you feel it needs it. just like with savory cooking, taste as you go...there are no hard and fast rules with flavoring agents. but remember to start out slow...you can always add more but you can't remove excess!

we made malt balls at work with a meringue base...could you do the same with the flavors you are attempting rob? just make a meringue with cocoa and mint extract, bake them until light and crunchy and then crush them to get the powder?

a little off topic, but i think this is an asian thing. my aunt would chew the food first and then just like a bird pass it to her baby. saved buying baby food! my mom also leaves things out all the time. this doesn't work so well with rice in hawaii! i'm pretty relaxed about most things and will also leave soups out and just bring them to a boil before eating. we didn't always have refrigeration in the USA! i think as long as you're using your common sense, you'll be okay. but then again, nowadays with produce and stuff, you could be playing russian roulette!

if you're talking dough, then the dough can be made and frozen...unbaked. i don't think i'd bake it and freeze it just because of flavor absorption (sp?) and stuff in the freezer. but you can make the dough, roll it and cut it so that it is ready to be baked and then freeze...then all you have to do is pop it in the oven. freshly baked is always nice!

please be more specific regarding which recipe. if you're talking about the one with caramel on the bottom which is topped with ganache...i don't think it would freeze well. the caramel will probably not fare well with freezing and defrosting.

couldn't resist patrick! oh, and the sticky buns you posted just look incredible.

I went to a demo once by Michael Recchiuti who wrote "Chocolate Obsession" with Fran Gage. At any rate, the entire basis of a lot of his recipes relies on his "burnt caramel"...they specifically mentioned to use cane sugar and avoid beet sugar at the demo. I guess they feel that there is a real difference in the outcome. As Dave the Cook mentions, most generic brands of supermarket sugar are beet sugar as the cane sugar is more expensive.

pretty sure you meant "without any water added"...

it is very likely humidity. if you can, work in air conditioning and as soon as the nuts are cool enough put them into an airtight container...preferably with dessicant (drying agent) of some sort.

thyme-n-peaches ginger-n-peaches almond-n-peaches