alanamoana

while they're both cooking terms, i think you meant "don't mince your words"

As a self admitted "know-it-all", chiantiglace, have you considered that it isn't the fact that you went to the CIA, but your attitude during your interview? I certainly don't agree with the pastry chef in SF who considered you "green", but there are many possible reasons other than the CIA that the person didn't want to hire you and he just gave you that excuse. On the positive side, it could have been that this person felt threatened by your knowledge and abilities. You certainly throw yourself wholeheartedly into pastry and it seems like you know your s#$t...if this pastry chef has only four years of experience, he could be worried about his job. On the negative side, if you're coming off as a "know-it-all", then you're not doing yourself or the CIA any favors. You and your fellow students are all reflections of the school. If a chef/pastry chef has come across more than one recent graduate who has a crappy attitude or an inflated sense of self-worth because they attended the CIA, that really sours the opportunities for others. When you show up for an interview and aren't as humble or respectful (while I'm sure this isn't what you did) as the interviewer expects (that isn't to say you can't be confident), that throws things off. Body language is very obvious as well. And if you've been in the business as long as you have, you should definitely know that anyone starting a new job is green regardless of how long they've been doing it. You have to earn respect by doing. Unless you've already been a pastry chef or a pastry sous chef, then you're green and that's that. You can't take it as an insult, that's just the way it is. Work your way into everyone's good graces and you won't be the 'green' one for very long.

if i understand correctly, paulraphael's recipe does reduce the amount of chocolate chips because he feels that the dough should shine as the main component. i'm not overly concerned with technique or ingredients, but i think mr. leite is correct in saying that these are cookies with chocolate (pieces) in them. but, i'm not one to get into too philosophical a discussion about something like chocolate chip cookies. i just think mr. leite believes that there are categories of cookies out there and paulraphael's cookies might fall into another category based on method and ratio of chocolate pieces to dough.

kerry can probably better address this, but based on wybauw's advice: tempering is all about crystallization which relies on time, temperature and agitation. if it took too long to melt the chocolate without stirring, there was probably overcrystallization of the wrong kinds of crystal forms. i often find this to be the case when i'm trying to temper a very small amount of chocolate. i'd say you'd be better off starting with more chocolate, melting to 115-120F in the microwave, transferring your chocolate to the mol d'art and then seeding the melted chocolate with tempered wafers. make sure to stir well. i think people have also had success with smaller amounts when they've used immersion blenders (stick blenders) to blend in the unmelted chunks of chocolate.

for the most part, though not necessarily, corn syrup and glucose can be used interchangeably when baking or in some caramelized sugar recipes. when being used in confections, they really aren't interchangeable because usually you're looking for specific water activity levels and i'm pretty sure they're different in corn syrup and glucose.

After being in this business 18 years, I figure it's my JOB to completely crap on the insane plans of any friend that wants to go to culinary school. I mean friends don't let friends drive drunk, right? Sure, the culinary trade IS for some people. But before you decide to spend some crazy money on culinary school, know what you're getting into! Work in the food biz for a year (it's really easy to get your foot in the door WITHOUT a culinary degree you know....) THEN decide if you want to stay in the trade, and even better, do the math, and you'll know that what they charge for school isn't in line with most starting wages! If you're thinking about getting into the food biz, you might want to read this. ← at least if you go to law school or medical school, you know you're going to come out making six figures. The only way you're making six figures in the culinary world just out of school is if you count the two places after the decimal.

Kim, I really like the idea of the sliced jelly-roll to decorate the top and sides of the cake! Very cute. Just from looking at it, I think your buttercream could have been whipped a bit longer. I'm sure that nobody noticed anything wrong with it. It looks delicious.

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.

did you allow the same amount of resting time as the first batch? this will allow the flour to hydrate fully.

what kitwilliams said!

i think you just lose whip-ability when cream freezes. as you said, probably due to loss of emulsion.

Exactly! How is "dessert chef" more limiting than "pastry chef?" Most of what these guys make is dessert; a small fraction of what they make is pastry. Right? ← I think you'd be surprised at the number of "pastry chefs" who are promoted from within (mostly at small independent restaurants) when someone no-shows or quits...these "pastry chefs" usually don't know much about anything and are stuck making desserts. In my opinion they can have the title "dessert chef" but certainly don't deserve the title "pastry chef". Someone who is a pastry chef should know (at least on a basic level) just about everything that has to do with the baking and pastry arts...like chefpeon said, she can bake bread, make fancy wedding cakes, make desserts, etc. Also, a pastry chef is usually a member of the management team. While I don't know the origin of the term "dessert chef" it does seem to dumb down what a real pastry chef should know.

flavor, color, chemical reaction with the leavening agents (due to acid in molasses)

agar agar will give you a completely different finished product than gelatin. agar will set up with a "crunchy" texture and while heat reversible, will stay set up at room temperature, unlike gelatin. you could try with different amounts of agar, but i don't know what the conversions are.

