alanamoana
-
Posts
2,739 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Store
Help Articles
Posts posted by alanamoana
-
-
hi tammy,
there is a thread on this somewhere, but most people don't wash their molds much. the only time they do is when something goes awry and the chocolate isn't in temper and it adheres to the mold. the cocoa butter that stays in the mold (if it is just a sheen) is sort of like 'seasoning' on a wok or cast iron pan.
jean-pierre wybauw even suggests warming it up slightly with a hair dryer or something like that before lining molds.
if something does go awry, i usually just fill a sink with practically boiling water and a small amount of liquid dish soap and let them sit in there. then, rinse them thoroughly and allow to air dry. then, i use cotton balls to wipe out the cavities in the molds.
i'm sure there are other ways of doing it.
you could put them in the dishwasher if the water is hot enough, but i wouldn't recommend using soap as i think dishwasher soap is particularly harsh.
-
danish filling/bear claw filling
-
a lot depends on the texture of your finished caramel. i had problems when i made a particularly firm caramel which i cut into squares. i left the edges sharp and when i coated them in chocolate, they leaked at the corners.
so, after that, i rounded the edges of the caramel (particularly the bottom corners) and then dipped. this made a pretty big difference. you might not get as sharp of a shape (nice square), but you'll avoid most leakage this way.
-
new pastry chef at redd, nicole plue who was most recently at julia's kitchen in copia.
-
I have no idea if he "plays in the same league" as the other chocolatiers mentioned here, but there's Patisserie P on Argyle Street, a modest spot that has the benefit of being right across from Tank Noodle and right at the end of a dense block of Vietnamese and Chinese restaurants, groceries, bakeries, and shops.
The one time I went in there, the proprietor and a staff member were making chocolate right in plain sight at the back of the shop.
It also has the benefit of being extremely convenient to public transportation, as the Argyle stop on the red line lets you off smack in the middle of all of the fun.
As we are attending class at the French Pastry School, it will be interesting to see what some of the students have accomplished. Peter Yuen of 'La Patisserie P' graduated in 2000 and a mere five years later opened his own place. I'm always amazed at the determination some people have to own their own business. This is a great recommendation germuska, thanks.
The fact that is is near a bunch of Asian restaurants sounds like an added benefit
-
excerpt:
There is a new food game in the city that never stops grazing. A proliferation of blogs treating every menu revision, construction permit, clash of egos and suspiciously easy-to-get reservation as high drama is changing the rules of the restaurant world and forcing everyone from owners to chefs to publicists to get used to the added scrutiny...Unlike an earlier wave of food blogs focused on home cooking, recipes and basic restaurant recommendations, the new breed is gossipy and competitive; it trafficks in pointed restaurant criticism and tidbits of news — Craftsteak has installed a new stove! Emmerite beans have been added to the menu at Tasting Room! — and is unsettling the ground of the restaurant industry.
-
Quite a few of the ganache recipes call for small amounts of cocoa butter (about 1/4 oz.). Since cocoa butter is not easy to source in Australia, can I simply sub a bit of heavy cream for the cocoa butter, or just leave it out altogether? I realise that either way, there will be a change in the texture of the final product. Would it be worth my while trying to track down some cocoa butter? Cheers.
i might recommend calling a local high end restaurant to see if they use cocoa butter and then trying to buy some from the restaurant. some places might be snooty about it, but you never know unless you try.
-
there is another thread here somewhere that discusses some of the legal and health issues regarding prepared food at farmers' markets...you might have to search a bit.
the questions that came up were regarding:
1) the kitchen you're using to prepare the food
2) labeling the food
3) if the market has any restrictions regarding how or where the food was prepared
etc, etc.
if this is a tiny local market, they might not have any regulations in place, but in the united states i highly doubt that is the case. someone is always standing by with a lawsuit in hand.
i don't mean to be a downer but you should look at every aspect before you start baking.
-
little chocolate and marzipan piggies?
-
kerry, would you recommend wearing a mask in general when airbrushing? even airbrushing with colors makes me nervous when i blow my nose and bright purple snot comes out (or whatever color it is you're working with).
