dejaq

← One other key note, and this is very important, Don’t be a renovator, be an innovator. Just because a current trend may dictate the usage of swirled” moulded/colored” chocolates, which admittedly have a gorgeous appearance, have you done an A-B comparison between a hand crafted -hand dipped (no manufactured shell allowed here) variety lately? In order to be successful at Confectionery, it isn’t just about the packaging(although Americans seem to be sold on just that) it’s about the under the covers/under the wrappers, granular “black box” stuff that will catapult you forward. Look at the palate of the tongue, see the regions that are affected by acidity, alkalinity, sweetness, sourness, and saltiness. What about the interface of when you bite into a bon bon, how does it strike you, what’s the impression, the aroma, is it crunchy, waxy, gritty, the releasing agents used in commercial truffle shell production have a lot to be desired, in my opinion. When you “Engineer” your line let me know, and I will be honored to help, this is not Rocket Science, it’s just a passion of something very dear to me, that I have always considered a “specialty” even before I played with sugar, I considered Chocolate a more eloquent medium. I very highly doubt Notter has the ability to run his fingers thru a dew moistened morning lawn blade of grass, and sense the delicacy of it’s texture, nor does a person whose neuro sensors (fried to smithereens) at the tips of their fingers have an appreciation of the incredibly soft Nature of caressing a woman’s face while kissing them. You get the idea. who is the bigger fool, the fool, or the fool that follows the fool. Quote from “Star Wars”. Set your own trends-build it as well as it can physically be designed, don’t compromise, forge your own path. Michael

here is an edited response to someone who is also opening a Chocolate shop in Asia, he really is "with it" and I have a good sense his venue will be a huge hit, I am helping in anyway I can ( I have just sent except for the experimental untested stuff) 95% of my formula base to him. He also has, and is getting probably something on the order of over 100 hyperlinks of where to search for even more stuff. If anyone on this Forum, may seem curt with a response, don't take it that way, it just means they are redirecting you to what has already been discussed before. this was my response to some of the same questions you and the Gentleman that I wrote to: Those are some big questions my man, but let me shoot out some hinters based on what was right and what went wrong with Pirouette Confectioner. First of all we sold strictly wholesale to the Hospitality industry, although we had an E-Commerce fully functional Web site, back then we didn’t get to much traffic from that. We had an account with Sutton Place Gourmet and we did sell consumer direct. I attended trade shows, rented booths, gave out samples and listened in awe to people drooling over this stuff. Pirouette was incredibly well received, but undercapitalized we started with private funding for around 60K. I know I would still be in business if we had a brick and mortar site. The chocolate was that good, the formulas were all discrete and proprietary. A full-blown Chocolate “venue” will be revisited. But it will be marketed with special Iconology, a gourmet training center tie in, a webzine tie in, and nauseatingly high profile marketing coverage. I am not going to comment on any other “future” competitors, simply out of professional courtesy, but I do hear ya, actually loud and clear. What does it take to be successful at Chocolate? Hmm, that’s a good one, let’s see: Ompla Lompa’s that care. An incredible sense of taste, style, esthetics, and panache. A bitching Chocolate, better than anything you have eaten before, Sexy, unique packaging. The “venue” or “salon” should stress catchwords like “designer” or Boutique. Get a good lawyer. Get a good CPA or use something like Peachtree, I guarantee you will not have the time to play with “cutting Checks” Be involved with day-to-day production. Trick out the shop, make it all look like jewelry, and don’t be afraid to charge for it. As far as booze in the base, you do mean truffles not pralines made with booze, right? Michael