I think your problem, martinwa, isn't the strength of the gelatin, but possibly the book not instructing you to bloom the gelatin before using. you mention that you had to melt the gelatin in a bit of warm milk. was the gelatin bloomed (in water or another liquid) before using? the amount of liquid the gelatin absorbs should be taken into account in a recipe, so if you didn't bloom the gelatin then technically you've used less liquid and the remaining liquid in the recipe wouldn't be enough to offset this and you'd have your dessert set up too firm.

artisanbaker, I certainly wish you'd expend some breath in defense of this book because I'm sure you'd be more eloquent than I. dougal, I haven't had the book long enough to analyze it as critically as you have. I did flip through the chocolate section and I did notice a glaring error on page 955, Figure 22-9 (the legend for the graph doesn't match up to the labels). That was just while skimming through the book to see what it offered. I believe that if you approach the book as a scientist (which it seems you're doing), you'll be disappointed in this and many other books. You claim to be an amateur, yet you're discussing things that I think even most professional bakers (those making their living in the industry) would be hard pressed to either understand or care about. As a text book (like so many texts) it is meant to cover a broad range of topics whether in depth or not. I don't interpret the tone to be "unrelentingly didactic", I think it is the perfect tone for a text. Again, I haven't read the entire book yet. I'll be sure to come back to this topic when I have taken a closer look at the text, but I think one will find that even as a professional, there is a lot to be learned from this book and others like it. I have no relationship with SFBI or Michel Suas, but a text like this must have been a tremendous undertaking and I continue to believe that it is a large step above the current benchmark written by Wayne Gisslen. As an aside, I'm not sure what "catering" means in England...can you explain what you mean by this?

Bruce, is this cabbage recipe posted somewhere? It sounds delicious and I love cabbage...

I got the book and it really is great. I agree that more pics would have been nice, but with all the information given, it is a steal at the Amazon price ($54). If I would compare it to anything, it would be to Wayne Gisslen's "Professional Baking"...but as the title implies, the Suas book takes it to the next level. It definitely can be used by a beginner and as a text is probably the best book I've seen to date.

It seems that what you're looking for are books by well known pastry chefs and/or books that have great recipes OR a combination of the two...it's just that you don't know who the well known pastry chefs are. Since you are a pastry student, it would behoove you to read all the trade magazines that you can get your hands on (Pastry Art and Design, Food Arts, Pastry and Baking: North America, etc. etc.). After you read them for a while, the same names keep on popping up and you'll start to recognize who's who and what they're known for. Do research on restaurants as well. eG is a great resource and there are some well known pastry chefs posting here and there. The internet in general is great because restaurants have websites that show current menus and the names of the pastry chefs. It's a great source for inspiration. Talk to your chef instructors as they will be able to point you in the right direction as well. And finally, some of the better equipment websites also sell professional books that you can't find at the library or local bookstore. There's a great resource in C.H.I.P.S. Books, but their prices aren't always the most reasonable. I go there to see what's available and then shop around to find the best price. Look up other websites like Pastry Scoop or Star Chefs and others. These will have bios on well known pastry chefs in the hotel and restaurant industry. You'd be surprised at how many of them have books out. That being said, all books are not equal and even some of the famous chefs/pastry chefs have books out that aren't that great (i.e. recipes don't work, ingredients too hard to source, etc). One book I bought early on in my career was Charlie Trotter's dessert book. Nice pictures and very 'modern' for the time...but I didn't like any of the recipes that I tried from the book. edited to add: And finally, it depends on what subject matter you're looking for when deciding what to buy. I wouldn't buy a book focusing on chocolate by a pastry chef known for cakes. You have to know their specialty to judge whether it is worth the investment. I say investment because some of the better books tend to be around the $200 mark. Look also in the Cookbooks and References forum as there are a lot of reviews on specific books.

Hi Jason! Long time no post...I don't know anything about the publication schedules of Pastry's Best or PAD, but I hope not to add insult to injury by pointing out this new publication: Pastry & Baking: North America I've been getting free copies of it via Bo Friberg, but not sure about subscriptions. It has been a long time since I've seen PAD and even longer since I've seen an issue of PAD that I've wanted to buy. Let's see what happens... best, Alana

a lot of people use panko and just process them finer (crush or blend). they tend to be 'lighter' than regular bread crumbs and in my opinion give a better texture for many fried items.

oh Shaya, what a beautiful meal (and the cooks' meal during the prep was no chopped liver either!)... sorry i totally forgot that i had posted recs on this thread and only checked it now. with the gougeres, the batter can't really keep refrigerated. it has to be made and either piped then frozen or piped and baked right away. i honestly don't know the science behind that, but that's what i've always been told. it could be that while sitting in the fridge, some enzymes break down the gluten/proteins in the flour that give structure...which could explain the collapse that happened partway through baking (and the lack of recovery). of course i could be wrong. but hey, nobody was the wiser and it was just an amazing meal, i'm sure!

Welcome to eG, Spring! The instructor's manual is exactly what it sounds like. The book is used as a text book at the CIA (Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York and Greystone, California). The instructor's manual gives tips on how to teach the content of the book, tests, etc.

Ted Fairhead, what's creme chatillon?

i think it depends on what kind of restaurant as well... your typical cheesecake factory is using a huge machine to make the whipped cream independent restaurants (higher end) are going to be making their own whipped cream for each service...just using a kitchen aid denny's is using the can etc.