alanamoana

i like tcf, but not for "melded food"....if i go there, i only ever choose one of three items: huge salad (dressing on the side), factory burger or one of their sandwiches. to me, that's what places like tcf do well. i know a lot of people who like the "melded" entrees. i don't think i would ever want to eat five pounds of inauthentic chicken milanese or whatever. so no, tcf doesn't fulfill my idea of what "melded food" should be. is this a new term for "fusion"?! their cheesecakes are decent although usually too sweet. the portions on everything could be one half of what they serve and you'd still ingest more calories in one meal than you'd normally eat in a day. and to avoid the dreaded wait, tcf is usually a last minute choice by me and my husband. so if we think we're going to hit it at peak hours, we choose to eat somewhere else. i don't make it a habit to wait more than 10-15 minutes for food. note that quite a few cf's are located in or near a mall (or pedestrian type shopping areas)...there's definitely a "captive audience" aspect to their marketing. and don't get me started about malls and shopping!

i just had an interesting experience: at this point in time, i don't think either myself or the owners know what the heck they want. in other words, the owners don't know what they want in a consultant...therefore giving me no direction and myself not knowing if i really want the job. at any rate, here's what happened... i approached them, suggesting they needed a consultant as it is obvious they don't want to pay for a pastry chef full time. they asked to schedule a tasting, but didn't give me any guidelines or schedule. i took it upon myself (which was probably dumb) to do everything at home. i came to the restaurant with ice cream base, all dessert components etc for four desserts. i finished everything there. it took about half an hour to present them with all four desserts, but it took longer overall as i had to spin some ice cream, etc. so, everything came out of my pocket. i tried to stay out of the way of the rest of the kitchen staff and i cleaned up after myself...overall i was in and out within two hours. i left all the extra desserts with the staff...which was appreciated. i know they liked what i did, i'm just not sure where it stands at this point. as i said, they don't know what they want and i think i just wanted the experience of going out there...like a "cold call" to see what it was like as this was the first time i've had to do something like that. with regard to the desserts, i made sure to make desserts which i felt "fit" with their restaurant concept, but which showed them something different. i know they don't want to pay their production person/plater very much, so i came up with desserts which would be easy to produce and plate. only about three to four components per plate, decent food cost, . i made suggestions about what i felt would be good for the dessert program and how i was uniquely suited to help them carry out changes, etc. not sure if this helps...

you can coat the cake in whipped cream and then cover it with a thin layer of marzipan...like a princess cake! of course, that's assuming the bride likes marzipan. this is an option only if she wants a very "finished" looking cake but doesn't want fondant or whatever. you can always use whipped cream to fill and coat the cake regardless of what you use to cover it with or even if you leave it just whipped cream. white modeling chocolate is also a good option also, what about just italian meringue? you can flavor that and it has a great look to it. but it tends to be rather sweet.

vanessa, you can try Albert Uster or Chef's Warehouse there are other purveyors who sell shells/snobinettes, but usually you have to have a wholesale account with them to purchase. with albert uster and chef's warehouse, you don't have to have an established account. of course, that means the prices are higher than wholesale. but they are options. particularly if you can transfer the cost to the customer. most places won't ship chocolate anything but overnight and that can add up depending on how much you buy! often, it can double the cost of the the purchase. if you can, it might be better to just mold some shells using regular polycarbonate molds that you already have. i've made some nice heart shaped shells with my molds. obviously you want something that has a flat top (which would then be your bottom). anyway...hope that helps.

i think "less toxic" is just a category for the web site itself. i don't think it implies that they sell toxic spoons or that these spoons are at all toxic. but it is funny.

thegreatdane, if you're looking for something neutral, and your tasting item is not liquid, can't you just buy rice paper sheets and cut them into little squares? then you can plop your tasting on top and people can eat the whole thing in one bite. or you can take the rice paper sheets (vietnamese summer roll wrappers) and deep fry them. they come out like prawn chips and are very neutral/bland tasting. again, i don't think with any of these items you can use liquid...it'd sog out too quickly.

this is off topic, but: chez cherie, if you're not doing production work and just want a stencil for fun stuff at home, you can make it yourself much cheaper (free?!). just take the lid to a large yogurt container or a piece of plastic of desired thickness and cut out the shape of a spoon with an exacto knife. when i worked in restaurants, that's what we did. there's actually a thread here somewhere about making your own stencils...some people use a hot knife, some people use rigid acetate, there are so many things around the house you can use. i've used plastic three ring binder subject dividers. some people even use heavy card stock (paper) if they're doing a special design for one time use. don't feel that you have to spend the money to have a good time with tuiles!

