alanamoana

wow, i expected that it was l'atelier. we ate their recently and sat at the bar. there were some definite vip's sitting next to us, but our service didn't suffer. as a matter of fact, the chef made it a point to stop by and smile and ask how things were. there isn't really a place at the bar for someone to be ignored. if you were at a table, that's a different thing. i wouldn't have left a tip. i would have left a note on the credit card slip detailing why you didn't leave a tip. the server has to drop his cc slips with his cash out, so someone in management would have had to read your note. also, the server would probably be dumb enough to complain about not getting a tip... it is amazing to me (but not surprising) that a restaurant at that level wouldn't respond. i worked at a high end restaurant in new york city and if we received a complaint, our chef/owner would call them up personally to invite them back to the restaurant on his dime. it was never a question as to who's fault it was or whatever, the point was to bring the guest back and turn them around from being haters to lovers (of the restaurant). however, joel robuchon is a french chef operating a business in the united states. i don't know how europeans deal with this type of thing...i'm sure differently than the americans. unfortunately these things fall between the cracks because nobody knows who is really in charge. this is just my opinion. at the very least, you've warned some of us to be aware. i say, don't sit by and spend your money there. this isn't a warning to not eat there, but if you sense you aren't being treated fairly, then speak up at that moment or you will inevitably regret all the money you spent and the time wasted being angry.

i agree with you wendy, the assortment from albert uster just isn't as "pretty" as the bulk transfer sheets from pcb. pcb seems to have the most contemporary, the most variety and the most vibrant colors. darn them... when you make your own, wendy, do you use the firm acetate sheets? my old pastry chef had these softer sheets which i like to use...i'm wondering if those were just "guitar sheets"?! i have a 100 pack of the firm acetate to use up first!

filipe: i don't know about london...sorry, but...here are a couple of web-sites who sell colored cocoa butter. i guess you'd just have to find out if they ship to your location. pcb probably does since they're in france. chefrubber might not. pcb chef rubber these seem to be the industry standard (at least everyone on eGullet uses either of these brands...) i hope this helps. they don't seem to be in crazy quantities. 200g bottles is the usual size.

have you tried taking out the batteries and putting them back in before using the scale? i have two salters and haven't had this problem before...they're usually pretty reliable and accurate. wait til summer?! good luck wendy!

Gerhard, After seeing what your guests already eat and the views that they have from their rooms...home baked bread will just be the icing on the cake! i loved your food blog and i hope this is as entertaining (for us...i imagine you're a bit anxious). Good luck and good baking! Alana

another quick question...i can't remember if i posted this on another thread, but i like the stuff from pcb, but am not doing anything professionally at the moment. i don't need 25 sheets of any one design... what do you do with all of the sheets? just hope that you'll use them...somehow...sometime? in other words, choux, are you a professional? i just wish they did a sample pack with like 5 each of 5 designs or something. that's the thing that's keeping me from buying this stuff...just too large a quantity for me to experiment with at home. how do you find their customer service? do you order on their web site? have you called them up? how is their english? what about shipping charges? their prices seem reasonable other than that...i have so many questions. thanks!

choux, i too love chickens...and your chocolates look great! where did you get the stripey and chicken transfer sheets? (my dad had a pet chicken who recently passed away...he's still pining over her )

if you don't mind a slightly flat top, you can use flexi-pans. check jb prince's web site for a general idea of price (i'm sure they're pricier than most). edited to add: read the post dummy (as i slap my head), 8" molds...sorry

wow, i like that analogy truffle guy!

usually, the stuff you buy at cake supply stores for melting is not real chocolate. i think that's why you haven't had a problem with your chocolate setting up, etc. you've been using chips and melts which contain large amounts of different fats and other ingredients which real chocolate (or couverture) doesn't have. it might be nice to use "real" chocolate for your wedding favors as the flavor is superior to other products. but the downside to this is the fact that you will have to be able to temper chocolate. if it seems to daunting, maybe it is just best to go with what you know will work as you'll have tons of other things to think about for your wedding! also, real chocolate can cost much more than some other ingredients, so you'll have to check your budget.