-
do you know how to make danish dough from scratch already?
if so, make some danish dough, make some lemon curd or lemon flavored pastry cream or some lemon flavored cream cheese filling and use that on your danish dough before or even after you bake.
a standard search should get you a reasonable danish dough recipe.
-
With the increasing demand for home and smaller shops to have guitar cutters and enrobing machines to do production chocolates, is there a chance that an exsisiting company or even a new company will come along with a scaled down version of each? Realistically would any of us spend the $$$ to get one if available? I still think that molded chocolates will be the choice for smaller operations until less exspensive units come along. Has anyone made and enrober type set up for personal use?
there is a thread started here in baking and pastry by "davidj" about the process he is going through to build his own. very interesting and informative.
edited to add: link
there is also discussion on this in various chocolate threads. you'll just have to search around and find other threads that involve discussion of chocolate making.
-
i agree with desiderio when she talks about different fillings. it's pretty impossible to enrobe a liquid caramel filling or a very soft ganache, so it really depends on what you're trying to cover with chocolate to decide how you will cover it.
they both - enrobing and molding - require practice and skill, particularly if you're hand dipping rather than using an enrobing machine so i don't think it is a question of one being easier than another. just working with chocolate can be a challenge in itself
-
Bill Yosses is known for his 12 bean vanilla bean lava cake and ice cream which was served at new york's 'citarella' restaurant. the restaurant underwent changes over the last couple of years so that for a time, bill was executive chef and pastry chef of the restaurant.
from what i understand, he's a great guy to work for. i've met him in passing and he's very personable.
congratulations! that's gotta be a stressful job
...and what happens after elections? -
Stunning and gorgeous as usual, Vanessa!
What size paper cups are you using?
Truffles that are about 1" diameter work well in a #8 cup & molded chocolates try a #5 cup. Here is a good source Cybercakes
Mark
this source is about half the price. i think they do have a minimum order, and they only have like two sizes of the different colors (limited), but at $4/1000 cups, they are very cheap.
they also are pretty cheap on basic boxes. i bought some two piece boxes (white bottoms with clear acetate tops) very inexpensively. and lollipop sticks which i use for cookies.
-
vanessa, you are completely pazzo!!! what great chocolates!
everyone is working so hard...i forgot completely about valentine's day
-
we have three or four of these mol d'art melters on at work 24/7. just give the chocolate a stir now and again to make sure it isn't too hot on the bottom while setting up on the top. the chef who uses the chocolate the most doesn't seem to think it is a problem. just seed if necessary.
if the melter is super full, i just put some seed in a bowl and ladle some from the melter over it and use that until the melter is a little lower and i can add more seed to it to bring it back into temper.
-
[...]And next time I'll mix some of the white into the red to get a dark pink, which I think will show up better.
But they are really glossy and shiny, and the colored cocoa butter was really easy to use.
great job tammy! i think you'll find that you can't really get too dark a pink by mixing red with white. i thought i could and it sort of ends up a muddled color that you won't like too much. maybe you'll have better luck that i did.
how are you enjoying your melter?
and kerry, such nice packaging, and chocolates. i hope everyone appreciates all the work you do for them. this was a donation, right? you have more energy than i can imagine.
-
to be honest mark, it could even be that you're not cutting the fat into the flour enough. sounds counterintuitive, but let me explain and i might contradict others here so bear with me:
if we're talking about a flaky pie dough, you want to have pieces of fat left whole so that when you roll out and bake your pastry, the flat pieces of fat will melt, leaving layers of air between baked dough layers. sort of like a quick puff pastry without the turns.
i find that my problem is i actually under mix my fat into the flour (my pieces of fat are too big). this leaves the flour available to absorb water and thus creates gluten which in turn bakes up to be tough crust. the only time you're developing gluten (sorry k8) is when it is activated with the addition of water. if you cut your fat into the flour a little more, there is less flour available to absorb water and thus less gluten available to develop once you create a dough.