There have been several posts (recently), concerning the do's and don't of kicking a Company off the pad. Beyond pastry, Chocolate and more over Confectionery is a bigger hurdle, be fully aware of what your getting yourself into, you have to know a lot, a hobby is simply just that, your just kicking it, a Biz, pays your mortgage and puts your children thru Medical School. Michael

hey David, that is a concentrated liquor, that is available from commercial supply houses. One word of caution though locally here in the DC/Maryland/Virginia area the Montgomery County Liquor board, along with the ABC laws in Virginia, have essentially "outlawed" all over the border interstate commerce sales of that stuff, I even heard of the Pentagon Ritz getting "busted" a few years back, and having to dump all of their stocks in one shot. Before you proceed, check if, you can get it, check it you can use it, and not get in trouble. Your in Michigan, correct?, see what your local laws have to say first. Michael

Yes Akwa, I concur, it’s incredibly easy to emulate and replicate, true proprietary creation, in my opinion comes intrinsically, skills can always be acquired, learned if you will, but to dynamically link it all together and call it something new comes only so often. The hard line Pros no this, we use it to our advantage, this goes far beyond the peripheral elements of fundamental “parts bin engineering”, it addresses at it’s core the essence of what terrific food is all about, the experience. The taste, the sights, the smells. Most Europeans snicker at us, even when I was at Lenotre, twenty years ago; one of my professors, this Little hyper spaz Staney was commenting about “look, what is this American doing here, they don’t know anything about food”, I knew a lot more French than what I led on to believe, and didn’t say a thing, even though I was contributing to this bastards ability to make his monthly piece of crap Peugeot payment. If he could only see us now, that nasty piss, he is the same clown that thought it was funny to flick a dab of butter cream, that flung out of the mixer, landed on his clog, and toss it back into the rotating mixer, nice really nice, jerk off, twenty years later, I don’t think it was funny, not for a professional institution, and most people I tell that sorry ass story to, ask “and this happened at Lenotre?”, Ok… Michael

Everything that I do in the lab harks back to a traditional respect for the purity of food taste. A very good majority of tinkering even is based on a platform of paying homage to formulas derived from over twenty years ago, heck the Germans were messing around with Bavarians over seventy years ago. Many more "exotic", eclectic presentations, along with palate teasers, to be certain are pushing the envelope to new highs. There is a place under the sun for all of it, but it doesn't work everywhere, neither is it appreciated in all fifty states. Try giving an Avocado gelato, or a red beet sorbet to someone in Kalamazoo, just see what happens, hint, keep it real, know your Audience, the guys in NY are Adventurous cause they can get away with it, I can be bold in DC, B/C, even though Washingtonians are conservative, and low key, everyone digs a "cool" looking and better yet, terrific tasting dessert. I have for the last couple of years been compelled to keep a low profile myself, just B/C of the outfits I was working for, no expositions, no press, no contests, no attention, that was then, this is now, as they say. Herme has the following ideology: you Ain't goona need it My theory, is slightly different, if there was an Analog-Pastry Chef to Film Director, I would consider myself like James Cameron. Cameron understands the physics of what makes it tick, so do I, he is an accomplished graphic Artist, I too have studied Art in College, and have the ability to sketch it out initially, or go one step further, for Example a showpiece, build in Maya, digitally, and replicate to chocolate or sugar. It’s this layering effect "one stage, multiply build on another, and another, offering synergy, yet complexity, in taste texture and aesthetic, that makes it beyond good, it makes it terrific... Now that's what I am talking about... Michael

Hey Ted, I would be honored to offer my input, but let me get thru this days production first. Eventually, I will be conducting interviews with some of the local Chefs here in the DC area for the online Zine to be built out by the fourth quarter of this year, but in the meanwhile I'll offer my ideology on the craft and the profession as a whole for our EG readers. Michael

