lepatissier

Yeah, the fountain is quite a sight to see. I had to mix all of the melting chocolate one day . . . tubs and tubs and tubs of it . . . . Its neat because it looks like it should blend together, but the different chocolates do not . . . quite a feat if I may say so myself . . .

As a matter of fact, at the Bellagio we do have a whole bunch of those kinds of molds . . . we have a bunch in storage . . . but Ive never seen us use them . . . :)

Thanks for posting the pics! Am looking forward to hearing more and seeing more later . . . thanks again :)

The Food Network challenge . . . "Vegas Pastry Battle" will be airing this saturday at 10pm ET/PT I dont think this has been aired in the past . . . this is the competition held at the beginning of the week during the World Pastry Competition . . .

Absolutely FABULOUS food at Chef Mavro . . . One of my fav next to Alan Wong . . . Very easy but sooo good . . . his Lilikoi Malasadas . . . I had a friend who worked for him for a bit, he said it was great experience but a lot of pressure . . . Sorry to get off topic . . . reading this post makes me miss home (Hawaii) a lot . . . Who works at Neiman Marcus . . just curious . . . ??

I just bought some of the precolored cocoa butter from Chef Rubber . . . good stuff, very durable and great viscosity . . . Remember if you are using cocoa butter nibs that they may need to be re-tempered when melting and if using precolored stuff, that overheating will make for a "untempered" product so heat just enough to work with (just as you do chocolate) :)

All the information was posted on the best Iron Chef fansite on the net . . . Iron Fans I have been a fan of Iron Chef since it started in Japan, and if theres anything to know about it . . . I know it ;) Yeah if its a strictly PC battle, I dont know and I do agree Mario is going down. In the First three battles, specifically the one between Wolfgang Puck and Morimoto, Wolfgang had Sherry Yard as his assistant and the theme was eggs. She did an awesome job making a lemon dessert with Meyer Lemon Curd, Meringue and . . . something else I cant remember, of course all using eggs as the central ingredient. I would assume that this is going to be similar along the lines with Michael and Mario . . . . Le Petit eh Nightscotsman . . .

I wanted to let everyone know that Michael Laiskonis will be a challenger on the Food Network version on Iron Chef America. Ten new episodes will be taped this week and aired in January! Michael will be challenging Iron Chef Mario Batali!!! (October 13) Michael if you read this . . . GOOD LUCK against Mario Batali and I (and Im sure our other members) would love to hear about your experience on the show . . . now I cant wait for the episodes to air in January . . . Iron Chef is one of my favorite shows!!!!

Thanks for posting the great pics! So interesting to see all of the intricate work . . .

When I started this thread I didnt think it would get as far as it did! Its interesting to see the opinions and views that came out of this topic . . . lets Just wanted to share FYI that the Pastry Team Championships website has posted macromedia slideshows of the competition. Individual shows of each of the teams and a compilation show of all of the teams! Picture quality isnt that great, but they have lots to look at . . .

Yep I know all too well how long it takes . . haha . . . I do know that they are hiring almost 1400 people for the new tower so there have been tons of applicants lately . . . early hiring has started with full hiring starting in October . . . I just looked at the listing again the still open are . . . Assist. Mgr - JPM Patiserrie (retail) Assistant Pastry Chef - Sensi Baker - Pastry Shop (4) Baker - Picasso Helper - Pastry Shop (2) Good luck everyone who is applying . . . and we hope to see you in the shop very soon :)

Awww Neil, all the action is in the morning!?! Why would you say a thing like that . . . the afternoons can get pretty exciting tooooooo!!!!! Hehehe, its too bad I dont get to see you in the kitchen . . . For those reading this interested in possibly applying for any of the positions Neil mentioned, I would have to say that it is a great opportunity to be working in the Bellagio pastry kitchen. Having only been working there 6 weeks, I have already learned so much and am constantly doing so every day . . . (today just happens to be my day off . . woo hooo! ) If you have any questions on kitchen atmosphere/operations, I am sure Neil or myself would gladly answer any questions.

Hey Neil! Thanks so much for doing all of that . . really appreciate it! You got nice pics . . BTW, off topic, work has started well, pretty boring right now, theres not much to do so Ive been helping you guys out a bunch and helping buffet a lot too . .its just too bad I dont see you in the kitchen! Anyway, take care . . .

As far as the specifics for each "aspect" of the judging, there were specifics in terms of flavors for things such as the petit gateaux . . Petit Gateaux Each team must prepare 3 different types of petits gateaux following these guidelines: One fruit petit gateau One chocolate petit gateau One free choice petit gateau and while the Entremet Glace (Frozen) did have free range of flavors, it had to include . . . Ice cream Sorbet A non-machine spun frozen component (e.g.: frozen parfait) Cake component (meringue, biscuit, sponge, etc.) For Bonbons, they had to have . . 1 must be hand dipped 1 must be a molded ganache 1 must be a non chocolate filling I think the rest of the items were all free choice in terms of flavor and components . . .

