confiseur

...thought it was not bad and pretty good value for money....will it last?...not sure, its pretty basic....depends if the punters have had enough of cuisine poseur of which there is no shortage of in London.

...... If you buy the Bakery Book(s) from the Richemont school in Lucerne Switzerland (Sorry all you Francophiles...the best bakery school in the world ..bar none) you will find all the techniques you need...Oh.. and the idea with the bottle was created by the ex-head baker there( Herr Restori-now retired at the school in the late 70s). :

....some good points,well made.....but where are the avant-garde heavy hitters? Akwa,Tan? your respected opinions please.....

.........Chef Benito Vicens at Restaurant Bens D'Avall in Majorca (Spanish Island in the Med.)is serving on his dessert menu: a cold sobrasada( a local sausage) with caramelized apricots ,honey and a basil cream. The camp here in the old world is divided......the ,conservative stick-in-the-muds old school think this is invention taken to absurdity.....the hipster,trendy avant-garde pastry guys think this is way-to-go creativity right up there with with Heston Blumenthals (3 star michelin chef in the UK) Bacon and egg ice cream,snail porridge,trout with blackcurrant mousse etc etc. I personally think the dish would be vastly improved by serving the sausage as a starter........no doubt there are many of you who will disagree. Opinions please...........

..........please excuse and sorry to be pedantic.........but how much does a stick of butter weigh?. A humble Euro-trash pastry chef begs ignorance.

.........coming back to this interesting thread what is the word on your side of the pond about Larry Burdick.........I rarely, if ever see his name mentioned when serious chocolatiers are mentioned in the US yet some of my Swiss friends rate him very highly and I respect their judgement..........just curious.......an unbiased opinion from anyone please?

.........correct,my mistake-William (a friend, so I cocked-up big time!) worked for MPW and Blanc but not Ramsay.

........ditto all above very sensible suggestions........you may want to stay in Harrogate at the Hotel du Vin-goodish restaurant-very nice rooms.

..............William Curley has opened up an excellent patisserie with his wife in Richmond......(i know hes only a pastry chef.....)

........good points........well made.

Sorry to take so long to get back!............a mega-busy few months and an illness which took quite a bit of getting over have taken their toll. To my eternal shame I cannot remember where we ate but it was a couple of miles outside Schwyz and was a hotel\restaurant overlooking the lake.........oh and voted recently the fourth best seminar hotel in CH.......if thats any help! It was really rather good......and as I was not paying I enjoyed it even more. Seriously......I think one of the major problems in Switzerland, certainly in recent years is the rationalisation concept which is still ongoing in the food business in general eg. some years ago the staff restaurant at the Credit Suisse Uetlihof in Zurich employed 18 pastry chefs-bakers-confectioners alone!-the Directors restaurant was in the Gault- Millau guide and had a very respectable 14 points.There were a lot of top class chefs employed by the large banks till ca. 2001. Today.........Oh read and weep........everything but everything at the above mentioned is so called convenience food provided by a contact caterer,there is nothing whatsoever produced fresh-everything is preprepared and delivered-result, no need to pay decent salarys to craftsmen when hilfskraft will do at less than half price. This is just one example from innumerable that I can mention. A similar process is hapening right accross the hotel\restaurant industry and the country which was far and away the best tourism\gastronomy country 20 years ago is slipping further and further behind.

I think a possible answer is that most critics are of the 'eunuch in a harem' ilk-they know how its done-see it done all the time-just cant do it themselves.

chefpeon,Jan 23 2005, 03:16 PM] First thing you gotta tell is what this year's theme was. Bugs? Hard to tell from the photos....but I saw the spider and.....thought maybe.... Although all those showpieces are spectacular and I'll probably never achieve something like that in my lifetime, I see a "sameness" in all of them.....at least the ones you've posted photos of. It's almost like it's a height competition too. Must they all be so tall? I've really never quite understood the whole pastry/tall dessert thing. I dunno....maybe it's because height is difficult to achieve, and height+difficulty=skill. I sort of compare pastry competitions to figure skating. The person who usually wins the figure skating competition is usually the one who completes the most difficult triple jumps without falling, but they aren't necessarily the most lovely or graceful. Number of jumps completed is more measurable and not left to a judges opinion like grace and artistry is. I suspect that's how pastry competitions are judged also......there's certain elements you must have and how well you keep to the theme, and how much time you have, how difficult the project is, and how many flaws there are....etc. Many times what I have considered the most elegant and well presented showpiece is never the winner.....like figure skating it makes me nuts! Anyway. I never have understood the super tall paper toque thing either. About the last thing I'd want to be wearing when I'm working on something so fragile and temperamental is a huge thing on my head that would most likely knock off whatever I have just placed on my big showpiece. I'd be wearing a bandana and a sports bra to keep it all outta the way..... ←

