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cbarre02

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Posts posted by cbarre02

    Alternative Fats

    in Cooking

    Posted

    My pastry experience has led me to believe that a recipe can be changed 180 degrees by doing nothing more than change the fat that the recipe calls for. Cakes especially call for large amount of bland, flavor muting vegetable oil. There is nothing wrong with vegetable oil, but sometime we want more flavor (I almost always do).

    In a simple carrot cake recipe I exchanged some of the oil called for, for pungent truffle oil. The carrots give a natural sweetness to the cake (not a generic one like to much sugar), and went very well with the earthiness of the truffle oil. I have made mayo with rendered duck fat, one of my all time favorites. Lets not even get started on how good some cakes are with extra virgin olive oil.

    I was wondering if any one else has had experiences (or even accidents), with switching fats (or other like ingredients) and has had success.

    Overpriced and Overrated

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted

    Home made marshmallows at specialty grocers. Sorry but they are 10 times as much as jet puff, and taste worse.

    Avocadoes (tough I love them)... Half the time they are baseball in texture, and 2 for 4 dollars.

    Berries in the off-season. They must add the shipping cost to the price per pound.

    Some specialty honeys (though very tasty) are very over priced

    Sushi... In the deli section... enough said...

    Orange juice… are Minute Maid or Tropicana’s oranges really that much better.

    Smoking Fruits

    in Pastry & Baking

    Posted · Edited by cbarre02 (log)

    Adria made "smoke" infused oil in his recipe for grilled vegetables (an assortment of warm vegetable gelees with the smoke oil). He took safflower oil (or some neutral oil), and placed a piece of charcoal in the oil for 24 hours. Then strained the liquid, and finally ran it through a coffee filter.

    I have tried this, and it does work rather well. I made a "vinaigrette" with balsamic and an aggressive amount of black pepper. Then tossed it with berries and served it as a salad atop a warm chocolate cake, and sour raspberry-merlot reduction.

    The smoke was nice with the berries, very light and only a back round "note". But I have to admit that it challenged the bold, deep flavor of the cake. To me smoke and dark chocolate, rival each other on the palate. Almost as if they want to take up the same space, but only one can successfully.

    Now for the caramel. I have to admit I had no idea how I was going to infuse sugar with smoke. I ended up putting half burned smoking chips (still smoking slightly) and fresh bruised rosemary into an airtight container, keeping the ash and herb in a bowl off of the sugar. I let it set for about 30 hours, and the sugar did pick up the flavors. I then used the sugar to make a clear caramel, and it worked. The smoke went very nicely in to the caramel, and tasted... Very different. It was nice, almost a barbeque flavor, but not quite. I think next time I would try to infuse a bit more rosemary into the flavor, it seemed to get run over by the other two flavors. I also may go with a creamy caramel, the smoke left a bit of sharpness to the caramel, and I think that fat could round it a little.

    I have not yet made the ice cream that I wanted to, but I will soon. We'll see.

    Smoking Fruits

    in Pastry & Baking

    Posted

    I think that cherries would hold their own against the smoke (even though its not cherry season, at least not in Michigan). I think that they have a distinct enough flavor and enough acid, so I don't think that they will not get "lost" in the smoke. Also I was thinking about infusing smoke flavor in to caramel, and possibly making an ice cream with it. Caramel has some smoke notes already present in it, so maybe smoke would just bring them out more.

    Thyme smoked pineapple or banana I think would also work, and the smoked pineapple I think could be paired well with chocolate. Nuts could also be alternative, smoked pecans with bourbon (as many bourbon already has smokiness in it).

    What about the idea of smoking with vanilla pods, that have been striped of their beans?

    Smoking Fruits

    in Pastry & Baking

    Posted

    Just was wondering if anyone has tried smoking fruits. I was thinking about it the other day, and wondered if it would be a success or not. Though woods would be the traditional smoking medium, I was also thinking flavor via herbs. It is not something that I have seen or even tried. Jut a thought and wondered if any one else has tried it.

