alanamoana

it's the one from j.b. prince...but it is super expensive. it is made in germany and it is the only one i've used (so i'm biased) here's a link i bet you can find it cheaper somewhere else. but it is very pricey. disadvantages: you have to lift and turn your product as there's no side cutter, but the frames are easy to change out for different sizes. $400 more expensive for the basic set-up.

i love cherries cooked with wine. but i know what you mean about selling them. you'll just have to eat them...don't cook out all the alcohol, you want to enjoy this!

bri, how frozen was your mousse/bavarian? could your freezer been on the defrost cycle and thus made the product softer? this is a possibility. if it doesn't work when fully frozen, i might consider using a hair dryer or something like that (since you probably can't dip the whole thing in a warm water bath). and i think HQ is right, mostly those items that use texture sheets seem to be sprayed with chocolate to get the velvet texture. k8, you can use a decorating comb for some basic effects, but these texture sheets give you a much broader range of textures, like bubbles, basketweave, etc. i'll try to find some pictures to post for you so you can understand it better. there is a similar product for chocolate bonbons, but for cakes the texture has to be much more exaggerated to get the effect you're looking for.

i don't think $200 off is enough of a discount. because she's not disclosing her "modest" broker's fee, i'm not interested. i really like the german guitar which is much more expensive, of course. this guitar also doesn't come with a stainless sheet to slide under your product to lift and move once cut. can you change the "fixed" side? if not, i don't like that it is spaced at 30mm and unchangeable. if i were serious about buying one of these things, i would probably take the time to do it for free. i wouldn't want to make money off of my peers if i was doing the research already.

hey, we haven't had the requisite refrigerator shots yet, have we? great blog ladies!

this is a friend of mine...the picture is probably a year and a half old...notice the pride!!! hope he doesn't kill me for posting! most of mine are all healed, so i've got nothing right now. besides, i'm concentrating on cutting myself instead of burning lately

and i've definitely worked in enough high end restaurants to have heard the snickering comments from servers about what "table number such and such is wearing" and "can you believe they ordered that???" it does happen. i probably wouldn't have to deal with such a chip on my shoulder if i didn't work in the back of the house!

Vanessa, I used the cocoa barry product as well "paillete feuilletine". I temper chocolate and stir in the feuilletine, spread it into a sheet pan and before the chocolate sets up completely, I cut it. when I unmold it I just have to break it along the cuts. You can also use a portion scoop or a special tool to deposit little "rochers"...which is another name for the result. You can add other ingredients too...I added toasted coconut, toasted nuts, etc...whatever you want. I've used dark chocolate, milk chocolate and white chocolate. Depends on what flavor you want. The trick is to use more feuilletine than you think because you want the result to be light and crispy, not just a hunk of chocolate. But of course, that is a matter of taste Alana edited to add: i haven't tried the wybauw recipe yet.

or as stephen colbert said "i have a dream---cicle..."

what kind of caramel did you make? did it have butter or cream or both added to it?

ooohhh those are beautiful, aren't they? i think they are a version of the shredded daikon cake i mentioned above. the pastry looks a lot like italian "sfogliatelle" or lobster tails. of course, if you ask my mom, she'd say the chinese came up with it first and marco polo brought it back to italy! i think it is a version of chinese "puff pastry" where they use two different kinds of dough...one made with water and then rolled up with a dough made up of only flour and fat (usually lard). the fat dough rolled into a ball, the water dough wrapped around the ball of fat dough, then it is rolled flat, rolled up into a sausage, sliced and then rolled into a pancake (flat and round). the filling is then put inside and wrapped up...the whole thing baked. i'll check my dim sum cookbook and check it out.

funny you should say this...i think as pretentious as new york city can be, people can get away with being more casual than you'd think just because there are so many restaurants to choose from. and yes, expensive/nice looking jeans with a cute top or khakis, etc. for men are perfectly acceptable attire at most mid to high end restaurants in the city. sheer numbers and competition. i think when you get to places like the outer banks or a resort area or a smaller town that only has one or two "nice" places to eat, the expectations for the guests to dress up and be rwf is much higher. the service people tend to be snootier because they're working in the only place like that in town. sort of a provincial snootiness... and of course, after typing the above, i realize all the stereotyping i've done in making all those assumptions

