alanamoana

This article in the New York Times on high fructose corn syrup has some interesting information that I have not read before.

devlin, are you sure you want a deck oven for cakes, etc? i would think that you'd want a convection oven since you have the wood burning oven for your breads... if you decide on a convection which is great for cakes and cookies, try and get one where you can shut off the fan. that way, you have more versatility.

you can register your shock, but it won't change the fact that sysco makes better fries than most restaurants can. the whole process of blanching in lower temperature oil first and then frying at regular (375 degrees F) temperature to get the right kind of "crust" is just too much for most places to handle. even places that charge $23-32/entree. Their labor costs add up, you know! the funny part is when you read a restaurant review and the critic raves about the french fries...when all the employees know they're basically the same as mcdonalds!

again, a different creature.

Silence of the Wedding Cake but there is another way...you can glaze with italian meringue buttercream. perfectly shmoove surface, rounded edges...tastes great (but i won't say less filling).

i think i'd be blacklisted from every major restaurant in the united states if i said what i think of chefs i've either worked for or met through cooking events. and that's good or bad!

i don't know anything about welding, etc. but i do think that looping the wire is not the best idea. uneven tightening as you mentioned is the first disadvantage. also, when one section snaps, the entire thing is useless and you need a really long piece of wire to replace the whole thing. when one snaps on a regular guitar, you just cut off a piece of wire and tighten it in. much easier. the different sized cutting frames insert into a notched piece of metal on the commercial guitars. that way, you just pop them out. that makes up the hinge. no screwing or unscrewing a bolt to remove the cutting frames. not sure how to describe this better, but they are easy to use and effective.

the stuff you're talking about is soft fondant and is very different from rolled fondant which is found on wedding cakes. rolled fondant usually has the addition of powdered sugar and glycerine and/or gelatin...pretty similar to sugarpaste and pastillage...but doesn't usually dry as hard.

I don't think fondant is a "recently exploding phenomenon" at all. I think historically it was used because wedding cakes were meant to last (at least through the first year of marriage, right?). This was when people actually made traditional English wedding cake which is actually a version of heavily liquored-up fruit cake. The fondant sealed out all the air and helped preserve the cake. Just turns out that for decorating, who could ask for a better canvas than a blank sheet of fondant? That's the appeal. Roll it out and smooth it on a cake and you have a perfect canvas to show off your decorating skillz (and I mean that with a "z"). This doesn't mean that I like fondant...au contraire, mon frere. And yes, I've already read your rant on cake vs. pie, so I'm well versed in your attempts to incite eGullet thread riots.

exactly the point.

