alanamoana
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Posts posted by alanamoana
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alton brown writes about this in his baking book. basically, he says that due to the power of the electric mixers which most of us use, a smidge of fat in the egg whites doesn't give you a big problem. if you're doing it by hand, you might notice it more if you have some fat in there.
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while the exec chef is an actual Google employee, the cafes are run and staffed by Bon Appetit (a catering company). i don't think the employees pig out or gain weight because the company does offer other perks like gyms and that sort of thing to balance everything out. also, the offerings are healthier than the chain options that are near the campus, i imagine.
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I just saw this advert for the new 'Skoda Fabia', in which a group of Bakers and Confectioners, fashion a life-sized car in Cake form. It looks like such immense fun!
Here's the video: Skoda Fabia Cake
Thanks GTO, there's a thread started on this in the Pastry and Baking forum as well.
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your son's jackets are probably a cotton/poly blend. if that is the case, then stains are much harder to get out than 100% cotton. pre-treating with shout or spray-n-wash with a healthy dose of bleach usually works for my 100% cotton jackets.
the black streaks you're talking about are from sheet pans or the bottoms of saute pans and the like and they won't come out regardless of what you do. the sheet pans are usually aluminum and they just give off this black stuff after being used a lot (grease, oven crud, etc.). there's no hope.
sorry!
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also, please make sure you have much more glaze than you think you'll need.
you need to pour a ton over the top of your cake/torte in order to get a nice smooth even layer over the top and sides (edited to add: at least while you're learning how to do this). if you follow brian's advice, and keep parchment under your rack and make sure your crumbs are secured, you can just scoop up the excess to use again. strain if necessary.
also, stir with a spatula, not a whisk...you don't want air bubbles.
if you have a couple of small air bubbles on top, flash very quickly and gently with a torch to pop them.
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slkinsey
lyle's is inverted based on the wiki entry. i assume it is something like corn syrup or glucose. probably is unrefined or something so that it has more flavor than regular corn syrup.
honey is also inverted...i'm assuming because of natural enzymes (anyone have better info? i'm too lazy to google)
with regard to supersaturation, it is as you state: one quantity of water is able to absorb/dissolve a certain amount of sugar. as soon as you need to warm it up to have it dissolve the rest, it is supersaturated (i have quantities, but not on me right now). so you're right on that part.
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eG member xdrixn is doing some fun stuff at Providence in Los Angeles...he fits the same profile as the others you've mentioned.
other than those guys though, there aren't many others (if any) that i can think of. i think it does tend to be geographical. because these pastry chefs are working where there are restaurants that can support their type of desserts (chicken or egg) they tend to be located in New York and Chicago. there really aren't a lot of restaurants doing that type of cuisine in other cities in the US. maybe Seattle will be the next hit but even San Francisco hasn't gotten bitten by the molecular gastronomy bug
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you would think. but i've had custom ones made at a plastic company and they charge for cuts/labor. so it ended up being about $40 for a 10"x10" frame (measurement of interior opening)
otherwise, can't help you
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a little late on the chiming in, but i usually skip the fridge-ing part and just wrap with no problems. roll the sucker up in the cello square and place your thumbs pointing inward against the caramel. you should have one thumb up and one thumb under and simultaneously twist the wrapper in opposite directions (one side toward you and one side away from you). repeat to secure the twist and you should be fine. it might loosen a little, but the double twist usually works fine.
i'm sure i made something completely simple sound much more difficult than it is!
good luck kerry!
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as patrick notes, the long simmering process also helps inversion...even without a doctor. that is why, if you're attempting to not invert your syrup/solution, you should cook over relatively high heat which would also equal less time.
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I would say the first one is more complete. The second one is more like little candies and garnishes and things. Nice to have, but the first one is definitely more comprehensive.
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before you use dry ice, make sure that the shipping company will let you do this. they usually have some extra form to fill out or an extra charge for using dry ice. if that charge is enough, you might be better off just using ice packs and shipping overnight.
other than that, i can't help.
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if you supersaturate your solution, even with a doctor such as glucose or corn syrup, there's still a possibility of crystallization. usually brought on by agitation of the syrup.
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1. have a tall container full of very hot water (tall enough that the entire blade of your knife will fit into it) standing by.
