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Try this location: http://agr.wa.gov/Marketing/SmallFarm/Gove...Regulations.htm Cheers, Steve Smith

My great frustration with our guitar cutter is the difficulty in hooking up a new wire. During replacement I often punched the new wire into my finger tips. Ouch. And I was never able to wrap the wire around the post as well as the factory. We ended up taking already wrapped wires off our 1-1/2" frame (which we rarely ever use). Not the best solution, but it saved a lot of time, fingers and burning the eardrums of staff who had to put up with my screaming at the guitar. Cheers, Steve

Wholesale, eh? When my wife and I bought our bakery in May 2004 it was strictly wholesale, having given up on retail a couple of years earlier (after offering it for nearly 25 years). Our plans focused on using the wholesale business as a platform upon which to build a retail baking/specialty food/deli operation. Wholesale made up more than half our sales, and on a busy day in summer we were turning out 1200-1500 hand rolled Kaisers and hamburger buns, as well as loaves, dinner rolls and lots of other stuff. About 15 months ago we dropped wholesale because it had become a financial drain on the business and an emotional drain on us. It meant slicing revenues in half, but boy did we feel liberated. Now we're doing really well, focusing all our energy on the aspects of the business we like best. Why did we drop it? Two reasons - staff and customers. When we took over Martha, by default, became the delivery person (a two-hour route starting at 5:00am, six days a week). We tried hiring a replacement for her, but most lasted only 1 or 2 days! My main responsbilities were getting the retail up and running, so I was dayside. The actual baking was done by hired staff. And therein lies the rub. The average tenure of our baking staff was 3-6 months, which meant we were always looking for new people and spending an inordinate amount of time training them in the ways of our bakery. What really forced our hand was a feud that broke out between our two main bakers. They came to hate each other's guts, driving down the morale of the rest of the staff. One day one of them quit in a snit, saying that we obviously preferred the other baker over him. A couple of days later the other baker, not knowing the first had quit (they were by then on different shifts) also quit, and also telling us that we obviously preferred him to her. Rather than facing more hirings and training sessions we pulled the plug on wholesale. Lesson #1 - the baking in a small scale wholesale bakery must be done by the owners. The problems we had with customers were legion. According to them our rolls were either too small or too large; too light or too heavy; too brown or not brown enough. Some people paid same day. Others took 45-60 days to pay. When we tried raising prices everybody balked noisily, and some even refused the raise outright. Lesson #2 - food service folks can be huge pains in the neck; much more so than retail customers. So now we are concentrating upon a few speciality breads, higher-quality pastries and confections, amazing sandwiches, and the best selection of gourmet foods in the state. It's fun. It's rewarding. And it's all retail. Cheers,

What might be the shelf life of cream & chocolate truffles if they are refrigerated (at 40F)? Add another week or two? Cheers,

The silver tube is more likely to be anodized than not. They can do a silver or a clear anodizing. So you should still be all right. If you rub the inside of the tube with a clean finger and a grayish smudge sticks to it that would mean it's not anodized. Still waiting for my unit to arrive. Cheers, Steve

We bought a small Haier dual-zone chest freezer from walmart.com for about $200 plus shipping. The upper compartment will hold about a dozen Paco beakers. And it certainly gets cold enough. We have two digital probe freezer thermometers continuosly reading the inside temp. One hangs in the air, the other is frozen into a cup of water. This way we get a good accurate temp. It took a couple of weeks of fooling around, but we were able to set the Haier to operate in the -3F to -9F range very consistently. Cheers, Steve