    Also if you store chocolate in an airtight container with a piece of cool charcoal, would it take on a smoky flavor? I know that it works with robust spices, so I assume that you could do it also with charcoal. But then I might not taste so hot, who knows?

    Want to make Tres Leches Cake (THREE MILKS CAKE)

    in Pastry & Baking

    Posted

    Even more fun for this dessert.

    I have done a "Tres Leches" dessert before, but instead of using the traditional cake I did a variation. It was for a "Nuevo Latino" (no matter how cliché it sounds) dinner, six courses... I think. Anyhow, we made a very "milky" cake (from whole milk), sheep’s milk yogurt sorbet, and a goat’s milk caramel. So we used three different milks for the tres leches. No real revelation for the pastry world, but it was fun for the dinner.

    Want to make Tres Leches Cake (THREE MILKS CAKE)

    in Pastry & Baking

    Posted

    Tres leches is a nice base dessert, which can handle an assortment of flavors. One favor that you may want to do for your self is to ensure that the over all cake is not to sweet. This can distract the palate from the flavors that you are trying to give it. I really like the soft texture that tres leches has to offer and I personally like it with an orange flavor to it. Maybe a Panela-Grand Marnier sauce or some thing with caramel notes.

    If you want to do cut outs of the cake you chill the cake very well be for cutting it out. Another thing to try is doing it in small muffin pans. When the cake comes from the oven you can cut of the portion of the cake that has risen above the pan. This gives you individual portions. Then pour on the soaking liquid and cool.

    Well I hope that this has helped some.

    Samba Snapper

    in Central & South America: Cooking & Baking

    Posted

    My girlfriend has had the same style of dish on an island (los roques) in Venezula. She refers to the type of fish as "pargo" and said that it was fresh from the sea also, maybe only a couple of hours old. I cannot tell you how many times she has spoken of the dish, but she has me wanting it too. I am sure it is not a classic ethnic dish, but one that the cook has made many times before. None the less if anyone else has had this fish and observed the preperation, please let me know.

    Foams and Gelees

    in Pastry & Baking

    Posted

    I see the use of foams and gelees as a statement for our modern plated desserts. A statement that tells us where we came from and where we are now. To truly perfect these two element one must allow the preparations to be fragile... fragile to time. A truly airy foam will only last for so long when left on a serving plate, as is true for the gelees. This shows that pastry chefs today are taking the initiative to plate a la minute, allowing themselves the power of last second perfection.

    I love the idea of a dessert being assembled only moments before the diner is to experience it. Rather than being prepped and sitting in a cooler, only to allow it high sugar content to absorb all of the "Refrigerator Flavor"...yum.

    Something that we fail to accept some times is that we are in a changing profession, just as like medicine, law, technology, and so many other things. Yet our profession remained stagnant for so many years, CHANGE IS GOOD! I am sure that doctors had their doubts when orthroscopic surgery made its debut, just as any new idea has skeptics. For how long have chefs been thickening sauces with roux, pastries made with the same ingredients again and again, mousses made with high ratios of fat, flavors muted by over sweetening, and fruit expressed only in it fresh form.

    I am not saying that we need to forget our past, our history, but lets not close our minds to things to come. I am sure that Escoffier had many doubters about the brigade system, and we still use that today... though I think that it could use a few changes to. But that is another topic.

    Indian Influenced Desserts

    in India: Cooking & Baking

    Posted

    Well thanks for all of the wonderful input that you all gave. These are the final desserts that will be applied to my menu.

    Jaggery & Vanilla Roasted Pineapple

    With Almond-Chickpea Brittle, Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

    Spiced Pineapple Reduction

    Yogurt Panna Cotta & Warm Mango Chutney

    Herbed Citrus & Rose Water Syrup

    “Spice Coast” Flan

    Chai Soup, Roasted Banana Foam & Mint Salad

    “Rice”

    Coconut Rice Pudding Strudel, Rice Milk-Cardamom Sorbet

    Puffed Rice Crisp & Red Rice-Lime Coulis

    Well not all of this is 100%, But I think that most is going.

    Thanks Again!

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