alanamoana

I got "Frozen Desserts" from the publisher. It looks really great. Beautiful pictures, etc. A lot of the recipes are for complete plated desserts with a major component being the frozen item. So, this is great for restaurant pastry chefs. There is discussion of using regular churn-style ice cream machines and the PacoJet. Also, this book doesn't discuss large batch ice cream making. It is more about small batch production for restaurant or home use. There is still some use of stabilizer mix, but most of the recipes don't have too many esoteric ingredients which I think was a complaint of the Michel Suas book (in his ice cream section). Table of Contents: 1) Brief History of Frozen Desserts 2) Ingredients 3) Equipment, Machines and Tools 4) Dairy-Based Frozen Desserts 5) Non-Dairy Frozen Desserts 6) Aerated Still-Frozen Desserts 7) Finished Items 8) Base Recipes Appendices, Index etc.

Trust me, I'm tempted! Are some better/more accurate than others? Any brand you'd recommend? ← either infrared, or if budget is a concern, you can use a probe thermometer. the base can be kept far away from the chocolate!

Uh...what did you expect? ← That is a pretty negative response considering some really great culinary programs are at community colleges: Orange Coast College in Southern California and Kapiolani Community College in Hawaii to name only two. Both of these schools could put many overpriced culinary schools to shame. School, in general, is only as good as what you put into it. I mean, we don't shun Yale because of a certain someone who "graduated" from there.

and also extremely starchy/glutinous the pre/par-cook (they can have a small opaque center to them) in water is the best, then rinse and finish cooking in whatever color/flavor you want them to retain

also check Albert Uster.

i don't know if they are callebaut brand, but new york cake and baking has colored (don't know if they're flavored, but probably) callets for sale. they might not be real chocolate either... but the wonderful people that work there should be able to help you over the phone. 56 W 22nd St # 1 New York, NY 10010 (212) 675-2253 good luck

probably a combination of the butter being a little warm to start with and the oven not being hot enough to start. you can always turn the oven down a bit once they rise and take on a touch of color. take a look at the recipes you're using as well and get a rough idea for the percentage of fat to flour. maybe you're using particularly high fat recipes?

from what i can tell, most 'crusting' buttercreams are based on powdered sugar with either cream or milk added. these tend to be very American (as far as ethnicity is concerned). other than that, i can't really help as i love my meringue buttercreams too much there is a thread on the 'best white cake' recipes somewhere on eG. i'll try to get a link to that. edited to add: link to yellow and white cake thread

I really like Flo Braker (met her at a Christmas cookie exchange a couple of years ago, what a nice person). If you're posting the recipes that you love, can everyone please post the title of the book it came from since we're dealing with more than one book? I think it would be helpful for all of us!

what about ring molds?

I would just like to echo those sentiments of "using what you have". I do agree to excel and really be at the top you need to source quality products though. I would merely site "Iron Chef America" as a fabulous example of using-what-you-have. Cheer GB ← if that really was what it is...they know their 'secret' ingredient long in advance and they have recipes worked out before the show airs. so, t.v. probably isn't the best comparison.

it is possible to "break" cream cheese by over mixing. if the mixture was lumpy (the cream cheese wasn't softened before adding the sour cream/cream and eggs) and your staffer tried to whip or paddle it smooth, that could have been the problem.

this is a service industry. therefore, you will always work the shit shifts: nights, weekends, holidays, etc. it doesn't end, even when you get to the top. sure, if you're the boss, you can take more time off...but usually, you're there anyway to either set an example or because you can't trust anyone else to get the job done as well as you'd like. in the united states, as a manager, you end up working more because they (anyone higher up than you) can exploit the fact that you work for a salary. regardless of how many hours you work, you're earning the same pay. they can't always get away with that with the hourly employees as there is a point where you have to pay them overtime. also, as management, it is your responsibility to have shifts covered when someone calls in sick or doesn't show up for work. if you are short staffed, then it is YOU covering shifts. fun flies when you're doing time!

I think ads like that are just meant to scare off certain candidates. Obviously if you have enough experience, they'd hire you. Besides, there are very few culinary schools that offer degrees. Most offer certificates. Unless they're talking about an AA from a community college program.