We added a Paco early in the summer to complement our Taylor 104 batch freezer. We ended up using the Taylor mainly for cream-based product, and the Paco mainly for fruit-based sorbet. The advantage of the Paco is its great flexibility. You can make sorbets, ice creams, sauce bases, all sorts of stuff. We bought 16 extra beakers, so we could offer a wider variety of flavors. Each one holds about a litre; typically we made up a two-beaker batch which would give us about 20 x 2oz portions. Three beakers would certainly provide enough and then some for the 20 guest dinner you described. One downside is that you have to plan in advance because it's critical that you freeze the beakers for 24 hours to ensure that the mass is consistently frozen. I like the idea of having a custard base already frozen to which you could throw in fruit - et voila, instant glace. Not sure that technique would work with a sugar syrup for sorbets though. We like our Paco well enough, but it hasn't been paying off for us. Most people prefer "real" ice cream hand dipped from our display freezer. So I'm not sure we'll keep the Pacojet. In our environment it has to pay its way or else we'll sell it off. C'est la guerre. But bottom line on your question though, is that yes, with a good supply of beakers, a decent freezer and planning ahead, a Pacojet would be a great addition to your kitchen. Cheers, Steve

The photo shows a tube that has been anodized (gold in this case). This coating, similar to electro-plating, should eliminate any oxidized aluminum from contaminating the fondant in the tube. I just ordered one of these on E-bay, same price. Can't wait to try it out (for cheese straws, mainly). Cheers, Steve

We've had a Viking for 2 years. We use it in a commercial bakery environment, mainly to mix small batches of batter, dough, icing and buttercream. We also have 20qt and 80qt Hobarts and a 5qt KA. If I had to do it over again I would NOT buy the Viking. We've gone through three whisks in those 2 years. This was mainly because we were doing marshmallows. But the design of the Viking whisk has the wires simply welded onto the frame. If you look at a KA, there are holes into which the wires sit. The whisks also deformed badly doing the mallows. We finally replaced the Viking whisk with a Kenwood (see below), which uses the same attachment mounting but has the wires fastened into holes. The Viking accessories are, in fact, adjustable, but it means using a couple of wrenches to loosen the nut on the top of each attachment and adjust manually. Not a very good system. I mentioned the Kenwood, now made apparently by DeLonghi. It would not surpise me if DeLonghi also makes the Viking. There is a 7qt model. It uses the same bowl and attachments as the Viking. It works just the same. And is cheaper. I've not used one, but it can't be any worse than the Viking. That's my two cents worth. Cheers, Steve

Vanessa, The guitar base is made of a tough plastic. The side panels (one is shown on the right) are about 1/2" thick. The thinner pieces, where the wires go through, are individual leaves that are through-bolted to the side panels. Hope this helps. Cheers, Steve

Binder clip. Bulldog clip. Spring Clip. Here's a photo to make all clear. The bent thing on the right in the back is a piece of aluminum bar we "form engineered" and drilled a whole into. This allows us to use the digital probe on our big slant-sided jam pot (not shown here). To keep the probe from touching the bottom of the pot, we use a second clip to secure it to the first one. Cheers, Steve

Hooray, I've put a photo up! Many thanks to Kerry and Pam! Ok, so here we have a shot of our commercial guitar cutter showing the depth of the wires to be 3/4" below the top of the platform. DMALOUF, as I suggested earlier, your frame may not sit low enough to make a complete cut. Your builder should be able to rectify this. Cheers, Steve

dmalouf, Your guitar is a beautiful piece of craftsmanship. But I think I see what may be causing your problem. Unless the second photo is decieving, it appears as though the frame is not set low enough in the back. On our commercial cutter the distance between the wire at rest and the top of the platform is 3/4". As you may have noted when using the guitar, the wires, even though they may be tight, deform during the cutting process, so you need that extra depth to get through your confection. Perhaps your builder could shift the frame lower without too much difficulty. Cheers, Steve p.s. - I'd have posted a photo of this, but I can't figure out how to post a photo!!! Help would be appreciated. It can't be that difficult. Can it? Yoicks!

You can leave an instant read digital in the sugar simply by using a "bulldog" clip that snaps onto the side of your pot and has holes in the handle the let you slide the probe through. Places like Staples will have them in the paper clip section. And once your sugar is dissolved you don't need to stir it any more. Cheers, Steve

Commercial guitars allow the wires to drop a half-inch or so below the top surface. This gives you clean, all-the-way through cut. Cheers, Steve

