alanamoana

patrick, what a beautiful pumpkin dessert. we did a version of this at my last job. the mini pumpkins were hollowed out and candied slightly (sort of poached in a syrupy bath) so that were cooked and thus edible. they were then cooled and the custard was baked in the shells. we then torched them just like regular brulees. offset the tops and served with little cookies.

although not as extreme, jeffrey hamelman and dan lepard are both proponents of wetter doughs, less kneading (by hand or machine) and longer fermentation times. i made some ciabatta that ended up being almost "no-knead". baked on a stone with hot water thrown on the bottom of oven for crust development. i like the idea of baking in a preheated pot. i think i'll give it a try.

after a certain point, there really isn't much that is purely original. i know from personal experience that i'll come up with an idea for a dessert, thinking it is fresh and new, and then go leafing through my collection of cookbooks only to see the exact idea jump out at me from a page. it could be that i'd already put that idea in my subconscious after reading that book, or it could be that i really had the idea but that it had been done before...you just can't tell. the thing is to embrace it all. if you make something that has been done before, you can always add your signature (and by signature, i mean adjustments, garnishes, flavor changes, etc to a basic recipe) and make it yours. and after reading this post, i realize that it is exactly what you just wrote Dorie. how original of me... can i just say, great minds think alike?!

Hi Dorie, I echo what everyone else has already said...what a pleasure to have you here! Not only do you post on the threads related to your books, now you make yourself available to the rabid eGullet masses . Thank you so much. With regard to the collaboration with Pierre Herme, did you ever have the opportunity to work in his professional kitchen (Fauchon, I think, at the time)? If so, what was that experience like? In addition, have you ever worked in a professional kitchen for any length of time? If so, how has this shaped your food/recipe writing? If not, why not? I just finished reading "Heat" by Bill Buford and I guess my line of questioning comes from my own desire (or more my past desire) to work in Europe at obscure but fabulous patisseries to learn more about my trade. Have you ever had the desire to do this? Have you ever done so during the time you spend in Paris? As an aside, I used to work with Frannie Rabin. If you talk to her, tell her Alana says hello! Thanks again for your tireless contributions to eGullet and specifically the Baking and Pastry Forum. Best, Alana

i just went to "great eastern" on jackson at grant. i thought it was reasonably authentic with pretty good quality dim sum. they don't have carts...they have a carbon copy menu and give you a pencil. you mark off what you want and then they start bringing stuff to the table. very hot and fresh. the amazing thing about the place is the service. very good. they poured water, served the food quickly, cleared dishes, brought clean plates about halfway through. only quibble is that i felt lightheaded afterwards. i don't know if there was too much salt or if they used msg. i've never really had that happen, so it could have been something completely different afflicting me, but i guess i'll never know. at any rate, if i'm in sf, i wouldn't say no to eating there again

why don't you do what they do at robuchon and similar places? you can blow sugar balloons (hollow sugar balls) and put the ice cream in them. i don't think there is another way to do this without the shell being too thick to be edible (without losing teeth).

Great minds yada yada, Alana. ← as i was editing to add links even

i also have a mold from jb prince that has assorted shapes (i think four or five different shapes in one mold). it's great if you're making small amounts, as you are, for family and friends. i'm sure you can find the same one at chocolat-chocolat (a canadian company that has good prices on molds). edited to add links: jb prince multi mold chocolat-chocolat website

bear claw filling or danish filling...you can add the cake scraps to almond paste and some pastry cream and make the filling. also in bo's book.

neil, you're always one to pick up the new books. have you purchased this one? if so, what do you think of it?

my only concern with gianduja is the nut content as the nuts/nut oil will go rancid before the chocolate content goes bad. if you store at room temp, make sure it is a very cool room temp. i also have a slab, but it hasn't been opened yet, so i hope it'll keep for a bit. thank goodness it is cooling down here in cali.

kerry, lucky you! i just love wybauw. he just exudes a love for chocolate and for teaching people which i find infectious. at his age, still learning new techniques and keeping up with much younger and "trendier" chocolatiers without breaking a sweat...it is something to behold. i hope his new book will be widely available soon. thanks for posting your experiences and tips from his demo.