I'll look for the volumetric sizing in your "flow" series. I haven't a problem with the sizing of the formulas -- up or down or imperial (is that right -- you know, the ounces/pounds part) to metric. This is more a "why do cakes sometimes turn out crappy when you make a bunch" question. More like that physics part. Do you need at least x baking powder and scaling up means you need less in total relation to the formula. Is the "big mixer" causing it to over mix/under mix in relation to how you treat it in the "little mixer". In RLB's Cake Bible she briefly discusses the relation of the amount of baking powder to the surface tension and rise in a say 6" pan vs a 16" pan. Don't have it in front of me, but these are the issues I am questioning. Don't just want to follow her formulas because, 1 her cakes are dry, and 2, what if I want to make one big mean ole carrot cake wedding cake... Thanks for your help. And, your posts always cause me to think more than I do, and probably not as much as I should.... ← Sorry for not getting back to you sooner, I sending off a bunch of Chocolate formulas to Singapore, it's 12:08am EST. I will try to answer your questions, there is always a "safe" zone when it comes to sizing up, on whole cake formulas, one thing you have to understand, is that if the origins were designed for the "consumer” in the first place the volume or mass, prob. wasn't that much to begin with initially. going up in size to let's say a 14, 16, or an 18 in tier may require some "re-engineering" B/C the amount of "structure builders" IE flour in the formula must be bumped up, to support the added weight of baked volume in the pan. There are a couple of circicular work arounds, and you have already prob. tried some of these at one point or another, one is to actually bake the layers "shallower" less batter in the pan, sandwich more than one vs. "one big layer" IE which for example with carrot cake wedding cakes are tricky to begin with, if you need a superior formula for carrot cake, (actually I have two), one is better than the next it just boils down to your individual tastes, backchannel me and their yours. The other is to change the bake temp, start higher, and then reduce the temperature in gradual increments over the total bake time for a larger cake. another "trick" is to use steam injection, this technique work very well on quick breads and muffins, but not to many people know that it can be used on larger wedding cake layers, in the initial up front baking stage as soon as you load up the oven, spritz some water on the sides of the oven, make sure you don't take out your pilot light though, the interaction of steam and heat create an intensive penetrative heat to the core of even the largest baked articles. I know these are more "exotic" baking methods, AIB, teaches you to think outside of the box, that's prob. why their graduates land mgmt postions in the field, we look at the whole kitten caboodle, when it comes to baking. just remember to always honor and respect the humble origins of where most "consumer" grade recipes come from, sometimes they simply were not designed to be built out as a huge one piece unified effort, but tweaking can be done. one other note, the acidulants (IE soda, BP) can effect the batter, but I would discredit these factors here in this topic, surface tension has less to do with a cakes leaving powers than it's ability to rise up within the pan based on variables such as these,I would put more weight on the amount of tenderizers, IE eggs, butter, fats in this instance, see that's what I was tring to get at before, although the Cake Bible is a fine book to be certain, it doesn't address what can go wrong in a commercial venue dealing with a 60, 80, or even a 180 qt mixer. remember one note also, that acidulant, in a double reacting BP, kicks "twice" once in the bowl and once in the oven. on a larger batch, with more volume, the mixture has a tendency to spin longer because you have more of it to get thru, even in the scaling stage, if it is a larger formula, my advice is increase the size of the formula, to a "critical mass" stage, that is (this formula will funtion at this batter weight and no more, for this yield); if you indeed have a favorite, beyond that, it's time for retinkering. Michael

I will add one more thing, the Exec. Was a nutcase, certifiably...I do believe there was many a soux chef there over the years that took their frustrations out on the equipment, and "slamming the oven doors! I am sure they make a fine oven also, they just didn't stand the test of time of a commander in chief with Crohn's disease, which for the Chef, was an excuse for his behavior but not an explanation... Michael

