alanamoana
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Posts posted by alanamoana
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Go ahead and eat it. Trust me. I'm an eGullet member.
I'd eat it too. I don't worry too much about pies like that. Fruit pies either. All the components are cooked/baked and overnight shouldn't be a problem. What do you think people did before they had refrigerators?! I guess they just threw away all their leftovers...
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Alana,
Different experts offer different opinions, of course.
From Cook's Illustrated, July, 1998:
"Several food scientists with whom we checked offered theories regarding the effect of chilling on emulsions. Dr. Bruce Watkins, Associate professor of Food Science and Nutrition at Purdue University, mentioned that chilling changes the behavior or some of the components in the egg yolk. For instance, lipoproteins gel at lower temperatures, and triglycerides, which are crystalline in structure, grow larger and more stable. Both of these factors might well contribute stability and body to the emulsion. Dr. Watkins also mentioned that these substances become less hydrophobic as temperatures decrease, which means they are less resistant to water. Their increased willingness to accept water would also add to the stability of an emulsion."
"Dr. Kenneth Hall, Professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Connecticut, added that chilling slows down molecular activity, which, in effect, makes ingredients thicker. The thicker the ingredients are to begin with, the thicker and more stable the resulting emulsion will be."
And I thought McGee put me to sleep with too much information.
Tim
Thanks Tiim for playing devil's (egg) advocate. Sometimes, I wear my blinders when it comes to McGee and forget there are other scientists out there as well...they just haven't written a book with all that information in one place
.Ciao,
Alana
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i like the tempering process that is being discussed: fridge, then freezer, then fridge, then room temp.
i've never frozen chocolates, but i'd like to hear what people find when they do freeze relatively liquid fillings. if there's more water available to freeze, does the filling expand more than more solid fillings? so do you get more cracking due to expansion?
i can't remember what wybauw said, so i'll have to check the greweling book.
let us know how it goes mary!
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McDonalds: bacon-egg-and-cheese-biscuit
but this has sadly gone downhill since i actually worked at mcdonalds and made the biscuits 'from scratch' (there was a dry mix and we added the liquids and actually mixed, rolled, cut and baked them). the bacon used to be bigger and thicker as well.
a better substitute popped up when living in new york in the form (although not fast food, per se) of the bacon-egg-and-cheese-on-a-soft-kaiser-roll from whichever bodega was closest to home...$2.50 including coffee and you can get it delivered to your door as well. man, i miss new york. no drive throughs, but delivery everywhere.
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K8, take a look at the "photos of bread" thread...Tejon made a really nice braided beehive. she shaped it over a pyrex bowl and took the bowl out after baking. you could invert this and it would be a great base for a basket.
i don't see why you can't add decorations after the fact. you're winging this and the people you're making it for probably don't know much about decorative breads and such. you could always 'glue' things on with royal icing or egg wash or something after you bake the base.
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Jennifer,
Thanks for the wonderful blog! One thing I wanted to ask was regarding the cookbook from your bakery. I noticed I have it on the shelf (don't ask how I can not know whether I have a cookbook)...how accurate are the recipes? In other words, if I try the cannele recipe from the book, is it close to the one you use at work? I know that the ingredients are pretty simple, it is more finesse-ing the molds and baking, but just curious.
I think it is time to buy some expensive molds!
It was great having a peek into your busy-but-fun life.
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restaurant supply stores have stainless steel cooling/roasting racks. normally they don't have any sort of coating on them, so they should be fine for roasting on. we roast on them in restaurants all the time. my mom even used on on top of open flame to do some meat skewers. didn't survive as well, but should be fine for indirect high heat roasting.
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I have a question. I have no trouble getting tall crispy yorkshire puddings in the oven. But they deflate really really fast. How do the restaurants keep those yorkies crisp and puffy from the kitchen to your table?
at least with regard to popovers (cousins to yorkshire pudding), i've always baked them for at least 45 minutes (closer to an hour) in a 400F convection oven. from what i understand this is common.
similar to pate a choux, popover batter needs the time and temperature for the steam to allow for expansion and for the proteins to coagulate. then the extra time is for moisture evaporation. you want them to be drier than you think. people tend to underbake pate a choux and popovers.
i used to bake about 300 of them and we'd keep the oven going all night during service. the first ones pulled were fine and we'd warm them up if necessary but they never deflated.
edited to add: marlene, looking at the photo of your lovely roast and the accompanying yorkies, it definitely looks like the yorkies are underbaked. a little too light colored where there are cracks. but if you like them like that, why worry?! it's all about your meal
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ooooh tejon, that's just beautiful! was it like a challah or brioche type enriched dough? it looks great and you must have proofed it perfectly as it kept its shape wonderfully. is the braid hollow? how did you form it?
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sandy! i'm sad we didn't get a chance to meet. but at least you ate at my favorite taqueria! i have loved the shady el farolito ever since i was introduced to it when i was living in san francisco. since moving back to the bay area, i took my husband and now all he can think of is al pastor.
so far, your trip sounds great!
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thanks for that point mary! if you put them too close together the sides might not stay in temper as it will take them too long to cool down.
thanks luis!
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Thanks for all the tips. It ended up going pretty well - maybe too well, because they want me to do another 400 this coming week
I did a combination of things, including freezing water in pans, as was suggested.
