dejaq

Edward J ia right PC can't be frozen, the condition is called "Syneresis", that will lead to cracking, and liquid separation of the solids, a curd, for example a lemon curd, typically has a higher fat content (butter) and actually freezer extraordinarily well,I use cornstarch, some people like that European "hot process" starch, with a splash of Annatto in it, if you would like I have a video I can post "on how to make a perfect pastry cream" from Eye Candy, it shows you exactly how it's done, just let me know. Michael Robert Porru

"you might find these visualization tools handy..."

from my Facebook page "Patissier Chef Michael": tag galaxy enter into the text field a word like "pastry" you get a visual representation similar to Google images.....but more like on steroids, try it you will love it. Twingy let's say hypothetically you wanted to keep up with all current events regarding all global blogosphere feeds related to, oh I don't know "molecular gastronomy"......you get the idea....it's better than an RSS feed. airtightinteractive The Flickr Related Tag Browser allows you to search for a series of tags and see related tags. Clicking on a different tag brings up new related tags. You can zoom into the tag selected in the center of the screen by hovering and see images tagged with that word. It also gives a total image count and lets you browse by page.....it's a form of mind mapping software. Michael Robert Porru P.S....there is a lot of zero and one's crunching going on behind the scenes, and under the covers with these interfaces and progs, using a more powerful processor may be an asset.

you are very sweet, thank you for contributing to my behavior....I don't know maybe classical, Opera....to any effect as i just wrote a moderator earlier today, much had been learned from four years ago.....I will just put in this context, this is not Aunt Mary's apple pie anymore....this is Tony Stark's R&D lab, and I am opening the doors up to it, what you are about to see is nothing short of......AMAZING!....I personally guarantee it, that's the way dad did it, that's the way America does it, and it's worked out pretty well for me so far.....

same idea, different wrapper.

this is an annotation from the Patissier Chef Michael Facebook page: I have been meaning to conduct this test....basically it proves that the quality of almond flour makes a difference when it comes to making our endearing Gerbet....the test is based on a flour protein swatch test as what was learned at AIB, we would hydrate the flours, compress them between two plates of glass and determine differences in them....in this case with almond flour as you can tell the hydrated four on the left is darker, the one on the right, lighter, finer grained...producing a better macaroon, the take away, fine grained almond flour has an increased surface area, hence absorbs more available H20 in the whites, producing a tauter plumper, more tender and visually smoother macarron......try to use the finest almond flour available.

@ pastrygirl & tikidoc....thanks for your feedback, I actually received first wind of those comments regarding the text fields being too brief from a cousin on Facebook. I went into saying how the idea was to keep it short for fluidity and continuity to the film,pausing to read if necessary, here is a screen shot of the timeline, these things are like spaghetti code, they get down right unruly with the size of the vid in Sony Vegas Platinum reaching nearly 400 meg! to keep quality standards high, and the movie to a minimum, we edit where we can...with a tradeoff of size vs. content, this movie was even longer, and had to be radically cut to make YouTube's absurd 10 minute/gig limitations, otherwise, and take my word for it, I would have been shot in HD. I'll make the text snippets longer on the next go around, but the music maybe not trance, stays....it's a part of my personality...please don't take my Kodachrome away....I think I am going to cry......sorry....

cornstarch adds stability, and consistency..they tie up the h20 portion on the whites..while still keeping the macs flourless. egg whites also add stability, the concept is the same as leaving the whites (fresh out to dry)and burning off and volatilizing moisture with one caveat, too much egg whites have a sulfonated taste and smell, and produce a considerably marshmallow type macaroon, oh they will look perfect, but be so rubbery I could replace the ten pack launchers on my six year old son's Hasbro Nerf Blaster with them....and he could use those macaroons as bullets instead. we sell an amazing amount of those macaroons at Dean and Deluca.....wow! we see the Georgetown students come in for them all the time, people buy them in droves....like 30 at a time, and wipe us out!....it's crazy! if I had to use fresh egg whites, I would completely run out of things to do with the yolks, I suppose we could make and just keep freezing lemon curd, perhaps have enough till the poles shift or something kinda like that....warning....don't use "SLS" whites, or "super whip whites", they don't work. sorry about the Techno, I'll try migrating to progressive house on the next go around...... it's at a bout this point when Kerry is probably saying " that's my boy Porru, hasn't changed a bit in all these years".....