Everyone should have a grasp of the basics in the broad range of what constitutes being a pastry chef. But...not everyone has the means or desire to participate or produce all of the items you mention. Working in restaurants, pastry chefs are rarely afforded the opportunity to produce showpieces, etc. Often, they are relegated to production roles. Really it is a very small percentage of restaurants (mostly high-end) who even have a full time pastry chef position. Often the persone they call the "pastry chef" is a low paid hourly employee who produces the same thing over and over again without much creative control (or even any pastry background). I think the people who get recognition (have you read that thread about men v. women?) are people who push their own agenda. They have publicists or spread the good word about themselves, or they do it themselves. Pastry Art and Design (the magazine I assume you're referring to in this discussion) probably doesn't have a budget to send teams out to sample from the huge number of offerings in the United States...they must wait for people to approach them. That is why I think they often have a disproportionate number of hotel pastry chefs included in the top ten. Besides, wouldn't you get sick of seeing the pastry chef of the French Laundry, Jean Georges, and eight other high end restaurants (pick randomly) given the title year after year? At the same time, I don't think that being a Certified Master Pastry Chef makes you immediately qualify for a top ten position either. How many of the top restaurant chefs are Certified Master Chefs? I doubt you'll find many. Most of those people are teaching in culinary schools or are corporate chefs for huge processed food producers (no offense intended, just stating facts). After all that rambling, I'm not sure where I stand and to be honest, I'm not exactly sure what you're asking. Can you explain your position a little more clearly? What kind of work do you do? What is your background? I've often complained about who makes it on the "list", but at the same time, I don't put too much weight on what Pastry Art and Design says. When I was in culinary school and shortly thereafter, I used to think it was important, but I've reached a stage where I think the magazine is schlock. It is good publicity for the pastry chefs, don't get me wrong, but as you state, there isn't much criteria...it isn't as if they have independent research and auditing to decide who these best are. Let's just say I wouldn't argue if they decided I was one of the top ten, but I wouldn't base my career decisions on having achieved it or not having achieved it. Sugarella, I think that mjmchef is referring to Pastry Art and Designs annual Ten Best Pastry Chefs award. And yes, it is Americans because it is an American publication...read what I said about budget, etc. above. I agree with you that due to specialization, there are very few pastry chefs out there who are proficient at everything. Unless one went through a French pastry apprenticeship starting at fourteen years old...very few and far between. Including myself, I think it would be safe to say that most people that enter the field have had one experience with many of the categories above (wedding cakes, sugar work, chocolate, etc.) and that is in culinary school. After that, you can get away with not knowing much about anything else but what is required for your job. Sometimes that's frustrating to me, but I realize that it is inevitable. If I want to do something well, I just have to push myself to work on it at home. After working in a place that only used purchased puff pastry, I decided to work on making it at home to get some practice in to see if I could still do it by hand. That kind of thing. I think the awards are given to people who do plated desserts because that seems to be easy enough to put into a magazine. Example: This person won, this is their signature dessert, here is the picture and a recipe. Isn't that great?! But I don't necessarily agree that it is people who push the envelope. I haven't bought PA&D in years because I don't really like it much...so I can't speak for who the winners are this year. I know that Nicole Kaplan won (second time?)...she might argue with me as she is a poster here on eGullet...but I wouldn't consider her desserts pushing the envelope too far. That doesn't mean that they don't taste or look good...she just doesn't have hot gellified sweet consomme noodles on her menu like you might find at El Bulli. Sam Mason won last year and Will Goldfarb won this year...they push the envelope a little further (I also think this is a function of the time we're living in...these items are becoming more popular, so they're easier to include)...but there were also a couple of corporate pastry chefs and people that I bet haven't baked a cake in a while, much less alginated something. So, take it as you will. I'm pretty sure that Ron Ben Israel made the list in the past (but I'm not 100%) so I think that cake designers have been included. I think the list tries to be varied (see below)...but I guess that's what mjmchef is trying to ask. Who is good at everything? To use a loaded term, in my opinion it is all just an "old boys network" and the p.r. thing we were talking about in the other thread. Again, my position is that I just discount it because of the source. But...to repeat what I said earlier...I wouldn't argue if I was chosen. Of course, I've alleviated that responsibility by posting this on the internet! Sorry for the babbling post...it's a little late and I often post first and think later. edited to add the list from Pastry Art and Design's 2006 10 Best Pastry Chefs in America: * Jean Francois Bonnet Tumbador Chocolate, Brooklyn * Will Goldfarb Room 4 Dessert, New York City * Nicole Kaplan Eleven Madison Park, New York City * Elizabeth Katz BR Guest, New York City * John Kraus The French Pastry School, Chicago * Joe Murphy Jean-Georges Management, New York City * Antony D. Osborne Culinard, The Culinary Institute of Virginia College, Birmingham * Anil Rohira Albert Uster Imports, Gaithersburg * Sebastien Rouxel Per Se and Bouchon Bakery, New York City * Sherry Yard Spago, Beverly Hills **all kinds of editing after the fact, but not enough to save me from someone's wrath

if it would be for a small shop or home use, i like 10"x10"...i got an acrylic frame custom made and it is great because you can cut 100 pieces...easy for counting production but, i agree that half sheet size (in the length direction) is good. otherwise it increases work because you have to cut off part of the dough, pate or whatever and cut down two non standard chunks of stuff. i don't think the wire placement is a problem. if based on the above answer, you'd just need the nine wires to cut ten rows. but it depends if you're making exchangeable width frames. extra wires isn't a problem. i think it is important because the stuff moves on the platform. you need it to keep everything aligned. particularly with firmer items like ganache and cookie dough. i like 1/5 inch, 3/4 inch, 1 inch and 1-1/4 inch can't think of anything right now, but i'm sure i will later. let's see what you come up with?!

i would think buttercream would be easier than royal icing...and it tastes better too. you can always flavor it with passion fruit or something to make it fit the theme. coconut cupcakes with passionfruit buttercream? sounds deelish if you ask me. the white chocolate cup with mango sorbet sounds perfect as well. remember, they're teenagers, so attention spans aren't too long. those two ideas might be enough to make it interesting.

if you don't have to stick with baking, it might be fun for sixteen year olds to learn how to make marshmallows or something chocolatey like bark. bark is easy and fun and tasty as are marshmallows...then you can show them how to make really cool s'mores (maybe you can get a graham cracker recipe?)