Trishiad, Thanks for the advice. That's what I wanted to hear. I just wanted to do some experimenting with making transfer sheets and that kind of thing. Everytime I read a new post on eGullet, I find another source for products...more ways to spend money, I guess! Qzina is located near me, so the good thing is I can pick up what I order and save on shipping. Do you order frequently from them? Their customer service seems good as I just spoke to them on the phone. Thanks again, Alana edited to add: So, the standard colors from PCB are matte and the artisan colors from Chef Rubber are slightly shimmery? Now I'm a bit confused again. Sorry to be so dense.

Hi JaclynM, I just did a quick search on eG and couldn't find any demo's in the EGCI or the pastry forum for tempering chocolate. Maybe this can be our next demo (Wendy?) The definitions you have found are pretty incomplete. Although tempering can be a bit of a pain, it can be easily accomplished with a few simple guidelines. You might want to look up some other chocolate threads in the pastry forum because it has been discussed in length. I'll give you the quick and dirty: Chocolate contains (among other things) cocoa butter. Cocoa butter is made up of crystals. The crystals are structured a certain way under specific conditions. When you buy chocolate and it is in its solid state, with a nice smooth texture and a good "snap" when you break it, it is in temper. When you want to change the shape of the chocolate by putting it in a mold, you have to melt it. This takes the chocolate OUT of temper. So, the idea is to break down specific cocoa butter crystals to a point where they are mostly melted out. You heat the chocolate. Then you want the cocoa butter to recrystalize in a controlled manner so that the chocolate will set up nice and shiny, smooth melting and with a nice "snap" to it. This process is called tempering the chocolate. This is a very simplified definition of tempering and I'm not giving you the specific method or temperatures...at this point. I just wanted you to understand the process. All of this can be done at home with a bowl, a rubber spatula and a microwave. If you need it, you can also use a thermometer, but this isn't always necessary. Up to this point, you may have been lucky enough while making your chocolates at home to have done a straight temper without even realizing it (you mention heating over a double boiler). In other words, you have never let the chocolate get out of temper in the melting process and your chocolates have firmed up nicely without any streaking or "bloom". So you shouldn't overintellectualize the process . edited to add: i noticed that in your initial post you said you set up your chocolates in the refrigerator...if you temper chocolate, and your room temperature is mild, you shouldn't have to refrigerate your chocolates and they will set up. but this does depend on your room temperature and how large the items are that you are molding. But, if you are going to use molds, you'll want to temper so that they release nicely and look good. Especially since this is for your wedding! Also, you are using "real" chocolate, right?

i'm not sure if you can re-heat it. it can't hurt to give it a try. try to bring it up to a boil and see if it thickens. let it cook for a minute. if it doesn't work then, go ahead and do it over. good luck, let us know how it goes.

i think 185 degrees was not hot enough. because the starch protects the egg...you should be able to bring it to a boil. you should notice it thickening as it cooks (stir or whisk contstantly as it is cooking to avoid scorching).

was the cornstarch whisked with the eggs and sugar before you added the milk/cream? did you continue to cook it after you combined everything? i think that you actually have to boil cornstarch in order to activate it (as well as to get rid of the "raw" starch taste).

another company choklit molds (you have to run java script to view the site)...has tons of molds like tomric. their website doesn't have pictures but if you request a catalog they are pretty quick to send it. their molds are the cheaper flexible plastic and can be used about ten times each. i bought some for my wedding (flip-flop shapes and they were exactly what i expected). good luck and congratulations!

so that's why i was getting all those propositions... just kidding. thanks sugarella for the information!

funny, chef rubber offers so many products, but not plain cocoa butter. plain isn't the same as white, right? albert uster has a great cocoa butter product which is sold in little bars (like valrhona feves)...but only comes in a 20# bag. ends up being about $7/lb + shipping...anyone want to split a box?! other than that, pastrychef.com has cocoa noel coco butter in a 1K tub for $22 the desire to play around is "tempered" by my budget...darn... sugarella, thanks for the info...but is there really a difference between luster, shimmery and pearl?