2. warm your knife in the hot water
3. dry the knife on a clean towel
4. make a slice in the cake
5. repeat steps 2 through 4 until all the pieces are cut
* if you're uncomfortable cutting the slices free hand, mark the top of the cake lightly with the knife before you actually slice down...still cleaning the knife between marks so that you don't mess up the icing
* if there's meringue (as in a crunchy meringue layer) in the cake, all bets are off as you'll need a serrated knife and you'll have to do a bit of sawing to get through the meringue layer
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if your ratio is off to begin with or you boil it for an extended amount of time, you'll get crystallization. most simple syrup recipes are just 1:1 by weight of sugar to water. if you're really lazy, you can do it by volume, but you won't get as much sugar in there...depends on what you're using it for. if you cook it too long, you're boiling off too much water, changing the ratio and possibly super-saturating your solution which causes it to crystallize.
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A few years ago, my wife bought some chocolate from a store that they had labeled as "molding chocolate". Normally, a good cook, I don't know what happened in this case perhaps she simply wasn't paying attention. Anyway, she baked a cake with it and it was horrid. She had to throw it out. It was a palm kernel oil chocolate flavored coating that she had bought but it was mislabeled as "molding chocolate"..... If this passes, look for disasters like this to become far more common.
while i sympathize with this error and understand the need to clearly label products...something labeled "molding chocolate" would definitely make me take a second glance at the ingredient panel.
again, this discussion is pertinent, but it won't change ingredient labels. if a product contains ingredients other than cocoa butter (vegetable oils, etc) then these items will have to be labeled with these ingredients.
if we're too lazy to read the labels...then it is our own fault. i don't think i'll ever mistake a snickers bar for fine chocolate.
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Vanessa, I'm not Patrick, but there's a decent recipe for whoopie pie from the "Chocolate Obsession" book by Michael Recchiuti. Do you have this book already? If not, pm me.
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Hi! Aren't we supposed to have thin shells? A second time would make it too thick, would it not? Could it be that my x3210 is not tempering well? It seems a lot of work to fill and empty a second time... Please letme know if I understood correctly.
And thanks so much!
Lior
just to clarify what truffle guy meant...i'm pretty sure he just meant that the shells should be thick enough to offer enough contraction so that the chocolates come easily out of the molds. if your shells are too thin, they won't contract enough and even after freezing and stuff they won't come out nicely.
with regard to airbrushing cocoa butter, you don't need to temper and can actually use the cocoa butter at a higher temperature because the atomization of the cocoa butter through the airbrush cools it significantly (and is also agitation which is necessary for tempering) so it comes out the other end at the right temp.
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i also believe (someone correct me if i'm wrong) that similar to using transfer sheets (which are colored cocoa butter after all) your chocolate must be on the warm side (within temper, of course) so that the cocoa butter will adhere to the chocolate and then contract with the chocolate when it crystallizes so that it will release cleanly from the mold.
sounds good in theory, doesn't it?
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try the recipe from "the fannie farmer baking book" by marion cunningham. it makes very nice graham crackers.
edited for spelling
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ooh if pouring some espresso over the top would be good, what about an espresso granita?
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John, what kind of ice cream maker do you have?
Also, I make a really nice avocado-grapefruit salad drizzled with very lightly sweetened heavy cream. I think this is a great pairing that isn't often thought of. So, you could make a light grapefruit granita to pair with your creamy avocado ice cream for a textural and flavor contrast. Great for summer.
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If I understand correctly, the books all come with a cd-rom which includes the recipes. I don't know how detailed the instructions are for completing the recipes as I've seen the books, but mostly just stare at the photos.
The books are cookbooks, but not in a traditional sense. I think (and anyone can correct me if I'm wrong) that they are more about the theory behind how Ferran Adria and his team came up with the ideas and how they worked them out. Sort of an evolutionary history of the restaurant and the concepts.
So, I guess it would depend on what your goals are in purchasing one of them. If you're trying to create a menu based entirely on their recipes, it might be difficult if you don't have an extensive background in classical cuisine and molecular gastronomy. While it might be easy to just follow a recipe, it doesn't guarantee that the results will be as spectacular or tasty as they are at the actual restaurant...particularly depending on the source of the ingredients.
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Pastry tip numbers
in Pastry & Baking
Posted
just guessing, but i bet the european tips are based on diameter of tip measured in millimeters.