Great foodblog Marcia! I don't know what I would do if I had to deal with altitude and baking (already have enough attitude )... I noticed one of your plates was from Il Fornaio...was that from the one in Denver? It just made me laugh because I worked for them for about four years before and during attending culinary school. They might be a chain, but they're definitely a notch above Olive Garden. I also commend you on taking a common sense approach to dieting. Congratulations on your weight loss and your ongoing healthy lifestyle! It really looks like you still eat and enjoy delicious food...it is very encouraging. Blog on... Alana

Kerry, thanks for the photos! I made Turkish Delight in culinary school. I like it, but I think for some it is an aquired taste...all that cornstarch !! I also like it with orange blossom water. Vanessa, beautiful chocolates! I love how thin your shells are. How do you get the bottom so thin without dragging ganache out when you scrape? That's something I really have a problem with. I'll try to get my butt in gear to post some pictures of confections. Haven't made much lately...just lazy.

Will, On another thread, you stated that you have five ways of categorizing pastry/pastry chefs. They are the following: "ingredient technique philosophy love solitude" These are also listed on your website. Can you be a little more explicit in explaining what these terms mean for you? They might seem obvious, but they might have more meaning for you and how you approach your work and it might give us some insight into your style as a pastry chef. You've obviously come a long way in your career. Do you feel that it is worth it to have opened your own shop? The time commitment is more than anyone else could demand from you, you are more responsible financially, etc. Do you believe in burn-out and do you ever foresee yourself experiencing it? edited to add: Thank you again for taking time out of your extremely busy schedule to answer our questions and for satisfying our curiosity! We truly appreciate it and I congratulate you and wish you great success with Room4Dessert and Willpowder.

i don't know how it works in asia, but your best bet would be supplement your studies with a part time job in a specialized pastry shop. if you can't find that, there are plenty of hotels in malaysia that probably have high end pastry production. you can learn while gaining valuable work experience. unfortunately, i don't know of any schools in asia. fortunately, eGullet has a lot of people posting from around the world, so someone can help!

I'm not Kerry, but we used to make nougat at an old job of mine. We cut them and wrapped them in cello squares. that way, we didn't have to use the rice paper. I think it is mostly a non-stick issue.

jeff, they responded with what i think we all already knew...my chocolate was probably a bit too cool. the response was as follows: "Sorry to answer you this late. You need to put the transfer on the hot chocolate less than 30 seconds after the chocolate has been melted. You have to keep your chocolate in a medium temperature. If it is too cold it will not take. I hope this will help you. Albane" so, i had figured this out on my own. i've done a tiny bit more experimenting and they seem to be working out okay for now. just need to get consistency (meaning, do it the same every time dummy).

great job achevres! congratulations on your first paying job and hopefully that will mean many more to come. one thing great about the process is you'll continually learn what to do and what not to do. eventually it will all become a streamlined process.

I hear you WTG...I guess I should just go and buy one of those international phone cards just in case! Gotta pinch pennies where you can I definitely love PCB and their designs are better than most other ones out there. The fact that they are one of the biggest producers of these items is definitely on their side when it comes to shipping and prices in general. I know pastry chefs in New York who order exclusively from them and we're talking practically container loads at a time. Plus, if you order a lot of stuff, I think they give you some little freebie scrapers and stuff.

vanessa, just checked currency rates and i converted the 85.12 euro to usd and it came out to $106.63...as opposed to the $104.14 i got when i bought them. still, it isn't too bad.

i'll also pull up my pcb invoice and give you all an idea of what i paid. i wrote them an email when i was having trouble with the transfer sheets (the post that started this thread!) and the only complaint i have is that they responded to my e-mail a month later! although they did apologize for taking so long to reply. i guess i should have called them, but i didn't want to pay for an international phone call...cheap! also, i called qzina and they were very helpful in giving me quotes on specific items i was interested in. i believe they do have minimum orders though. here you go: pcb invoice... ordered four different kinds of transfer sheets. 40x25 cm one pack had 17 sheets and the other three had 15 sheets each they all cost 16.37 euros per pack shipping was 19.64 euros total price was 85.12 euros on my credit card statement it came out to: $104.14 USD if you include shipping that comes out to $1.68 per sheet which is cheaper than a lot of places that distribute pcb products. but this was ordered in april. not sure what the euro is doing right now. vanessa, the link you showed me...their prices would come out to about $1.99 per sheet NOT including shipping charges. so, depends on your needs. i agree that it is better and often more convenient to order from a source here in the states. it is just easier...but gradually...0.30 difference per sheet does end up adding up over time. depends on how much you charge for your chocolates i guess!

wow, their prices are really high!