Hello Cheryl, In my experience, it is far easier to "go up" and increase, than to "break it down" into something smaller. I have done some research and development along with consulting over the years and to be honest, where as I excell at physics I really don't have the patience for fractional or proportional math, to me it's like a stupid little game. but to "size up" a formula here are some key notes you may find usefull: "convert" your formula to gravametric weights-and I mean all ingredients including those teaspoons, tablespoons, and liguid "quart" measurements IE. if a formula calls for 10 whole eggs, convert this to a "scaled weighed amount". now this is where it gets a little tricky, you have the option of a conversion on a percentage basis of: a true percent based on the weight of ingredients calculation a baker's percentage based on the weight of flour Unbleached All purpose Flour 500 g. 100% Water 360 g. 72% Salt 10 g. 2% Yeast 9 g. 2% TOTAL (Dough) 879 g. If you know the metric system, your job has just become easier, if not take a pound (16 ounces) and convert to all ounces and fractions of ounces. do the math and 'break it down" or work it up. I will be doing a thread in "the Flow" series, concerning Volumetric sizing in relation to aereated creams technolgy, everyone should find that-interesting. I hope this helps, if you have any more questions just ask. one other note as the size of the volume in the bowl increases, so does it's aereation qualities, and the intrinsic qualities of the friction factor of the machine used (IE 5 qt vs 180 qt mixer). Cheers, Michael

I am sorry Filipe, aloow me the opportunity to recap, this thing is baked and layered as a "terrine" layered with crepes alt. with an anglaise or freshly made stiff Pastry cream-build, set, cool, serve, with coulis in a boat off to the side, enjoy, work off the calories on the stair master!(not necc. in that order, but you've got the jist of it.) Actually I made this one, years ago with PastryKrafters as Frozen wholesale plated entremet, that was in 1989-a long time ago in a galaxy far far away... Good luck my friend. Michael

I saw that recipe on a Cordon Bleu "Just Desserts" book I've bought at Selfridge's. Get a ring and cover its base and walls with crépes in a way that half crépe sits outside the ring shape to be wraped over the filling, like a flower or something similar to it. Fill it with an orange mousse - which takes Grand marnier, of course - wrap it up and brush it with a peach (or other flavour you like) jam/coulis and decorate it with some orange slices. That's just it. ← hey Filipe, I was thinking of something more like a layered crepe flan, baked and sliced into obliques, served with a burnt Orange Grand Marnier coulis, with rind, Delicioso! Michael

Montague, are also very nice, expensive, at least at 701 in (there) experience, the doors started to fall apart after a while, not good at any price...

I'd keep an eye out for that pesky 72% also. It's out there somewhere... ← whoops, see what happens, at eleven and small change at night, even I can make a boo boo, thanks for catching that...

Ay mon Capitan, Blodgett does make a superior piece of equipment, one more is Vulcan's we had that at the Blair house, all state of the Art, gorgeous, simply gorgeous, you could do something completely fool hardy and drop about 17 and small change on a lovely "combi" that will do everything for you except sing your kids to sleep at night, but that level of programmability is only commanded in an Excelsior class battlecruiser showboat. M

alright, that's it, I am getting on a plane right now, let me just tell my Executive Assistant, that I got lost coming back from Reagan National. Dude, your amazing, but you already know that! your Menu e mais complicado do que eu pessava, bravissimo, tanti graci... I don't know how you are the doing the crepe cake, but as for me, the addition of Grand Marnier and orange rind, augments the dish, you know a life in heaven without Baileys or Grand Marnier would warrant a refund... Sinceramente, Michael

it isn't very difficult at all, a hinged assembly, frame and some bolt tightened piano wire, the frame can even be made of heavy acrylic or delron plastic, you could go one step further, get a router and "bore' channels in a sub frame to cut right thru, but i would keep it simple, eighty percent of this can be found at home Depot 10 % at a music supply house, the other 10% at a plastics Co. Good luck on your search, you could save a couple of K. Michael

Kerry's right, Tart's and more tart's on top of that, there easy, fast, much appreciated,and "very fresh and lovely", to qoute my buddy Mike Smalley and if you going to have to focus a bit more on cuisine, they can be stamped out in a flash, allowing you to focus on "other stuff". Michael

