Stephanie Wallace

I've had similar thoughts many times; card plates are terribly unattractive. However, I think that it is extremely difficult to come up with a more efficient and inexpensive means of serving pastry. I would really like to see real innovation in packaging for pastry and chocolates that drastically reduces the amount of waste. I remember ordering an Emotion in a glass at Pierre Hermé wrapped in a cardboard box, held up-right with styrofoam, placed in a plastic bag with a product card and plastic silverware. I walked 20 yards and ate it on a bench at St. Sulpice. What a terrible waste.

I don't know if you feel like driving, but A Southern Season frequently carries duck prosciutto. You may want to give them a call.

Very Nice! Coincidentally, my boss just gave me a huge bushel of blackberries picked from her property. I made a lime cream tart topped with blackberries:

Thank you, Abra. Those are more chips, sprinkled with a little bit of powdered sugar.

The consistency of the ice cream is fantastic (excluding the fact that the yolks were just slightly overcooked). It was very delicate, the fork slid right through. I hope you have a serious juicer if you make this. I used a meat grinder, squeezing the beet-pulp in cheesecloth batch by batch by batch. Hell I hope I never have to go through again. Also, the contrast in texture is one of the best aspects of this dessert; I will definitely plate vertically next time.

Chocolate cake with Beet Ice Cream, Beet Chips and Candied Walnuts from "The French Laundry" cookbook.

They slighty reheat many of their ganaches and whisk to add (very little) extra volume, resulting in a lighter texture.

Patrick Roger and Jacques Genin are at the very top of the game. I think LMDC's chocolates are very good, but slightly too sweet. I also dislike the "fluffing" of the ganaches.

Well, I've gleaned several valuable things so far from this thread, but I guess the verdict is: it's not going to be a particularly cost effective solution?

I think the basic premise of this debate--that these things are inherently contradictory--is nonsense. It only appears that way because of the difficulty in achieving %100 in all aspects of a dish. Incredible taste, incredible texture, incredible appearance and voila, you have something amazing. Believe that one of these things can only be achieved at the expense of another and you limit yourself whether you are a chef or a consumer.

I have no difficulty tempering chocolate, but I do have a hard time keeping it at optimal dipping temperature for long periods of time. Can I buy a temperature-controlled melter, into which I can pour my tempered chocolate, for significantly less than I can buy a home tempering machine? If so, what model should I look for? Thanks, Jonathan

It is highly probable that the syrup was too hot, but the temperature decrease from the addition of room temperature corn syrup should be enough to avoid that problem. I also wonder if some of the sugar may have crystallized. Let us know how your next batch turns out.

It probably wouldn't hurt to cool the sugar, but it isn't necessary. It will only increase the time required to bring the mixture up to the final temperature. I didn't realize how much butter your recipe called for; try reserving a tablespoon to incorporate at the end while bringing the temperature up by one or two degrees.

There is no need to heat the corn syrup. Adding it at room temperature will slightly reduce the temperature of the sugar, decreasing the risk of overheating your milk. It sounds like you did not overboil it. Also, if you add cold butter after removing the pot from the heat, it will halt the cooking of the caramel.

Don't be afraid to scorch it next time, the flavor comes from burning. I just made a batch sprinkled with grey salt: I could have mixed a little bit more salt into the caramel.

Same. If I used them more frequently I might be swayed by convenience, but I cannot stand the idea of creating so much unnecessary waste.

Try the following: Cook sugar until dark amber, stir in corn syrup corn syrup. Take off burner. At this point milk/condensed milk/cream should just boil. SLOWLY pour dairy into sugars. Heat to 250 without stirring, take off heat, stir in butter. Try adding a smoked salt enchance the flavor. You may have to adjust the ratios to get the right texture, but you will get a much more flavorful caramel.

Ahhhh.... that must be it. The don't overroast or underroast - THAT must be why it cost so much At those prices you don't need a sucker born every minute- just a handful each day with a few of them buying coffee from you. ← This sums up my reaction perfectly. Travel around the world, cup at auctions, choose beautiful crops and you still don't have to charge this much. I can't believe they don't even label origin. This shit is complete nonsense.

At 10 min/12 g/650 g the infusion was subtle-certainly not undetectable. I used thai-basil, so it was pretty anisey.

"La Pâtisserie de Pierre Hermé" -- guess who? For taking my understanding of the art of pastry to another level, and inspiring me to really take the time to piece together complex desserts. (And go to school). "Chocolate Obsession" - Michael Recchiuti In an industry whose major players are rarely willing to divulge any of their secrets, this book is a refreshing change. The amount of information provided is staggering. This is easily one of the most amazing non-professional books ever published.

Thank you everybody. I steeped fresh basil in cream for about ten minutes and it infused perfectly. I used 10 grams of basil for 650 grams of ganache. I will probably increase the amount slightly next time.

It's worth reviewing this thread: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...30299&hl=maison La Maison du Chocolat apparently presses the mint to extract more flavor. The key may be pairing it with the right chocolate.

What do you guys do? Boil and steep? Overnight in the fridge? Do you prefer to dry it beforehand? I've exctracted too much bitterness in previous experiments. I'd like to get it right for ganache.

What a fantastic experience! Thank you for sharing. What did you guys think of Valrhona's Porcelana? I am totally blown away by Amedei's, but I'm afraid to shell out the cash for the flower. Is it worth it?

He basically took items from his usual line-up (Emotion, Mr. H, Surprise. Click on La Collection) and replaced all of the components with some combination of rose/raspberry/lychee. It was executed very well.