you can thank me later...... 952 gr. powdered sugar 952 gr. almond flour additional to dry blend with above: 672 gr. powdered sugar 400 gr. cornstarch 50 gr. egg white powder for meringue: 862 gr. egg whites 336 gr. granulated sugar to make chocolate add 50 gr. cocoa to above cheers

Thank you Kerry, very kind....yes you are right, same as I learned at Lenotre, but this is a Contrarian new approach, I make my almond dacquoise the same way, all drys same time, even forced air drying in front of the convection's, is a bit different, remember you want to keep the air volume, and actually I proved you loose more air by gradually incorporating the drys, not less. I also like the chef rubber liquid gels vs. dry powders, you have more control, especially for creating custom color blends like the (salmon color) for the passion fruit or brightening up the leaf green with yellow, but stepping it back a notch with a drop or two of brown. BTW that image is a hot link to the video for someone reading this, just click the picture....like my Facebook page if you care to. I will try to post more videos soon, they take a lot of work, as you know Kerry. take care, Chef Michael

He's baaaaaaaaaack!

just an update folks we have had everything in house and ready to for acouple of weeks now,but our exec. Has been in south Florida getting our sister property up and running. As soon as he gets back and settled in we will make this happen since he also wants to partake in this.

I've only tried the Chocovic 71% Guaranda and 71% Ocumare. Loved the Guaranda, hated the Ocumare. Is this the Chocovic 70% you're referring to? http://www.amazon.com/Chocovic-Maragda-70%...e/dp/B000OZW7CA ← the Guaranda which uses forastero arriba cocoa from Ecuador and yes is the best of the lot. Chocovic also make a blended Tobago which actually is a 64% that is spectacular, very nice full bodied flavor. M

A technique I found useful is to add a touch of cocoa butter at the end of the caramel cooking stage desired. This not only helps with a higher gloss but acts a humidity buffer in case there is any moisture in the air. It procuces a "dry" "crisp" caramel less likely to soften. M

Great tip, thanks. At some point I might team up with some other NYC chocolate lunatics and split a 5kg box. ← do tell me how it's going to feel to bathe in it, that sounds decadent...

We are also working with a distributor. he is located in VA, but they distribute out of NJ. for a 5kg box we paid 105.00 which comes out to about 9.55/pound. the reps name is Henri Ettedgui and he may be reached at henryettedgui@comcast.net

Just an update: I am still waiting for Callebaut / Barry samples from American to come in. I told my rep to also throw into the mix whatever Valrhona single orgins they are stocking as well. Chocovic’s rep came in earlier in the week and presented us with the three single origins along with their other supported lines they are stocking: my initial comments on those can be found on my blog below. Apparently Bulli is using Chocovic exclusively. The expo “Battle of the Pods” should be sometime mid December, stay tuned… Michael

agreed, the 99% has enough of a kick to launch an inter continental ballistic missile of the pad. My first experience with it was about three years ago, very small bar, at retail, about three dollars. The perfect pick me up, but for others that have tried it-an acquired taste to be certain.

Great idea! Obviously unblinded comparisons are not terribly useful, since it is well-established that products perceived as prestigious or expensive or rare are usually rated higher in such tests. Another idea, which might seem like blasphemy to a chocophile, is that all those subtle, complex flavors in an expensive chocolate -- blackberry or coffee or what-have-you-- are not actually considered desirable qualities by some people. Some people really do prefer a plain-jane, Swiss Miss chocolate flavor. ← My thoughts exactly...I'm hoping dejaq makes it a blind test. Can;t wiat for the results. ← Rest assured it couldn’t truly be objective without taking the brand mark out of the equation. In a few weeks let’s see, as soon as my purveyors pull in the products from Pennsauken, we will put these single origin contenders to the test.