And what about if something looks great, tastes great... but it's simply VERY HARD to be eaten ? Example : Pierre Herme's Cherish at the top of the Cake How do one cut this cake? It's like 25-30cm tall... and with that shape... ← Oi filipe, Bejos no bubbum do Pierre Herme! that is a wild signature benchmark cake to be certain, it's the kind of cake that sits in a showcase, and beckens you to do envoke a reaction, similar to the green crystal calling Cal El, to the fortress of solitude, can we refuse? Do I have enough on my line of credit to drop better than 50.00 US dollars on this thing, hmmm, let me think about that, I just ripped thru 1000.00 in the last two days on this recon. mission, and have probably gained 15 pounds... is another PH, masterpiece worth it, empathically yes, no matter how it tastes, or your final impression. extreme sports folks do it for the rush, we Pastry Chef's do it B/C it's there. by the way, I like your Blog, it's Hot, sexy, better than cooool! I am finishing mine on MySpace and will post it for all to see, it's running in tandem, with two in sync. pilot projects that everyone here at EG is simply going to fall head over heels over. be patient during our construction dust... Obrigado, Michael

Hey there, the Small Biz Administration in Cali can help you get started, usually a biz permit, some type of documentation tied into a responsibility of paying personal property tax on equipment and Capital improvements along with a license to do business,check your local codes, you may want to get your food handlers certifications in order if you don't already have them, aside from that an accounting proggy such as Peach Tree Standard edition ( I picked up an edition for my wife's biz for free w/the 169.00) full rebate from Office Depot, and don't forget to cost everything out (www.Costguard.com)-about 500.00 for a non Enterprise single workstation edition with no extra frills module add ons. from there get incorporated maybe do an LLC set up a biz account with your favorite bank and get your Ledger go to go. from there on out it's all on you, expect to pay, pay and pay on top of that for ridic. stuff like taxes, and Insurance, factor it all in, remember those B2 bombers aren't cheap-Uncle Sammy has to get his cut... if you need more, or have more questions ask away! Michael

dude, I am calling you on Tuesday.

Years ago, when I studied with Jean Marie, he indicated that in France they played with evertyhing, even Corian, Marble is the only material that holds a temp of about 15 degrees less than ambient, I am sorry mark yeah it's expensive 1 1/4- 1 3/8" beveled polished ran (8 years ago) about $700.00 for an 8' x 2.5 slab. It doesn't have to be pretty, unless of course you have a showboat, it only has to be functional. You could spend more, one hell of a lot more, in a way it's too bad about granite, I have always had a fondness for uba Tubba, and Black Galaxy, where the hell did I get this Champagne taste anyway??? Michael

Thank you ladies and Gents, most kind, Just got back in from the Bay, just south of Annapolis, had a great time, Vivienne and Fabricio were the best of hosts, I really do love them both. I think my 6 month old son even had a blast, he seems fascinated by water. Sugarella, I can't agree with you more, I have to be honest, I like your style, draw a line in the sand, they dare not cross it! If there is one thing that I have learned in 43 years, is that it takes all kinds in life, sometimes a lot of patience having to deal with people that are not native to the food industry, but are in the food industry, if you follow. An Individual may for example, know how to bark orders, but when it comes to administration, really know very little, this has occurred over and over...I take it as I call it, I am the type of person that can size up an individual with in five minutes of meeting them, I am never judgmental, I basically just accept people as they are, with their strengths, and maybe a few weaknesses, we only human... In the case of the GM, he is originally from Pittsburg, PA, they are used to a whole other ball of wax from there, he is a good guy, he quite simply doesn't know food, at least not at this level. I had to remind his wife of my qualifications, the other day when she pressed an issue, I didn't want to seem rude, just a gentle reminder-Elvis has not left the building just yet. I am going to be honest also about my work, it is the tomorrow land stuff I have always excelled at,” the next years model" prototype, not quite ready for prime time yet stuff, it’s all me, my vision, my tastes, the "Porru" aesthetic, this whole project is way overkill for Fairfax, just having finished my DC tour at the President's Guest house. It's like taking a twin turbo intercooler behemoth and putting it a school zone, your bound to scare some of the kiddies, and wake up the farm animals. Do I care, heck no, have I significantly improved things and multiplied sales by a six fold margin, hell yes, does someone who signs my check, have an opinion, yes respectfully, am I a good politician, you better believe it. bottom line, sometimes in an effort to keep the peace, you have to tow the line...remember what I said about people, they are only human, half the time the ones I deal with quite frankly tax my patience, but I interface with them B/C I have to . Sugarella, I think to also answer one of your other questions, there seems to be a lot of ladies out there that come in Oh and Ahhh the stuff but then wonder how many more minutes on the stair master are they going to have to be, to burn those things off, at least that's my impression. There is another, aspect to this, and it makes sense, at least to me, when is the last time you were in a Lamborghini dealership inquiring about pricing and if you could take her out for a spin, If the product is too intimidating, on the level of a mausoleum, then yes people can be intimidated, my product is going in "that" direction, and there is really not a anything I am prepared to do about it... If you saw what i have developmentally in the pipe, whew, you'll see what I am talking about later... Michael

