alanamoana
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Posts posted by alanamoana
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dessicated coconut is dried and 99% of the time no sugar is added. it is usually "powdery" because it is in such small pieces.
shredded coconut is more often than not, sweetened. it is also in larger pieces, usually about half an inch to an inch long and flat.
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since you're just starting out, you can keep a couple of heating pads around to keep your chocolate in temper a bit longer. put a heating pad in a bowl larger than the bowl your chocolate is in, insulated with a towel if necessary. remember that this will change in the summer when they're still keeping their costs down and they don't want to air condition
.of course, you can spring for holding bins (the heated ones) which work very nicely as well, but they can be expensive. you can try to source reconditioned ones on-line.
if they let you keep a small storage cabinet (a good rolling rack with a door like this), you can always line your molds, fill them with ganache and let them crust overnight, then you can back them the next day...pop out the chocolates when they've set up and refill them so you always have some molds lined.
i'm sure you'll find a groove. congratulations on your new business tammy! i wish you success. will you still be doing the meals for 40+ at your housing community? sounds like 2007 is your busy year!
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i agree with own (phaelon56), check out the coffe&tea forum. he provides great links to on-line companies that sell espresso machines for home and commercial use (and some in-between). i bought a home espresso machine from one of his recommendations.
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oh and nishla, this is an amazing trip diary. thank you so much for taking the time to post all of the photos and documenting everything.
how is it that your dad is in taipei working, your mom grew up in taiwan and this is your first trip to asia?!
(i don't mean to sound accusatory...just a bit incredulous!)i was born in taipei and have only been back a couple of times a very long time ago (maybe early '80's was the last time i was there). i'd love to see it now.
i actually have cousins who are moving back to taiwan (where they were born and lived until they were about 9 years old or so) after living in cambridge, mass since college. an adventure for them as they've been living in the u.s. for so long!
i'd love to make a trip back...hopefully sometime soon!
thanks again.
p.s. please excuse me if you answered the above question already. i just got excited and haven't read the entire thread through yet
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With hand-pulled noodles, I wonder how they can control the noodle to come out as wide and flat? I would think when they pull the noodles by hand, the noodle will naturally form a round shape - law of physics.
for the wide flat noodle, they usually have a smaller piece of dough to start. they then pull it and stretch it out without doing the folding over and pulling/stretching that they do with the thin version. this usually causes you to end up with one loooooooooooong strand of ribbon-like noodle. there are places in mainland china that sell a bowl of noodles like this...but it is actually just ONE single noodle. at least that is what i've seen done in china.
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fat guy, did you notice also that "bruce's bakery" on the corner of...ummm...57th and 2nd, the neon used to say "bruce's bakery to the stars" or something like that. just before i moved to california last year, the neon changed to "bruce's cupcakery"!!!
the trend has become so prevalent that i'm tempted to open a cupcakery in my neighborhood to fill the void. i can't imagine that i'd lose money at $2-3 a pop! and with any luck (i am a pastry chef, after all) they'd taste a hell of a lot better than the magnolia poopcakes.
i'm ashamed to say that i brought cupcakes to the new years party that i was invited to
well...i just hope that i can profit from the trend one way or another. regardless of how it started. the thing that pisses me off is that someone can make a ton of money and then:
MAGNOLIA BAKERY Allysa Torey, who started the cupcake craze when she opened this Greenwich Village bakery 10 years ago, has sold it to Steven Abrams, a restaurateur. Ms. Torey will continue to be a consultant for the bakery: 401 Bleecker Street (11th Street), (212) 462-2572.this was in the nytimes "food stuff" column today (wednesday). so she doesn't even have to work to produce that crap and she'll still make money.
and another example: miette, here in san francisco at the ferry plaza market...was part of a pastry competition on foodtv recently. they sell little cupcakes also. well, their cupcakes were judged to be (gently) not so good.
just a little frustrating to know that mediocrity does sell...a lot...and that i'm too cautious to make any money off of the trend.
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sounds to me like you're tightening your wires a bit too much. also, when cutting through something that's relatively firm, go slowly and gently. i used to cut a pretty firm cookie dough, ganache and pates de fruit on a frequent basis and only popped one or two wires every few months.
then again, it could be the design of the guitar you are using. maybe the wires are thinner? then again, based on the information on chefrubber's site, it doesn't look too different from the german model i was using.
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thanks for the link GTO.
the "vanilla queen" is a close friend of two colleagues. i have heard only good things about her.