i think that if one has a negative experience at a restaurant, the first thing they should do is address it with the restaurant. if that means speaking to a manager on that visit or writing a letter the next day, one should do something. this gives the restaurant the opportunity to deal with the problem on their side and also a chance to invite you back in the attempt to win you back into the fold...so to speak. if, after your effort has been made and the restaurant has done nothing to address the complaint, then i feel it is more than fair to post your opinion on a web-site/discussion board. of course, keeping in mind civility and common sense. i feel that too often (it has been pointed out on some threads) people make either a harsh or a glowing post after ONE experience at a restaurant. it has been said that restaurant critics are required to make at least two or more often three trips to a restaurant before they can write their review, so how can we judge after only one experience?! well, we're human, and when we spend our hard earned cash somewhere, we do have some minimum standards...these of course are set by the individual. i don't think that people should be afraid to post what they think, if they do it in an intelligent manner. rather rambling, but hope you got the drift...

This is sort of an offshoot of the "Chocolates with that showroom finish" thread... I've been debating purchasing some colored cocoa butters and I'm torn. Chef Rubber carries standard colors, jewel colors, pearl colors and decor colors...the following are the descriptions from the website: standard colors = matte jewel colors = shimmery pearl colors = pearl decor colors = luster colors There isn't much more description than that and I'm not really sure of the differences between "shimmery", "pearl" and "luster"... Is it worth buying these special colors as opposed to using luster dusts and other dry products? I know with the cocoa butters, they are pre-mixed and therefore more consistent than if you mixed them yourself, but are there any other benefits? Intuitively, I would think you'd get a different effect if you dust your molds with a powder and then add matte colored cocoa butter and then your couverture as opposed to using the shimmery colors, etc. Can some of you out there with a little more experience expand on this? I'd like to just buy a few colors to see what I like and I don't know if I want to buy a whole bottle of a shimmery color if I can mix it myself with luster dust and regular cocoa butter in smaller quantities for less money...just for messing around at home. Thanks in advance for your answers! Regards, Alana

where is slc? is the new location also in st. louis? regional differences in restaurant salaries can be very big. cost of living is a big question. your brother might be right about moving expenses, but i don't think most places (restaurants) would pay first three months living expenses...that's a bit steep, particularly for restaurant folk. i wouldn't set my expectations that high. since this is a new location, even though their first location is successful, they might be sinking all the profits in the new place and might not have much to spare right off the bat. i agree with wht that you should be looking for some sort of partnership. particularly if they end up opening more places. that might end up being more profitable than your salary would reflect. if you have any idea what "chefs de cuisine" make in your area, try to compare that to living in the mid-west...remember, st. louis is not new york, san francisco or chicago.

as the thread may prove... THERE'S ALWAYS TIME FOR MARSHMALLOWS especially nightscotsman's recipe! good luck and again, welcome.

Smokey and EllenC, I'm a pastry professional...and I still feel intimidated by eGullet. I don't want to take this too far off topic, but I've tried posting on other threads and the indifference is amazing. Of course, that could just be my imagination . Smokey, the example questions that you posted as ones that would get ignored...are actually good questions and I think someone would definitely answer them. They are worded well and actually mean the person thought about the process a little. The questions or posts that I personally referred to as "deserving" of being ignored (though really, nothing deserves that, right?) are the ones where you feel as if the person is avoiding any attempt at doing the work themselves...I think people gave plenty of examples upthread. Maybe the better approach to the "lazy" posters is to PM them and explain how things should work...in an ideal world. For me, it took some ignoring, some posts being deleted , and just reading a lot of other posts to get the idea of how things worked. I had never really posted to a "message board" before and had no clue. It is definitely a better place if there is an exchange of knowledge. That being said, please don't feel intimidated because there are a few "professionals" on the board. I hope I'm not blowing smoke up your (or my) a**, but I'm pretty sure the enthusiastic home baker outnumbers the professional by a huge number! And I personally have a lot to learn from everyone. So, welcome to eGullet, please continue to read and enjoy and chime in once in a while! Regards, Alana

do you hold in the blue air valve when you spin? you can jam it in with a piece of cardboard and that helps keep the overrun down (doesn't pump in as much air into the mix). i think whether in a batch freezer or a paco jet, ice cream bases tend to break down when being re-spun...particularly if you aren't using any sort of stabilizers...at my first job we would just toss the unused base after spinning twice.

cookman, that is beautiful! what did you use for filling?