For France (and probably other countries in Europe), this is completely the norm. At least it was in the past. I don't know if it is the same in the bigger cities anymore. Being an apprentice is like indentured servitude. It is like you're working for free in exchange for knowledge which you can then use to get paid...eventually. When you're working in such a small restaurant, this is definitely the case. In the United States, if you work for a big name chef, they might expect the same sort of long hours for basically no pay. Particularly if the chef came from Europe originally (i.e. Payard, Vongerichten, Kunz, etc.). Even American chefs like Thomas Keller expect this of their inexperienced cooks. I would say that the big difference is in 'education'. In the United States, culinary school is a luxury. If more than 50% of graduates end up working in the culinary field five years after graduation, I would be completely shocked (I expect the number is much less). In Europe, it is considered more of a trade and schooling goes along with that. So, you are expected to work while you're going to school and it is very grueling. In Switzerland, I know that pastry training is something like a three year apprenticeship while attending school concurrently.

also, since these are molasses/ginger cookies, it is likely they have baking soda in the recipe (to react with the acid in the molasses). if it does call for baking soda and you put too much it can cause spreading because baking soda can interfere with gluten in the flour. refrigerating does a couple of things: chills the fat so that when the dough goes into a hot oven, the starches and proteins have a chance to start setting up a bit before the butter melts completely but it really allows the flour a chance to hydrate before baking. the absorption of moisture helps to keep the cookies from spreading too much. also, ditto what chefpeon said about the creaming. i find that recipes call for too much creaming (cookie recipes in particular). it just sets you up for disaster.

actually, where i live right now, the whole foods butter is the same or cheaper than the tj butter. and right now, the whole pineapple at wf is $2.99 while at safeway, it is $3.99 ($2.99 at costco and costco's are bigger).

don't see why you couldn't use shrimp as it is closer in texture to the lobster and probably cheaper than scallops.

in the same vein, since it is a barbeque, you can do a 'build your own' shortcake. have the shortcakes already split and then different seasonal fruits (separate or all tossed together) macerated with a bit of sugar, alcohol, citrus zest and maybe some chiffonade of mint or basil...then a bowl full of lightly sweetened whipped cream and maybe even some ice cream. buffet style.

thanks jackal10, makes sense.

okay, it goes against tradition. also, for those of us actually practicing in the field...either as a job or as a career, it just sounds funny. whether it be semantics or an actual trend expressing job titles, if you're a pastry chef hearing that someone is a 'dessert chef' just sounds stupid. we'll see how far it goes. it's the first i've heard of it. ← If you read the entire thread, you'd have seen the above...

jackal10, do you mean that the high hydration gives you the "pudding-like" bread...or that the no-knead technique gives you the pudding-like texture? ciabatta is a very high hydration dough and i don't get that texture...

one of the neat things about the shelf liner or other textured, food-safe plastics (including, of course, texture sheets), is that you get that nice pattern on the chocolate. this can sometimes help if your chocolate isn't perfectly tempered as the pattern distracts from the imperfections in the chocolate. with acetate, you really do have to have it perfect or else it is glaringly obvious when there's a mistake of course, you can always use transfer sheets...

if the chocolate is too viscous, you can add cocoa butter...right kerry? kerry?...it might depend on the brand of chocolate and how much cocoa butter is in it in the first place. ← Yes indeed you can add cocoa butter - I do if I have chocolate that is too thick at the working temperature. I don't know enough about the Guittard 72% to know how much cocoa butter is in there. I've noticed that a lot of the chocolates that state the %age are not what I would normally use as couverature for molding or dipping, that they are more for eating. ← also, don't know if this is the signature "e. guittard" line or the regular guittard chocolate. they have also started coming out with single origin chocolates. i find that the e. guittard 61% is a great general use chocolate and tempers very easily with a good viscosity for molding, etc. i think it is called lever du soleil (rising sun or something like that). when adding cocoa butter, what percentage would you recommend? i would say to start off with a small percentage based on the weight of the chocolate...5%?

if the chocolate is too viscous, you can add cocoa butter...right kerry? kerry?...it might depend on the brand of chocolate and how much cocoa butter is in it in the first place.