i think this is why the food processor method works so well. it is fast, the blade is sharp and you end up mixing the dough a touch more than you would by hand, so the fat is a little bit more combined, thus 'shortening' the gluten strands.
there is also another definition for pate brisee which confuses the issue. the french term can mean a 'mealy dough'. the only difference being that with this version, you're almost completely combining the fat into the flour, coating all of it with fat so you only need a tiny bit of water to create a dough. sort of like a neutral or savory short dough.
the text book "on cooking" by labensky and hause use the term pate brisee to mean both flaky and mealy dough and expands on this by describing the two mixing techniques.
the fear of over working the fat into the flour has been my downfall. i agree with k8 when she refers to betty crocker who says to add part of the fat and work it in pretty well and then add the rest and leave the second addition the size of peas or corn kernels. but i do think you should work it with your hands so that you know what it all feels like and what it should look like before you start using a food processor.
-
i am interested in doing a swap, but i'm thinking that the shipping costs might be prohibitive...also, because it is cocoa butter, temperature is an issue. luckily it is winter, but even so, an ice pack or insulated packaging might be in order which would increase cost.
-
here is a link to a thread which discusses how to post photos:
if you still have questions, you can probably pm the forum manager PamR. because you are a new member, you might have a smaller imageGullet memory bank so talk to her about it.
we really appreciate your post and hope that we see more like them. sometimes taking classes is so cost prohibitive that this is a great way to share some of that information. so, thanks again.
best,
alana
-
Hi All,
I have one nigh in San Jose soon, and I want to get some recomendations. I am looking for dinner recomendations that serves good local food - nothing too fancy, but I really want to get some local cuisine. I am willing to travel a bit, but would prefer to stay within 15 - 20 minutes of the San Jose / Milpitas area.
Thanks in advance for your recomendations. I'll report my results when I get back home.
if you're staying in milpitas, there's very good chinese food and islamic chinese food right there. darda seafood restaurant in milpitas makes great chinese...no pork!
edited to add: link to darda
-
Onion and Gorgonzola filled bialys from The Bread Bible. Of course, they look down right shameful in here with all these beautiful loaves.
you're just fishing, right? those are gorgeous!
-
making a living wage and not being at the poverty line isn't necessarily a good thing. what about retirement? what about long term benefits? there are very few restaurants who offer 401K plans or decent health care at an affordable rate.
the only reason i continue to be a pastry chef (and i'm not working in restaurants any more) is because my husband's job supports my career choice. that isn't why i married him, but i'm lucky that i found someone who understands that my job doesn't offer much to to the pot. it's depressing to me because although i didn't have stars in my eyes when i entered the field, i thought i could at least support myself and live a decent life with my career choice (especially if i didn't find the mate of my dreams).
granted, i made some choices because of my relationship that narrowed my options and salary level...by that, i mean that i chose to have time to spend with my significant other. had i chosen to stay focused on career and not my life, i'd probably be making close to six figures but i'd also be working close to 24/7/365...it is up to you to decide what will make you happier.
but to answer the initial question posted by the thread starter:
a line cook in nyc can expect to make anywhere from $9-$13/hour which adds up to about $19,000-$25,000/year gross.
a sous chef can expect to make about $25,000-$45,000/year gross.
but remember, this is new york city. i'm not counting federal, state and city taxes, medical benefits (if any), meal deductions (yes, some restaurants do take money from paychecks for 'family' meals), and the biggie which is the cost of living in nyc. i was living in queens in a studio apartment which cost me $975/month plus utilities. that's a big chunk of change and it was undervalued. imagine trying to find an apartment in the city? i have friends who were living in studios in manhattan for $1300/month...more than 50% of their net monthly pay. who can live on that? sure, it's above the poverty line, but that's pretty relative.
Demo: Transfer Sheets on Chocolate Bonbons
in Pastry & Baking
Posted
i'll just second what john stated. you need to use the chocolate as close to the higher end of in temper as possible in order to melt the cocoa butter on the transfer sheet so it sticks to your chocolate. i had the same problems with transfers and raising the temp of the chocolate solved the problem.
good luck!