I am going to post a "showdown" review in a new thread as soon as a garner up a few contenders on this. I want to throw Callebaut's single orgin chocolates into the mix as well. Think of it as a practical approach to a testing and development platform on only single orgin chocolates free of subjectivity and opinion. There are subtle differnces in these products and I do honestly think it goes beyond brand name. So much of it has to do with formulas, growth and cultivation, where it's grown, and of course how it's processed. Maybe it's my tastes, but I along with others yesterday could taste the difference. Give me a few weeks though, I am going to have to special order some of these from American Gourmet. Michael

I don't know if anyone has had a first hand in having a Cluizel demo, but today our chef, myself and a few others were really blown away by some of the varieties including their 99%. The complexity of the couvertures, the finish esp. is what struck us, full bodied, complicated- amazing! The 45% milk doesn't even taste like milk, the 50% milk tastes more like dark. truly, the chef has thrown FC to the wind, with Barry running at about $4.00/# Felchlin at $6.00/# and Cluizel at nearly $10.00/#, I am not complaing on our exec's insistance on using one of the best couvertures out there, Valrhona as mentioned previously, was an analog to a Maybach, perhaps Cluizel is more akin to a Bugatti. Thoughts on psychotically priced very good chocolate?

I use both hot and cold process glazes-for diff applications. The neutral "cold" process actually works very well if you thin it out with just a tap of hot water , and whisk to smooth. Ideally suited for those "constructed" tarts where each fruit is composed atop of a base. Out of the bucket for glazing a mousse cake, it also works well, but it's very plastic in texture, so a couple of swipes with an off set usually does the trick. You can use a hot process glaze mixed and heated with water, and add a percentage of the cold process to "tighten it up" play with it, and see what the results demonstrate. Michael

This critique is based on over twenty five years of fooling around with couverture. Disclaimer, I am honest, brutally honest when it comes to taste and performance, if I insult anyone that favors with something below or disagrees with my eval, remember it’s all subjective. In my experience Callebaut make a fine chocolate, but it’s regarded more as a workhorse AP type these days particularly the 60/40 than anything else with exception to their new Origine varieties, I had an opportunity to try some of them at a recent P.W. seminar, they come to within 90% of the flavor profile of manjari and the java noted below. Cacao Noel has been consigned to the doldrums of a generic class such as American Gourmet’s (Chef’s Club) private label, inexpensive, yet effective. Valronha, hmmmm we used it exclusively at the President’s guest house the Maybach of couvertures, pricy cost no object, let’s through our food cost out the window. Cocoa Barry-one of my ATF, consistent, high quality, their Quayaquil is richer and more Pronounced with less acidity and astringency than for example DGF’s Des Alpes- good, actually very good-the garnet is a bit mild in the flavor niche, But their 70% is superior, I use it daily. Patisfrance- actually very good, hard to get these days though, they have a Java Milk to die for with earthy, spicy, caramel notes-superior. DGF- I love the absolute white, the milk is ok, and as noted the Quayaquil is on the acidic Side, for you master blender choco wizards out there this is a nice one to throw into your “custom blend mix” Chocovic-makes a superior 70% and small change dark, intense, yet with subtle notes in the finish, it’s what I refer to as a balanced couverture, carried locally by Metropolitan. El Rey-deleterious results, poor sheen. Schokinag Chocolate is unfortunately in the same boat, these guys don’t know how to make chocolate in MHO. Felchlin-the Lucerne 44% will not function with a quick mousse, it seizes. Flavor profile is weak, the matterhorn , is decent, the Edelweiss, is a bit sweet, their Arriba is good though, if at a premium.

I had someone PM me concerning how hard it was to find Pate' a glacer. here is another formula (newer) for the dark: boil: 1 quart heavy cream 19 oz brown sugar 19 oz granulated sugar 12 oz butter arrest heat and whisk in: 21 oz cocoa powder 25 sheets (bronze) gelatine pre softened in water *thin with corn syrup to desired level about 20-30 ounces run through with immersion blender or robot coupe to smooth out. the white is best suited BTW by adding titanium dioxide and before use (once liguid and marble effect) raining in additional titanium dioxide -this creates a truly spectacular "nebula" like stratofication of colors between white and dark with some commenting of hues of blue picking up. good luck to all

Just my 2 cents. I was aware of this problem over a year ago when a local DGF dist. showed me a catalog and noted that a better part of the items listed were simply not available, bummer. They do have colorants on the other side of the pond which can not be allowed here, of note those nifty areasol cannisters of color - big taboo-here in the states. Anyone getting PCB -IE Koerner may and I say this carefully, may be doing a rope a dope. That is importing thru Canada, then in overnight packaging shipping to New Orleans direct. This is just based on heresay and gossip, but there is really no other way to do it. The FDA is there for a reason, maybe some of that lovely stuff is not so good for you after all.