...ummm...when i lived there, we called it the tendernob...i know, a little graphic, but more fun than polk gulch!

i know this is OT but stephen colbert had a line like that in an episode of strangers with candy...hilaaaarious.

Bill Telepan is an eGullet member. I hope that he reads this e-mail because in ANY restaurant that is unacceptable, but I would have thought at his restaurant they would be more careful about things like that. I understand your "funny feeling" about going there now. I also don't think you overreacted. Most restaurants that use OpenTable are able to put notes on guest reservations...like "nut allergy" or something like that. Then when you come in, they print out a little chit and hand it to the server. Maybe (and this is being generous) the server was just busy and absent-minded. I would make it a point to specify the nut allergy when making the reservation...and then again when ordering. But it sounds like you did everything right and they did everything wrong. But don't get me started about front of house staff!

i love my rubber birki work clogs. they make them in steel toe as well! i also have wide feet and they work like a charm. i tried dansko clogs but they end up hurting my feet...also if your toenails are not perfectly clipped, you slide forward into the shoe and it puts pressure exactly on your toenail (at least for me). with the birkis, you can just replace the insoles when they stop giving you usual support. i don't like sneakers in a kitchen environment because they usually don't give you any traction at all...very dangerous if you're trying to move fast! i also have a pair of leather birkenstock work shoes (sort of like the london or tokyo...can't remember which model). i sometimes switch out the rubber for the leather to give my feet a break. also if i work particularly long hours, i change my socks...it really refreshes your feet. and finally...some people swear by support hose to relieve fatigue in the legs. good for avoiding varicose veins as well. i've never worn them, but probably should have while i was working in kitchens as i now have tons of spider veins. not too attractive

ooooh...no wonder! my arms, although certainly not miniscule by anyone's standards, could not whip the eggs sufficiently! if at first you don't succeed...well, you know how it goes. good luck!

definitely got me thinking...i don't think thomas keller rides...hmmmmm i think eventually, you're going to have to clue me in! a

also, if the other egg mixture wasn't whipped long enough, it could have deflated during your folding process enough to separate in the pan before it set up in the oven. you really have to whip everything until it triples in volume.

quite a bit of the truffle oil used in restaurants is artificially flavored or enhanced. so if you go to one of those places that makes mushroom pizza with truffle oil all over the top, that's what you're eating. they say on the menu "truffle oil", but that stuff is really expensive for the "real" thing. sort of like using vanilla extract instead of whole vanilla beans.

i've tasted stevia and without having tasted granulated fructose, i would say use the fructose! hehehe definitely use a lot less than the sugar and then taste. the sticky rice thing isn't like real baking so you can adjust as you deem necessary. you're the best trish. this little girl sounds so cute. are you already doing some matchmaking?

i really like their boxes too! thanks for following up. i can't imagine the stress you must have been feeling in the hours up until the postal truck pulled up...ugh!! i'm sure the favors will be a success!

i feel like yard, gand, et al. fit into the "traditional" mold. it isn't that they aren't exploring new flavor combinations, etc. but i don't think they're pushing too hard to put new techniques into regular use on their menus. but again...i'm shooting from the hip here. i'm basing this on their books more than any real experience with their product. i understand what you're saying doc, but if they are laboring in the same vein and they aren't getting the same publicity...then are they laboring in vain?! hehehe...i think ted listed some female names that i haven't heard mentioned before. but i feel that chika tilman is more traditional as well. it may come down to the next generation who have had a chance to work for the likes of mason, goldfarb, stupak and adria...before we see female pastry chefs following the lead of their mentors. and yes, i'm belaboring the point, but i am a female pastry chef who attempts to keep abreast (hehehe) of the news and goings on in the pastry world...there just aren't any names that pop into my head. but i'm beginning to lose interest in the whole pr machine anyway. see what happens after leaving the biz for a year?!

thanks alex. i only wish i was still living in new york so i could see what you're up to! the concentration of great chefs and pastry chefs in new york city is so unfair to those of us geographically challenged. although i didn't participate as much as i should have while living there for the past four years...and now i'm gone. but that's my own fault. good luck in your new digs and i hope being surrounded by all those guys (and i do mean guys...hehehe) gets your creative juices flowing even heavier!