i've semi-successfully used non fat-based colors for tempered white chocolate. i say semi-successfully because although it set up and unmolded reasonably okay, there were some imperfections. but if it is for a small project (bob the builder cake) where the critics are young and not so much concerned with appearances, you should be fine...particularly if you're not using "real" white chocolate but using coating compound.

right, but often, these products smell fine at the store and when you put them into an oven at 375 degrees...all bets are off.

what's wrong with cutting square biscuits? this way, you don't have to re-roll your dough and you get appreciably less scrap. most kitchens have a knife or pizza wheel, right? i'm sure purists everywhere are cringing...

actually, i think this was a bio on the history channel about chef hector boiardi (yes, the original). he really was a chef and he really did push start the whole canned food idea. supposedly, he started the mushroom cultivation and had some pennsylvania farms change from corn to tomato production for his canned pasta products so that he could have quality control over the raw ingredients used in his canned sauces. his name had a more italian pronounciation and they changed it, to boyardee, on the can so people could pronounce it (and also so that it didn't really resemble his real name when the company was sold). a little off topic, but interesting nonetheless.

i also visited while in nyc the last two weeks of september. i really like what will is doing. an ambitious menu that challenges will as well as the guest without being so intellectual that you can't really enjoy the fact that they are desserts. will offers a frequently changing menu with a good range of seasonal flavors. i congratulate will on a job well done. i particularly liked the "glasses", desserts made parfait-like in delicate stemware where the diner digs through the individual strata, trying to get that perfect mouthful of all of the distinct flavors that meld into a perfect whole. my only (very minor) complaint was that i felt the desserts were a touch too sweet for my palate. nonetheless, i enjoyed the desserts infinitely more than the desserts at wd-50 (where i ate, desserts only, two days after r4d). i also feel that will, with room 4 dessert, has succeeded where chikalicous falls short. i was so excited when chikalicious opened, but felt a bit let down by the product and execution. r4d picks up the slack and then some.

this had better be the real deal! my husband and i live on stevens creek blvd...we're always complaining about not having ny style pizza... thanks for the tip. man, i miss new york. (but not the weather, thank you very much )

congratulations susan!!! beautiful loaves

i'm not kerry, but the bars are solid metal. very heavy. they aren't cheap when purchased from pastry specific stores or web-sites and due to their weight, shipping might be prohibitive. not sure what the equivalent would be in hardware terms. regarding mendiants, i put my tempered chocolate into a disposable piping bag and pipe disks. usually i can do a few rows at a time, then sprinkle on nuts and dried fruit before the chocolate crystallizes. you can really control the size better this way. also, the disks can be really uniform circles. a fun way to make petit fours.

i ate at l'atelier in las vegas. we weren't there for hours and hours. we did sit at the bar. i felt like the pacing of the food was pretty good once the dishes started coming out of the kitchen. the action behind the bar is fun to watch (i know you have a culinary background, so it should be fun for you too) and makes the time go by faster as well. it is a "fancy" restaurant, but it is a completely different vibe than per se and others. hopefully your husband can enjoy it as well. on the other hand, i have a really good friend (works at per se) who ate at blue hill stone barn recently (last weekend?) and he said the pacing was just as slow as molasses. they were a bit concerned they would never get their next course once plates were cleared from their current course!

i love trying to figure out what max has eaten by reading his face! both of your kids are just beautiful. don't know how you have the energy to do the things you do in a day, but i'm really enjoying your blog.

Just don't ask for a bite of my foie. And my opinion of a worth-it $20 martini is one served by a half-naked, buff, bunny-dipping* French guy with good hair. (*) Playboy bunnies, remember? ← i worked with a french waiter with good hair...unfortunately, it was all on his back is that an angora swe.....oh crap, you don't have a shirt on edited to add: have a great birthday dinner ffb...be sure to post your observations (to only barely keep it on topic)!

thanks for that clear explanation rodney. if you made a ganache with invert sugar, water and chocolate, would that increase shelf life then? since you're increasing sugar levels? this is hypothetical as i assume you'd want that clean flavor if you're bothering to make a ganache with water in the first place.

can you explain the reduced shelf life to me? i understand reducing water activity in ganaches in order to lengthen shelf life, but if it is only water and chocolate, what is there to cause mold and bacteria growth? i know, the water, but again, there isn't the same amount of sugar, etc. i think i'm being dense on this