nicolekaplan

i'm just going to throw this idea out there i have been making creme brulee for years in many different kitchens with different types of ovens. i have never had a problem with setting. i have been making a cb in a flexi pan this summer. we have made it maybe 85 times in the last 2 months. most of the time it works beautifully. but then all of a sudden for 2-3 days in a row it won't work at all. and then like magic it starts working again. it has driven me to wits end..........however i believe that it may have something to do with the dairy products and how they are being processed. call me crazy but i can't find any other rationale for it. i have been doing this for a long time. i have baked them in convections with low fan, no fan and high fan. with and without water baths and from 200 to 325 degrees. they always set, except when you overbake them and then that's your own fault. i have made every variation possible and never, ever, have i seen this happen. and now you are all saying the same thing.

or organic eggs will have the smallest chance of salmonella

speaking as a pastry chef, a mother, a college grad with a masters and a cooking school degree - it is our responsibility to steer our future generations in the right direction. we are the ones who should know better, no 18 year old has a clue of who they are or who they want to become. a college education never killed anyone. cooking is not glamorous. it's tedious, menial, manual labor. don't kid yourself into thinking otherwise. for every mario batali there are thousands of people who 10 years down the line are still hourly waged cooks with no real future in sight. this profession is a very serious commitment so send your kids to college. drag them by the hair to freshman orientation if you must, but make them get out there and find out who they are first. and then when they are old enough to comprehend the decision they are about to make they can go to cooking school

HARVARD or of course princeton, yale or mit

i would be delighted to assemble a kk cake but please don't ask me to do it with dunkin doughuts, now that would be the real insult

i have made small kk cakes and yes they definitely need a bit of support especially the lovely cream filled ones. i think some dowels skewered through out would do the trick. i'm sure you could find some taste testers if you decided to do a practice run.

we had a breakthrough in the cannelle baking, fill them to just under the rim but never to the top and they won't puff over and split. anyone want to share the wolfert recipe, i went to the link and couldn't find it any more and i have yet to receive an answer from the webmaster of the page

if you can buy wholesale, seelig, harry wils if not try dairyland the chefs warehouse i think they sell to anyone through their website. or if you are in new york i believe dean and deluca sells some

how about premade high quality frozen puree. you can't beat it in taste, price or ease of use.

harry wils doesn't carry it and you won't find it in the us. it was banned because it didn't have fda approval, several years ago. a shame and probably just one of those who's paying off whom kind of things. so smuggle it in your suitcase or rework your recipes. you could try calling one of the puree companies on site pastry chefs for technical support. they could probably help you adjust a recipe to your liking

i second revere

pfeil and holing, cheap and great selection

i'm pretty sure there is a previous creme brulee thread that you will find useful somewhere in here

use boiron puree and use their recipe, they have tons of info on how to make exemplary sorbets

we used to make the caramel and pour it into foil cups in big batches, then store those dry until we were ready to fill and bake. i would also say that baking them in advance a bit is best so the caramel breaks down

cheap people will get what they pay for so don't worry, it's not like her tiny purchase was making ot breaking your business. i never compromise on price as mine and my staffs time is worth a certain minimum price irregardless of the product. you are exactly right by realizing that you are skilled labor and that is worth more than anything. on the question of tempering, i always choose tempered chocolate because i like the texture however i have heard great things about pate a glacer and all you need to do is melt and dip.

that was meant to have a question mark, my goof, however they are priced by the size and the $12 one is a jumbo or somthing like that. it must be the size of a grapefruit for that price

i would not charge a per pound price but rather a per piece price, the same way she will probably resell and the same way that most other places price this type of item. your cost will be extremely low if she is paying for the fruit but your labor will vary depending on how small or large the items are. in nyc i noticed that godiva was charging anywhere from $4 to $12 per strawberry depending on the size (i know what kind of strawberry is worth $12). i would look into local pricing to decide what your time is worth.

patricia's method works for dry ice as well

you can purchase vanilla directly from nielsen massey

please don't buy the taylor. i had a nightmarish experience with them and a frozen custard machine last year. i was not only miserable with the machine but displeased with their customer service. the machine broke every week, and sometimes more than once in a week(and by broke i mean it was unusable for atleast a day or two at a time) it's impossible to do business like that. i could go on about how bad it was. we finally sold it and now have a new piece. if you have any questions i would be happy to personally convinvce you of why you should get the carpigiani.

you have several choices for pcb you can have them custom ordered for you from echocolates.com or patisfrance/parisgourmet (and both usually have a small amount of stock items around) or and i would suggest trying this route, i haven't done it yet but it was how i plan on making my next order, you can order directly from pcb on their web site. you can order anything you want, no minimum and the shipping charges seem pretty reasonable and they say that you will recieve you order fairly quickly. this way you won't be paying anyone an extra fee to do the same thing for you and the other companies usually force you to make a large minimum order

you can buy them by the piece at new york cake and bake. they usually have a small selection of different styles, muffin, pannetone etc. amd i think they charge about a quarter a piece. however you will have to deal with their less than pleasant demeanor. depending on how many you want you might want to consider case pricing from novacart or imperial. they are cheap by the case (around 7 cents a piece for the small ones) but they ususally come in a 1000 count box

i need a great recipe to make cookies for my kids. i am not a big fan but they seem to love them. anyone got a good recipe for soft chewy ones?

gritty or broken?