just thought of this too...you can make pineapple chips/flowers by drying thinly sliced pineapple (other fruits...banana chips, mango chips, etc) on silpats in the oven and shaping them into flowers. that would give you some crisp/tooth without added artificial sugar and it would look cool too in a parfait! just keep them separate until you put it on the table. yeah, i realized the fritters wouldn't be good as a pot luck item...just brainstorming. i like the idea of a granola type crunchy thing too! sounds like you've got some good ideas. edited to add: also, they sell these great dehydrated berries (can't remember the name) and you could mix that with the granola component to give it more crunch and more kick...again without adding sugar.

i feel your pain

without having done any research on the subject and basing this purely on names i have heard of, i feel like it is true (how's that for qualification?) other than the husband and wife partners Dominique and Cindy Duby of Canada, whose desserts aren't so much avant garde as just a little different...i'd be hard pressed to find a female chef who is producing desserts on the level of sam mason, alex stupak, albert adria, will goldfarb etc. as a matter of fact, there really aren't very many pastry chefs at all who are making desserts in that style. i think there is someone who posts on eGullet who works at some resort in colorado or something and his wife does the desserts...hers are more on the molecular gastronomy scale, but they aren't in the press the way these other gentlemen are. someone speak up here and set me straight! edited to add: cross posted with ted and akwa...thanks for putting some names out there with regard to traditional and avant garde: i don't really think there is a controversy involved so much as a discussion of the preferences of different pastry chefs for either traditional or avant garde methods in their desserts. and neither choice or a blend thereof has to be inherently wrong or right. it is a personal choice. whatever gels your puree, so to speak. i mean, when someone first whipped egg whites into a meringue, that was "avant garde" wasn't it? using glycerine to maintain flexibility in sugar paste preparations was "avant garde" isn't it? everything comes from somewhere. this isn't to say that everything has been done before, it obviously hasn't...but as some might argue, hydrocolloids and such have been used in industrial food processing for quite some time before they were "discovered" to have uses in restaurant kitchens. but it had to start somewhere. i said it before...my hat is off to those of you persistent enough to do the experimentation and hard work in making these processes mainstream. it is hard enough to come up with new ideas but even harder to make them an everyday item and expose people to these interesting ideas. i guess where i stand, on the traditional side of things, comes from the realization that there are so many people making BAD traditional desserts (and i only mean following traditional methods and techniques) that i just want to make them better. sort of like understanding that picasso, as a modern artist, started with a great foundation in the basics of fine art before evolving into cubism...so many "pastry chefs" don't even have a handle on the basics before they try to make the jump into using materials they have no understanding of. but this is where i hope (as i haven't tried most of the "avant garde" desserts) you all are aiming. you can't make a flexible ganache or a powderized ice cream without understanding the fundamentals of making a traditional ganache or creamy frozen ice cream. you have to understand the chemistry and function of each ingredient fully before you can turn it into a cubist dessert. it is way beyond creative plating. but i know that there are young chefs out there who see what avant garde chefs are doing and just jump ahead with recipes and formulas ferran and others have put into the world and couldn't bake a cake to save their lives. so again, as there isn't an inherent controversy, there is a need to understand fully what has come before (the traditional) in order to move ahead (the avant garde). therefore one cannot discount either philosophy. ...just make it taste good and look good!!!

trish, with rice pudding...made with coconut milk...you can cook it like risotto and wouldn't need a steamer. if you make sticky rice, you can probably rig a steamer out of a colander if you have a metal one. thanks for the defense, but i have a HUGE mouth (or fast fingers...whichever is appropriate for this medium) and am always getting myself into trouble . i wonder if palm sugar and/or other asian sweeteners are better than white sugar? honey always changes the flavor so much i'm loathe to use it as a substitute.

sorry! sometimes i type first, think later...BUT...this is a little girl and she has tons of allergies...so then, on a special occasion her parents want little to no sugar as well?! cut the girl some slack (unless she has diabetes) and let her enjoy something special that someone so obviously wants to make so that she can actually eat it along with everyone else instead of having to sit by and watch. a professional, no less, who would make something delicious that would accommodate her allergies. but there are other threads for this discussion. good luck trish. i'm sure you'll make something that everyone will find delicious!! also, if almond flour and chocolate are a no go, then maybe you should find out if she has nut allergies as well. it doesn't sound like the mom is giving all the information. this is where my skepticism comes from. with severe allergies, don't many people keep a list of items that they can hand out at restaurants and such to avoid the wrong foods? or does this mom just bring along food that she knows is safe for her daughter? it is a pot-luck after all.

i think someone on the jello mold thread made the opaque layers with coconut milk as well. so i'm sure there are a lot of subs for that...vanilla soy milk also?