Like Sera F said, be sure to beat your yolks thoroughly (3-5 minutes on medium should do it). While the eggs are mixing, cook your sugar. Once it's boiling, keep a watchful eye on the thermometer. Let the temp go right up to 240F and remove the pot from the stove. If the temp drops and you cook again to 240, then you're probably going to get some crystallization on the surface. Then, like Sera F says, pour in a steady, thin stream into the bowl with the eggs. It should take you 30-60 seconds for the pour (depending upon volume). Now, before you add the butter, continue to mix the egg/sugar until it is lukewarm to the touch. Only then should you add the butter - in chunks - mixing each in thoroughly before adding the next piece. Don't give up. And let us know how you make out. Cheers, Steve

It seems to me that if it's a big cupcake made from scratch with real ingredients and premium flavorings and topped with a French buttercream, then $2.00 is dirt cheap and probably not profitable to the baker. For such an item I think $3.00-3.50 is more reasonable, though customers may not see it that way. So where can you cut costs without sacrificing quality? There must be a middle ground somewhere. I note that New York's Magnolia Bakery frosts their cupcakes with an uncooked "Simple Buttercream," using all butter in lieu of shortening. A slightly less expensive approach would be to do 2/3 butter - 1/3 shortening. Anybody have any thoughts? Cheers, Steve

We use our Paco just for sorbets. We also whiz them on the spot for customers, which they seem to enjoy. Most of the fruit we use is local (strawberries, raspberries, currants, melons, etc). But we do buy "imported" stuff when it looks good (pineapple, watermelon, figs). Early on (i.e., this past June) we tried making ice creams, but the mushiness didn't work for our "spin on the spot" concept. So we use the batch freezer to make our dairy-based gelati and serve those from a proper Italian freezer (i.e., 12-15F). To freeze the Paco beakers we bought an inexpensive chest freezer. To get the temp just right we use a pair of digital remote probe thermometers - one probe reading the air temp, the other probe in a cup of frozen water. This gives us a pretty good idea of the actual temp, which we try to keep between -5 and -9F. Using the chest freezer helps minimize temperature changes when removing or returning beakers because cold air drops. If I had to do it over again, I don't think I'd get a Paco. Having the flexibility of easily concocting myriad flavors, and being able to serve a dozen or more on the spot, is pretty cool. But our market is just not warming up to the idea. I'm thinking that going forward we'll just stick to the batch freezer and sell the Paco after the summer tourist rush is over. C'est la guerre. Cheers, Steve

Look here for information about the Stephan line: http://www.stephan-usa.com/product_list.aspx No prices listed, but you can contact them for a quote. Cheers, Steve

Be aware that dehumidifers can increase the temp in your room while they're reducing the moisture. Cheers, Steve

David, Ambitious project - good on ya mate. My comments are contained in your quote, prefaced with the >> symbols. Good luck & keep us posted. Cheers, Steve

How much do the Mol d'Art machines cost? I found a 50kg on their website, but no mention of a small melter/temperer with a wheel. What's the best source for them? Or are we all talking about the melting pans? Now I'm confused. Cheers, Steve

Our Chocovision X3210 was horribly noisy. After two years of service the motor burned out, so we sent it in to them to repair. They replaced the motor and gear box with the latest version and now the darn thing is so quiet it's downright spooky. I hasten to add that our 3210 was an early model and we used it a lot. These machines are not prone to breaking down. However, if you buy a 3210 I recommend getting the extended warranty. It's like $300, but repairs can be costly. The latest machines have a neat feature that melts chocolate in the bowl prior to spinning. This is useful if you've got a hardened pool from yesterday. You don't have to pull it out and break it up - just let the machine do the work for you. At the end of 30 mintues the bowl will start rotating. Cheers, Steve

There was an e-gullet thread about guitars where a guy described how he built one himself. That's the good news. The bad news is - I can't find it. But it's worth searching for. You should be able to find a new guitar for $1000-1200. Try Previn in Philadelphia (215-985-1996). They buy directly from a chap in Europe. Good luck. Cheers, Steve

Kerry's right. You really need to mold once or twice to re-establish the microscopic cocoa butter layer on the plastic, so that afterwards your finished pieces will pop out smoothly and full of glossy shine. Don't count on these "repair" moldings being perfect. Re-use the chocolate, of course. Cheers, Steve