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he (wybauw) also sometimes does classes at ewald notter's school in florida.
i.c.e. is in nyc. it is the school that used to be known as "peter kump's cooking school" and is in chelsea (20's a little west of park ave).
i was put on a waiting list for wybauw's class in november and never received a phone call or anything, so don't hold your breath. his classes seem to fill up pretty early.
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Santa was good to me this year, and I am now the proud owner of a stack of transfer sheets! However, I do not have any magnetic molds. I'm assuming that standard cavity mold are not good candidates for transfer sheets. Can you suggest any fun I can have with my new toys, aside from using them on sheet chocolate for cake wraps and garnishes?
Ruth, you can make a slab of ganache, cut it into shapes and hand dip the ganache. then, place on the transfer sheet to set up or cut squares of transfer sheet to place on top of the dipped pieces. after the chocolate has had time to crystallize, you can remove the transfer sheet and you should have a nicely decorated piece of chocolate. you can also do this with caramels of course.
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clafouti
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if you are in Silicon Valley the Professional Culinary Institute offers one day "hobby" classes:
old schedule, the new schedule should be posted soon.
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John, as stated above, I love Kee-Seal bags. I've never tried their economy line. It does look as if they'd be perfect for what you're using them for. I find that the standard one I buy is overkill for most of the things I'm piping.
Thanks for pointing out their new feature of being able to purchase directly from them.
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bruce, if you like the texture of your pistachio shortbread, you can always sub the pistachio with diced candied ginger.
also, think of the "old" days when people didn't have any kind of mixer at all...as long as the butter is soft enough, you can cream it...just takes quite a bit of elbow grease. maybe not what you wanted to spend your christmas doing!
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there are tutorials on the main page (technical help, i think).
1) you need to upload the photos from your computer to imageGullet.
2) from imageGullet, when you choose to view the photos you've just uploaded, there's a link that says "click for actual url"
3) copy that url (it is easiest to do this in a separate window, so you can come back to the window with your post already in progress)
4) when posting click on the "IMG" box and paste the url that you've copied from imageGullet
while you're typing your post, it won't show the picture, but the url with tags...just don't mess with the tags and you'll be fine. when you hit "add reply", the photo will show up in your post.
edited to question: if anyone has an easier method for posting photos, i'd love to know it!
edited again to add link to one tutorial in technical help forum: here
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what?! bruce in the baking and pastry forum?! will wonders never cease this holiday season...
great job with your shortbread bruce!
Pille, that dessert looks delicious in its simplicity. i LOVE cloudberries also. i had them for the first time in newfoundland where they are as common as they are in scandanavia.
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oh, and i forgot to add my disclaimer:
it was my FIRST roast last night
it came out well, but it could have been beginners luck. take anything i've written with a bit of fleur de sel.
happy holidays everyone!
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Ann, the searing seems to be a wasted step (please see my post on alton brown's method). the final blast at 500*+ really gave a good crust. no need to dirty another pan/pot.
it took mine (closer to 5 pounds, but i didn't weigh and i threw away the wrapper right after buying) about three hours to get to 118* roasting in a 220* oven.
Alana, my concern is if I roast it at 220° to 118°F and then jack the heat up to 500°F, then the internal temperature is going to go up, and by the time it rests for 20 or 30 minutes it will be up over 135°F. We like our beef on the rare to medium rare side so I usually like to keep the internal temperature below 130°F after it has rested.
The small standing rib roast that I cooked on high heat last week, went from 115° out of the oven to 129F after resting.
I guess my new question is, do I just roast to maybe 110° before upping the temperature to 500°F. so it doesn't go up over 130°F?
Ann
ann, you actually take the roast out of the oven while you heat it up to 500*. so the roast has a bit of a rest and then you chuck it back in the oven for ten minutes to get the crust once the oven has heated up. then it rests again afterward. seemed to work okay.
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Some of the diners tonight (like my mom) want their meat medium, while others prefer it rare. Does pulling it at 120 degrees still sound good? (It's a pretty big roast--should I let it cook to 110 instead, with the thought that the ends would be medium?)
How long will it take for it to cook to 110=120 degrees? (I'm cooking it at 200 degrees. It's 9:40 a.m. here and I'd like dinner to be served around 7pm.)
Does a 45 minute resting time sound about right? (I usually let it rest for 1/2 hr. for a 12-14 pounder.)
Thanks!
ling, since we know that you prefer your meat "blue"
....actually, i don't think the ends will be medium pulling it at 110, it'll still be med-rare to rare. my ends were still medium rare at 119*...and after blasting in 500*+ for ten minutes.i know i didn't rest long enough, but 45-60 minutes sounds good. i probably only rested for 20-30 minutes
I was thinking of browning it first and then roasting it at 200°F. I'm assuming that the roast still has to rest when it comes out of the oven for 20 minutes or so, so I thought I would take it out of the oven around 110 to 115.Can someone please advise approximately how long it will take a 4 pounder to reach 115°F? Thanks.