Thanks for your comments, please allow me the opportunity to reflect on a couple of key issues, as per Sugarella's response, well your not going to believe this, the GM asked me last Saturday to actually "tone down half the line" and Americanize it, he seems to feel that our customers are actually intimidated by some of this stuff, LOL not at his comment, but how I played it off, by acting as a good politician and said something to the effect, "you know actually I was going to make that recommendation about three weeks ago"LOL hysterically at this point. The owner and his wife who later "joined" in were discussing you know what Michael just said to me, do you know that he actually thought of what we were going to propose three weeks ago! those Jedi mind tricks, gosh, they only took 43 years to learn, it's truly wonderful to have the ability to "steer" a conversation. I hope you guys got a kick outta that! Before this thread gets to far off the beaten path, I think the focus was that from what I have seen Aesthetics matter overwhelmingly, I have seen things that you may very possibly have to cut with a surgical knife (lower lateral cut, to the anterior side of the mediastinum of that Bavarian whatchama call it please...)just to eat... I think a dessert should, yes: A. Taste pretty good B. look hot C. be eatable, this is subjective folks D. be balanced. flavors, textures, contrasts, and complimentaries. E. be original, or proprietary in composition the clown over at the restaurant that said my stuff looked "manufactured" was looking for more of an in house a la carte look and vibe, In the interest of time on a practical, I simply provided him with a about five items that I thought he would enjoy, they did, he was just looking for something different. Thanks again, it’s been a tough day and a tougher week at that, I am getting out on a boat and celebrating my Birthday tomorrow, I will try to forget about the amateurs that I (we) have to deal with every single day out there, and enjoy the day with friends and family, everyone have a happy Memorial Day. Peace, Michael

I have a question for everyone concerning a couple of things I have run into in my travels, these last few years... Recently I have seen some incredible, I mean absolutely killer stuff out there recently pulled off the four corners of the place we call planet Terra. The question I propose has more to do with composition vs. continuity, just exactly how concerned are you when you hook some thing together, are you more concerned about aesthetics, (as seems the current defacto trend) or are you thinking of "how does this thing actually eat". What's going on when I run a fork thru this dessert, for some this is a trivial concern, but to others here at ground zero, like Jeff Bubin of Vidalia, it is very much of a concern. a few years ago, someone noted that my dessert's looked too perfect, almost manufactured, they said what they had in mind was a more "handcrafted custom look" I thought about it and actually, did pull back off and toned it back a bit. I don't suggest that we follow Amernick's lead, and suggest that everything should "not look exactly perfect", I only state that we are in the biz of compiling a product that most usually, people first eat with their eyes. My philosophy is simply this-Taste is everything, tricking it out any which way after the fact is the easy part. I welcome your opinions... Michael