Yeah, I would recommend Bo Friberg's "Professional Pastry Chef" if you want to "brush up" on basic technique before you get out into the "real world." The second edition is a lot more interesting (in my opinion) which builds on concepts taught in the first edition. But as I have learned, on the job training is the best book you could buy out there, as much as you learn in a book, (basic technique, recipes etc.) learning things on the job is the most valuable thing you can get. And every establishment, wherever you may work has their own way of doing things, and you may or may not be able to do things that way you want or are used to. The CIA recently came out with their own textbook for their Pastry Arts Program, its called "Baking and Pastry: Mastering the Art and Craft " . . while it is a "basic" technique book, many of the concepts are CIA driven, and formulated for their program. I found it had some good examples and nice pictures, with some more modern takes on certain sections with recipes. My Le Cordon Bleu P&B program was taught using "Professional Baking" by Wayne Gisslen, and at the time it seemed to to its job fairly well. Although, in retrospect, its not the best book out there, and while we were taught using Le Cordon Bleu developed manuals and "Professional Baking," our class found some of the recipes were flawed and needed a lot of "tweeking." Well theres my two cents on that! Hehe, sorry to make it so long!

Hey Neil! Hahaha, just after I posted my last message . . . I got the call!!! Yeaaahhhhh! No more staying at home . . .hehehe, so exciting . . . .

Hahaha . . youre too funny Neil . . yeah I went in for the drug test, two weeks ago! Damn, I hope they didnt forget about me . . . hehehe . . I cant wait to get back in the kitchen . . . Im having withdrawls . . . hahaha . . Yep, the wheels of corporate America are grinding back in the stone age . . . :)

Neil you rock! Thanks so much for the pics . . . you got good stuff! Hey just FYI, theyre still processing my papework . . . I hope I start soon, Im getting really tired of staying home . . . :( Its getting reeeeeealy boring . . hehe

The scores of the competition are up on the pastrychampionship.com website . . . and of course, the US, France and Belgium were neck in neck in terms of scores, but I was surprised at the Final Total score, the US beat 2nd place Belgium by 29.5 points, and Belgium between thrid place France by about 11 points . . . thats quite a margin compared to the scores of past competitions . . . In retrospect to the competition last year, I think that the US has viable competition with the rest of the European countries, after seeing what came out of last years national competition. I still think EVERYONE did a great job though . . . :)

Wow sounds like it was a lot of fun as well as a great learning experience! I definitely have to try and go to it next year! Thanks for the recap . . .

Wow, some interesting dialogue we got going on here about all of this stuff. I agree with skwerl, as far as degustation goes, the last few years we have seen very safe flavor combinations and while some of the countires had interesting flavors presented, the taste was another story. With all the argument we had in the past about Michael Schneider and his ranting about "French Pastry Chefs" I think with this example it is evident that he is in no way slanted one way or another toward anybody. It shows the integrity of the competition and I say again, from what I saw of the entire competition and judging process, it was thought down pretty well and it seemed very fair to me. With all discussion that I heard about that went on regarding rules and use of items on certain pieces, I am assured in the integrity of the competition. As Steve said, much of the argument that was placed by the arguing teams were "interperative" and based on opinion. As far as cleanliness went, I thought that the French and US were pretty equal on terms of cleanliness. Of course when someone talks about someone else, its all personal opinion. I know the scores will be posted on the website in time, so at that time we can really see what the breakdown was. As far as my opinion on the overall "operation" of the competition, I think its getting better every year, and each year they are being more sensitive to the audiences needs with photography, visuals, and commentary. It was also nice this year for them to put all of the bon bons, entermet and Frozen entremet in the refrigerator cases out in the tradeshow for all to see, where as in previous years it was almost near to impossible to see or get good pictures of them. Anyway, thats my two cents for now, and Im sure more will come out later ;)

Oh wow! The drama does continue . . . thats quite Hey, Neil, or anyone else that went . . . what do you think about all this? Im really interested in seeing what the score breakdown was, and Im sure that it will be posted in time at the pastrychampionship.com site I bet the scores were really close, but Im sure that it has much to do with the whole MOF thing. It is really hard for me to believe that scores were slanted in any way, because of the way that they are tallied, and the variety in the jury of judges. I guess well see what happens . . .

Thanks for the pics! Those are awesome compared to the ones I got . . .

Sweet, yeah I just got the pictures developed and because I had to use a disposable because my real camera bonked out, i got "decent" pictures, but not great stuff. Yeah it was too bad that Japan lost much of their items in customs, Im sure they wouldve had a much stronger showing if they had all of their proper tools. Yeah Im sure the French Team was mad, but Im sure it was a close race between the three top teams. I know that during judging, US was in jeopardy of losing points because of a rule that said that no part of the show piece can extend beyond the edge of the table, dont know if they got points off or not, but Jacque was talking to the judges about it for a while. Like I said before Im sure Belgium and France was mad considering their teams were comprised mostly of MOF's . . I bet they thought they had it in the bag. No matter what though, every team did a great job and big props to them all! I wonder if having three WPTC's in the Bellagio pastry kitchen now is gonna change anything?

Wow, I gotta say congrats to Team USA for winning the World Pastry Team Championships. I must say, watching the entire 13.5 hour competition, all of the teams this year were remarkable and it was a close race between the three "favorite" teams, Belgium France and the US. But I have to say now, with the US winning this year, it must be such an upset for France and Belgium being that both of their teams were comprised of mostly MOF's. Shows how much good talent that the US has. The Asian teams from S. Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Japan all really gave everyone a run for their money, I thought. If you had seen S. Korea's sugar dragon showpiece, it would have left you in amazement. This year, most of the teams moving of the showpieces went sucessfully with some teams losing small parts of their pieces on moving . . but overall every team moved their entire pieces with success! ** Hey Neil, did you get good pictures? Mines were kinda iffy and if you got good ones, can I get copies? ** Again congrats to all the teams, this year was great!