At first I contemplated working in the walk-in freezer when scooping the ice-cream, but decided against it because the last time I went in there to look for something, I had to run out thirty seconds later - my fingers felt like they were about to fall off from the cold.
i donated an old winter coat, hat, scarf and gloves to my pastry department so that we could spend time in the freezer cleaning...you might consider bundling up if you plan on being in there!
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i recently came across a purveyor www.terraspice.com who sells white cheddar powder
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using 'dead' dough has the advantage of not rising before or (minimally) during baking. this allows you to create really detailed designs and not worry about them losing definition by the time they're finished.
there are also decorative doughs that are very lightly risen (low yeast percentage) that might work for what you're looking for.
i would recommend using something like a cracker dough (not usually leavened) or a breadstick dough (usually a little harder to work with) to make the edible treats.
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there is also a point when the shells can be too thin. if you shake/spin/vibrate out too much of the excess chocolate, beware. there won't be enough chocolate inside the shell to have enough contraction to allow the chocolates to pop out of the mold.
and it is good to have a thermometer while you're practicing and learning, but try to get used to how the chocolate looks and feels when it is in temper. if it feels warm to you (if you do the lip test) then it is too warm as our body temp is 98.6 and the max that dark chocolate should reach is around 93 degrees Fahrenheit. it should feel cool to the touch.
oh, and take a look at this demo by John DePaula...
as well as this demo by Trishiad.
these demos should be a wealth of information.
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s.o.s. is a pretty lame reason to be fired. and just how would it compromise the presentation of bar food? as much as i get pissed at foh staff, i wouldn't do it for something that petty. maybe there was a long standing grudge between this particular waiter and the chef. i'm actually glad the owners fired them. let them get away with it and you end up with an a$$hole chef who doesn't deserve to wear whites.
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scary parallel...i went to tj's to buy the 99 cent ball-o-dough and they only had the whole wheat and herbed flavor. so i figure, i'll go home and make some dough...but i took a nap instead
.maybe tomorrow!
pizza looks great and i'm sure you're loving your brand new countertop and high heat oven.
gnocchi tomorrow?
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Just stabbing in the dark:
I think it might come from the fact that if you just put a price on a cake based on ingredients and labor, people might not understand why it costs so much. "What are you talking about, cake can't cost $500+!!!". But if you put it in terms of per person eating a slice, then people are more likely to pay a little more without questioning it. Like you go to the local patisserie and a croissant costs $1.75-$2.50 and nobody blinks an eye. Calculate that out to 150 guests and that's a lot of money for croissants!
While the price per slice is pretty common across the board, cake decorators will also have sliding scales based on filling choice, cake flavor choice, icing type and exterior decor. So I think there is enough room for people to make a choice that they like without breaking the bank.
And it is enough labor to deal with a crazy bridezilla that the extra cost is warranted.
I don't think it is an unfair practice or misleading. But one still has to be a smart consumer.
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I'm new to making yogurt, and am wondering whether using half and half instead of milk is a good or dumb idea. Half and half at Costco is cheaper than whole milk at my local chain market. I am interested in a rich regular yogurt, and also yogurt "cheese". I'd like to hear from experienced yogurt-heads....
if half-and-half is cheaper at costco...then wouldn't whole milk be cheaper there than your local market? i don't know that i would use half-and-half to make yogurt. the flavor profile is different, isn't it? and yogurt 'cheese' is just drained yogurt. you can get fairly thick yogurt 'cheese' even from skim yogurt.
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pizza!
and some sort of quiche or other tart-like thing with some sort of pie dough or pate brisee?
edited to add: i'm guessing what's for dinner
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Thanks John! I only wish you were here to photograph...you're a great photographer!
I'm going to try and do a small piping demo this weekend. Hopefully my husband can help. It's a bit hard to dip and snap photos at the same time and I imagine it is more difficult while piping
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it would be great if you could post a picture of one or two of them to help us identify the molds.
often, the molds with latches, etc. would have been used for steamed puddings (English style desserts). some other ones were made for paté en croute or other preserved meat type things in a pastry shell.
and some were probably for ice cream and the like.
pictures help.
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Mark, a lot of those self healing mats have inch markings (office supply stores and fabric/craft stores)...and you can cut on them since that's what they're designed for!
I didn't use hot water, as this ganache was pretty soft and I didn't want it to seal back together after I cut. That can be the down side. But, if you have a sturdy ganache, then that's the way to go. I just wiped the blade with a paper towel after each cut.
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I think it is what is called a "petty knife" by the Japanese. It is in between a paring knife and a smaller sized chef's knife...sort of my general utility knife. I like it because it is small and has a thin blade.
Here's a picture of it and a ruler for scale. Next to it is the piece of plastic that I cut to one inch wide to use as my cutting guide:
Stanford, Downtown SF, Berkeley
in California: Dining
Posted
CalTrain can take you to the City or Berkeley and once you're in town, public transportation should be fine (or taxis if you're short on time).
If you love baked goods, try to hit Tartine in SF or one of the Bay Bread locations (see jgarner's blog).
By public transportation from Stanford, it will take about an hour to get to SF (I'm including some inevitable wait time). Renting a car would be fine, but then you'd have to pay for parking in the city. At the Ferry Building, they have validated parking (buy something inside and you get parking for about half off).
I'm not sure, if you're there for food, that I'd recommend Fisherman's Wharf. If you're there as a tourist as well, then fine.