Ann
Ann, the searing seems to be a wasted step (please see my post on alton brown's method). the final blast at 500*+ really gave a good crust. no need to dirty another pan/pot.
it took mine (closer to 5 pounds, but i didn't weigh and i threw away the wrapper right after buying) about three hours to get to 118* roasting in a 220* oven.
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Didn't the salting draw out the water from the roast?
not noticeably. i just thought it would sort of seal the surface...no real scientific background or anything, just messing around. the crust on the roast was very tasty!
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well, here's what i did with my first roast (sounds like a children's book..."my first roast"):
bought a roast last week at costco, no bones. i didn't want to deal with bones. there wasn't too much fat on the roast, but it looked decently marbled. it was labeled choice.
i opened it up, salted it well with kosher salt and put it in my fridge for about five days. i turned it every day and re-salted it after two days or so. i don't have a cooling rack, so i put it on a little sheet pan on paper towels and changed the towels every day.
today, i got it out of the fridge, trimmed off some of the really dry pieces and tied the roast then rubbed it with oil, salt and freshly ground pepper.
i followed alton brown's method for roasting:
1) 220*F (i think he recommends 200*, but i don't trust my oven) until internal temp is 119*
2) remove from oven, tent loosely in foil
3) heat oven to 500*F (i did 525*, again because i don't trust my oven, but i do have a pizza stone), wait for ten minutes after oven registers temperature and then put roast in oven for about ten minutes to get a crust
4) remove from oven and allow to rest
while the roast was resting and the oven was hot, i put my prepped potatoes in to roast
when potatoes were done cooking, i sliced into the roast...it was beautiful. i would say it could have gone a little less...maybe 117* internal before the blast as i'm sure the temp rose during the first rest. it was a perfect medium-rare throughout with a nice crust on the outside. i'd have to do a side-by-side with a non-dry-aged roast to see if it made a difference, but it was really tasty and extremely tender. i don't own steak knives and didn't need them to eat this. barely needed a knife at all.
it was pretty funny, because i've never really dry aged anything before. i realize this is hardly dry aging (in the fridge) but i've read bryanz's posts about it and thought i'd give it a try. right before roasting after looking up alton brown's method in his book, he recommends the exact method that i used...
at any rate, i think any combination of long-low-n-slow with blast heat involved somewhere is perfect as long as you monitor the internal temperature of the roast. i've certainly learned a thing or two from this post! thanks for a great meal everyone.
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JKonick, what a fun blog. It is so fun to see young people so interested in food. Especially, Americans who immerse themselves in other cultures and foods. It was a great peek into your daily life, thanks for sharing it with us.
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Suzy! Great to see you blogging. My parents live in Aiea and I lived on Oahu off and on growing up. I still consider Hawaii "home" and hope one day to move back. I can't wait to see your photos which will make me homesick...but happy at the same time.
Mele Kalikimaka me ka Hau'oli Makahiki Hou! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
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Just as a follow up: with all the discussion of the E61 type machines with heat exchangers, etc. I got excited to spend a lot of money on a machine for my husband. Well, when it came down to it, he didn't want to spend that much money on an espresso machine. At least not right now. So, I ended up getting him the Gaggia "Coffee Deluxe" espresso machine.
We opened it up and used it this morning for the first time (we're not too big on Christmas, so a little early isn't a big deal
).I went into buying this type of machine armed with all of the information on this thread and from information on coffeegeek.com regarding pitfalls, etc. I have to say, it is a pretty solid machine. Our first shot out of the box (after cleaning and priming) had nice crema. The machine came with a can of Lavazza "in Blue" coffee. My husband, who has been drinking instant for about two years now, was so happy! Of course, he said his tastebuds have been sanded down with instant for so long he'd think anything was better
, but he really liked the results.I can see the downside of having to wait a bit to steam milk and then to purge the boiler if you want to brew another shot...overall though, this machine will be used for a morning cappuccino and that's about it. Maybe if we were bigger coffee drinkers and entertained more it would have been cost effective to go one or two levels higher. I think we'll be pretty happy with this machine for at least a couple of years.
Thanks for all the informative posts!
Macarons – The delicate French invention.
in Pastry & Baking
Posted
with regard to color, paco torreblanca recommends using naturally derived colorants: dehydrated fruit and vegetable powders and etc.
there are a lot of these products out there (dehydrated fruits) that you can then pulverize to make a powder and then add it to the macaron mix.