Kit.........London as others have mentioned is horrendously expensive.........the salarys for pc's are generally poor here with very rare exceptions ,over 30k and you will need to be very strong in sugar and chocolate.......there are some very good pastry people indeed in the UK but there is practically no appreciation of there work......the cult of the chef is very strong here and Jo Public wants to turn on the tv and see Gordon,Gary or Heston do yet another version of tarte-tatin. We are still recognition wise 30 years behind France , Belgium or Switzerland. If you are looking for a starting position try Harrods where the Exec. pc is a US national, a top craftsman and is always looking for staff.

If you can prise her away from York a trip over to Bettys in Northallerton where Bettys have a new refurbished branch might be in order........also new now at Harlow-Carr and the original Bettys in Harrogate is far superior to York.......try to get a window seat

If you can prise her away from York a trip over to Bettys in Northallerton where Bettys have a new refurbished branch might be in order........also new now at Harlow-Carr and the original Bettys in Harrogate is far superior to York.......try to get a window seat

...............I know chefs work hard but working 7 days a week for 48 weeks a year to make ends meet does seem somewhat excessive.

Hmmm........Is there any truth in the rumour that 2 and 3 stars are given only on the say-so from Paris? True or not, I have found in the past that 1 and 2 star restaurants in England are better (shock-horror our continental friends cry) than a same starred restaurant in France, or Switzerland. Is this just my imagination/over sensitive palate? or is there still an innate prejudice about British Food/chefs?

Boris is bang on the button. Oblatentorte it is

Leave London and take the train to York where you will find that Bettys tea rooms are head and shoulders above the massively over-rated Wolseley.....well for tea and cakes anyway.......... They also have branches in Northallerton,Ilkley,and now 2 in Harrogate.

Shortbread moulds are traditionally wooden and are still used extensively in England and Scotland. Synthetic materials can also be used.................however the moulds in all cases are dusted with ground rice before pressing in the shortbread. Invert the mould onto a silicone paper covered baking sheet and after baking sprinkle with sugar.

The short answer is no............though in the case of Pont de Brent I cannot comment as I have never eaten there. Domaine de Chateauvieux was superb though not as good as Bruderholz when Hans Stucki was at the stove...........(which was the 2nd best meal Ive ever eaten).........the best was at the Hyde Park Hotel when MPW was at his peak. Well.........where would I consider 2nd rate? For a start the Bauer au Lac has no kitchen worth talking about........not to compare with comparable hotels in Paris or London........I was not impressed with the Palace or (admittedly a bit of a tourist spot) Old Swiss house in Luzern either.......but far and away the worst (surpassing even the Lakeside Casino for preis/leistung ) was the Restaurant Sonnenberg in Zurich with its heavyweight chef and even more heavyweight bill with supercillious sevice thrown in...........nice view though. Vmilor or Boris......I am in Schwyz next Tuesday and Wednesday........where can you recommend?

Ha!.......Sorry to ruffle any feathers- I do confess I like to provoke sometimes! However I stand by my comments.........and after living there for more than 20 years and having been employed at one stage by Mr F. Girardet among others I feel I am qualified to judge........Oh and with a Swiss wife and dual nationality I dont think anyone playing the anti-card cuts any ice. Perhaps it was my dinner guests who annoyed me?.....fact is the majority of Swiss will tell you that the food in the UK is awfull-reality is, that it is better than CH ..........counting or not counting Zurich.

Re. above comments.......the food in Switzerland is terribly overrated, you can eat (shock,horror for the continentals) far better in the UK. I was at the Lake Side Casino in Zurich last Wednesday and it was very poor and massively over priced.........however one thing the Swiss still do well is Chocolate. Of the Zurcher chocolatiers Teuscher seems to have gone a little downhill but Sprungli has some excellent grand-cru truffles-Honold is traditional and the quality is as reliable as ever........oh and the best hot chocolate in Europe bar none is to be had at Cafe Sprungli on Paradeplatz where they they throw in a mini criollo chocolate taster......impressive.