temperature is a good guide, but it is more for safety's sake than anything else (pasteurization). cook it until it looks/feels thick. it will continue to thicken as it "ripens" in the ice bath and then under refrigeration. always have an ice bath prepared to cool your anglaise so that it doesn't continue to cook once you take it off the heat. even a few seconds sitting on the counter can turn a beautiful anglaise into a scrambled mess if you took it to the edge over the heat and then have to "scramble" to get your ice bath together. burr mixing is a last ditch effort to fix a broken/scrambled anglaise. if you do it, understand that your anglaise won't end up as thick because you've just broken down all the egg protein that has coagulated...and then over-coagulated. just like when you over-scramble eggs, the proteins get so tight, they squeeze all the liquid out and you have a separated mess.

thanks patrick...please pm the recipe if you have time (no rush ). your panna cottas look great! those glasses are so cute also.

i'm not sure what your schedule is like at stanford. if you spend the night on tuesday in los gatos area (for your dinner at manresa), you can get really good dim sum in cupertino on wed morning. there's a restaurant called "joy luck place" in a chinese strip mall called "cupertino village" that does very good, fresh dim sum. they open at 11am though and that might make it difficult. stanford is only a 15 minute drive from there though. if that doesn't work, any of the other san francisco dim sum places mentioned upthread are great also. you'll see coastal scenery in san francisco (the bay)...so if you miss it on pch, don't worry . besides, with the taste for california firmly in place after this visit, why would you even consider MIT? i mean, you know what boston winters are like...worse than new york, dammit!

sounds like you have your priorities straight . all the other restaurants are going to be icing on the cake after manresa and chez panisse (and possibly TFL). just relax and enjoy yourself. i love google maps for most things and their driving times seem to be pretty reasonable. map out all your desired locations and the drives between them...that will probably save your heartache while you're here. other than that, i just say go with your gut!

thanks for the reply patrick. sounds good. i meant to ask you about this on the dessert thread...you posted a mousse roll recently...did you use a specific recipe for the sponge? it rolled so perfectly, no cracking etc. a thing of beauty. maybe i should post this over there?

I've gotta agree with Sneakeater on this one. Some people go to the theatre for ambiance as well as the show. A guy in a hoddie windbreaker will certainly ruin the fantasy of going to the opera just as a guy in jeans would ruin the Alain Ducasse fantasy or whatever. You just never want to remember that guy in the stupid shorts. ← right, but sneakeater was talking about respect for the actors/musicians, not about other patrons of the arts...whereas in a restaurant it is certainly more about the ambience that happens to include other diners. i'm not disagreeing with you, just pointing out the argument.

here are some more questionables (to edit your list down a bit): Paul Bertolli who used to be the chef at Olivetto hasn't cooked there since 2000+/-. I haven't eaten there, but it was his name that made the restaurant what it is. Check out their website (Oliveto) and see if you want to trek over there. Maybe just the cafe before you go to Chez Panisse? I would pick La Folie over Fleur de Lys...personal preference. Plus, Polk Street has some cute shops, bars and restaurants which might be more fun to see. I might avoid Terra because Hiro and Lissa might be focusing on Ame at the St. Regis nowadays. If you check out the Ame thread (or docsconz's and molto e's california trip) you'll see it hasn't received raves...some decent reviews, but the fact that the owners are now multi-tasking makes me think attention to detail at both places might be lacking. I know this trip is for your benefit, but you are dragging your dad around who is admittedly not as much of a foodie as you are...that might color some of your decisions, unless he's just a really good sport . I guess another thing to think about is choreographing everything so that the driving is manageable. Try to do things in the East Bay when you go to Chez Panisse on Wednesday...so I'd drive up that side after visiting Stanford and stay over there until after dinner? Thursday you can spend the morning in SF (Ferry Building, etc) and then make your way up to Napa for the afternoon/evening. It is an hour drive at least to most destinations in Napa/Sonoma from the city. This is what is going to limit your dining options more than anything else. You might opt to just skip Napa/Sonoma if you don't get the coveted French Laundry cancellation. That way, you have the whole of Thursday to check out SF. More relaxing... Am I being a spoil-sport?! I hope not, I just want you to get a good picture of what you're up against. If it were me...I'd change my flight from Friday morning to Sunday evening. Then you'd have the weekend to hang out with dad and eat your way around the Bay!!!

another unpopular suggestion might be to skip dim sum altogether and just try restaurants that are unique to california. i know, i know, the dim sum is different and better and whatever...but tupac, you live in new york (during the school year) and dim sum is great in nyc and cheaper(!!!) than here in cali. i just think that trying to cram everything in is an exercise in futility and that you might end up regretting it. i think it was campton place that got a bad review recently from michael bauer. if that's the case, not that i take food critics all that seriously, i wouldn't go there. besides, daniel humm is at 11 madison park now...so you can go there and get the food he was serving at campton. i guess i'm only telling you where not to go...but i hope that helps narrow things down a bit?!

the fact that tupac and his dad have dinner reservations at manresa on tuesday at 6:30 prompted me to recommend that they take the 5 all the way up. if they take the 101 or PCH and plan to stop, then they might as well not bother with manresa (in my opinion...i hate rushing and worrying about schedules). a quick aside: according to google maps, driving from pasadena to los gatos on the 5 is 343 miles and approximately 6 hours. i think for these things, they assume an average of 55 mph. unfortunately, i think skipping most of the middle of california by taking the 5 might be the best way to go, time-wise. edited to add: all of this is moot if you decide to start your drive on monday afternoon instead of waiting until tuesday morning?! i'm going to say it again: skip the french laundry (this decision might be made for you) and go to two restaurants in napa, maybe even four for the same price. i would go to one for appetizers and another for more apps or entrees. more fun and cheaper. i sometimes think apps are better than entrees at most restaurants, so this way you can taste more! i'm only half joking as i've done this before (charles nob hill first and then on to gary danko back when ron siegel was still at charles and when gary danko had only just opened).

i used to feel this way, and still do on occasion. it isn't that i would walk in with jeans and sneakers, but maybe i felt that i wasn't wearing the right thing compared to other people. i think i've gotten to the point where i realize this is my own insecurity and that i have to get over it. if i've had bad service experiences, it probably has less to do with how i'm dressed than my bad luck at getting a shitty server for the evening. i know, being in the business, that i certainly treat foh staff decently (when i'm a guest ). and i know that there are front of house staff that only care about the tip...i don't know why i can't bring myself to tip according to service as i still usually leave around 20%, but rather than "outing" a restaurant for what you perceive to be snooty service you have several options: 1) leave a crap tip 2) leave a crap tip with a comment on the check 3) leave a normal tip but write the restaurant a letter 4) dress appropriately or any combination of the above. i hate dressing up too, but if i don't want to dress up, i'm not going to go to le bernardin, i'm going to get delivery. it's respect for yourself, the restaurant and other patrons who dressed up because it was a special occasion for themselves or whatever. sneakeater: i have to disagree with you regarding the concerts and plays. most of the actors and/or musicians can't see you. i don't pay attention to what other people are wearing because it is dark and i'm paying attention to the stage. it isn't quite the same as a restaurant where the ambience is part of what you're paying for. i don't think it shows any disrespect as you've paid for the ticket and therefore their paycheck. there are more people of lesser means that are willing to support the arts (rather than spend the money at an expensive restaurant). edited to add: cross posted with Leonard Kim, so although my post is poorly worded in comparison, we said most of the same things

some people think tempered chocolate is better because it sets up nicely...but i agree with kerry, i don't think it matters too much. just cooled down enough to not melt the butter. if you aerate it with paddling, it does just that...adds air to your final mix. so paddle accordingly.

depending on how firm you want your ganache: light butter ganache for filling hollow shells: 1000g butter to +/- 1500g milk chocolate couverture medium butter ganache: 1000g butter to +/- 2000g milk chocolate couverture heavy butter ganache for piping: 1000g butter to +/- 2500g milk chocolate couverture you basically paddle softened butter and add tempered chocolate to it. you can add alcohol at the end. also, you can use fondant or powdered sugar...if used, they should be paddled into the butter before adding the chocolate.

i've never seen any such creature out there, unfortunately. the most i've seen on convections is a fan that can be turned off or on, no middle ground. typically, the temperature drops precipitously when the door is opened and then usually overshoots by at least 20 degrees to compensate before levelling off. but, i've only worked with models like blodgett, wolf, etc. maybe there's a european model that's better? sodir makes a table top convection...but don't even bother, it's a stinker.