JeanneCake

This is a great read, very enjoyable. More, please!

I'm tired of the pecan, pecan-cranberry, cranberry-walnut tart varieties I've been making over the past 10 years. I want to do a cherry and hazelnut version - but not a chocolate/cherry/hazelnut (that would be too easy. Chocolate ganache, dried cherries, hazelnuts. Where's the challenge?!). I haven't started to experiment yet, but I am thinking of the filling along the lines of my favorite cranberry walnut tart from Epicurious and the pecan tart in RLB's Pie and Pastry Bible - some sugar (light brown?), some sort of syrup (Lyle's Golden?), eggs and or yolks, some cinnamon, pinch of salt, some butter maybe some heavy cream; cook this and pour over the dried cherries and chopped hazelnuts, and bake. Anybody tried something like this before? I didn't find much in the way of existing online recipes so I'm wondering if this is a bad idea to begin with....

I've never had a dog; I don't know how easy or how hard it is to "control" their behavior so I pose this question from a curiosity perspective: does a service dog have special training to not respond in a typical way to an external stimulus? The only way I can think to describe what I'm asking is when a seeing eye service dog is at a street corner waiting to help it's owner cross and sees another dog joyriding in a car and barking like crazy, does the service dog not start barking too? How is it possible to not have the dog respond to the smells in a grocery store and start sniffing around (rhetorical question)? I don't want to ask people who need service dogs to not do everyday errands but it seems to me that when the general public is "at risk" (e.g., the dog sniffing/drooling over a produce bin) then this is the job of the health dept to get involved and not make the food establishment jump through hoops (I can see someone saying you have to have sneeze guards over a produce bin to protect the food from a service dog. This increases the costs for the food establishment.....) Just because you need a service dog doesn't mean the animal isn't expected to behave in a specific way or if the animal causes some damage or problem the owner should be responsible for it.

I like hearing about someone else's work day; especially since I'm a small operation (there are only 3 of us in the bakeshop at the moment) and it's pretty cool to hear about what it's like in such a large hotel/casino! Waiting patiently for the next installment....

If Hersheyland really wanted labor for the job, why go looking for foreigners? Why not hire from the ranks of the unemployed locals? I can't imagine that it was easy for foreign students to earn enough to come up with $3000 to $6000 just to get here. Be honest about the work, the hours and the conditions. If someone still chooses to move forward, it is their choice. But to not be honest about the working conditions and the expenses, that's unethical. It's as if they are looking to take advantage of foreign workers.

Sherry Yard makes a ganache in one of her books with raspberry puree as the liquid; I wonder if applesauce could be substituted using her recipe....

I'm a purist as well. If you're going for the drama of a croquembouche, go for the authenticity and do the pastry cream filling and attach with caramel. If you're looking to make it a little more adventurous on the palate, do three separate choux on a plate, each garnished or dipped with something different. This would help you with the storage (keep them chilled until plated/served) as well.

Exactly

I wonder if you would feel differently if the passage omitted the word "God" and "ask him" (and replacing it with "ask"). I don't see the passage as a command to pray, but more as heidih says, it's a gentle acknowledgment of a thankful heart. Or a reminder to have a thankful heart in whatever you ask for. I mean, it's not a sign that says you have to say grace before you eat the meal you are served in the restaurant and here are the words. That kind of thing would be a little much. If the passage offends you, let them know. Let them also know how much you enjoyed the food and the service so if you decide not to return, they know why. Find a way for you to be able to go back and for them to continue to have something important to them in place. Maybe find a different place to put the plaque so the staff sees it rather than the customers. I hope the conversation, if you have it, doesn't turn into an evangelical kind of thing....

You can freeze the baked choux and then recrisp it in the oven for 5 minutes; then cool and fill..... My favorite recipe for choux comes from Pichet Ong; it gets a beautiful medium brown and tastes amazing, even when it's not filled. His "secret" is the sweetened condensed milk in the recipe. It's great! This recipe freezes and recrisps well.

one thing that comes to mind is old clarified butter or old oil can have that effect; or perhaps the wrong leavening (baking soda instead of powder, but generally this makes for a metallic taste rather than a fishy one....)

Thanks for the info! Due to space issues, I have to get a convection oven and want the double stack because of production quantities and staffing.... I'm definitely looking at Blodgett so,it's between a Blodgett SHO which I can afford new; OR used DFGs. The local dealers are telling me to go with the DFGs because they are sturdier (?) and the door warranty isn't going to help me because the DFGs are used and there's only a 30 day warranty on used items. The new SHO would have a one year warranty. I wish I'd started the search earlier - I'm moving in three weeks and have to hit the ground running so I feel a little pressured to make a purchase and don't want to make a mistake. I can't afford a mistake! (My original plans changed dramatically in an unexpected way so I consider myself fortunate that I have space to move into at all!)

I'm in the market for a double deck, gas, convection oven. I've been using Blodgett for the last four years and now that I'm researching them, I'm finding other manufacturers such as Baker's Pride, Wolf, Duke, Vollrath, Star... I need to make a purchase in the next two weeks (moving into new space) and while the used market hasn't come up with anything, I'm looking at buying new and of course, the best prices are from online vendors. One local dealer is willing to come very close to the pricing advertised on Big Tray for a Blodgett SHO, but is that SHO model worth buying? And what of these other manufacturers? Some are probably good to stay away from (because they are prone to breakdown), while others may be unsung heroes - this is where your opinion will help. I'm using the oven for baking cakes, tarts, cheesecake - dessert items if that makes any difference in your recommendation or thinking.

The products/recipes are known to be good sellers; the company doing the buying doesn't have to do market research or recipe development; that's what they're buying. The company is buying the whole thing (business) to get the product...

We've seen cupcakes rise and come to the fore; the same with macaron, marshmallows, dessert pops (cake pops, cheesecake pops).... what do you think is going to be the next hot thing in desserts?

I admit to being biased with no reason.... one of my distributors started selling new shapes of tart shells - squares, rectangles, triangles.... they looked really cool. Tastewise, they were ok; not as wonderful as what I was getting but they were the only ones at the time who offered different shapes and I wanted the different shapes. I ordered a bunch, and when they arrived, I see on the label they are manufactured in China. I had a viseral reaction: I am not using these, I do not want to find out in a few months that there is a problem with the ingredients in these tart shells. No basis whatsoever in fact, but there it is. I gave them to the caterers I share my space with. I am back buying my tart shells from a Swiss manufacturer.

Your question reminded me about a stuffed pepper recipe I used to make with eggplant, bread crumbs and pine nuts - there were other things in the stuffing but that's all I can remember now - I haven't made them in at least 15 years. I tried looking on the epicurious site but nothing jogged my memory. So slice in half and grill the eggplant til soft; scoop out the flesh and add some bread crumbs, herbs, pine nuts and probably some parmesan or other grated cheese, fill a hollowed out pepper, and grill (or bake). My husband loved these. Maybe I should make these again....

Assemble the pan, and then use foil to wrap the outside of the pan. Go at least halfway up the sides. I've always used heavy duty foil because that's usually what I have on hand; if you use regular foil and it rips, use a second sheet.

Or add some egg yolk or cornstarch (mix it with the sugar so it doesn't lump) to firm it up a little if you use a natural cream cheese.

I agree about the watermelons this year; I haven't had a good one yet. Cherries have been ok; not great so far. I am hoping that the local peaches later this summer will be terrific (I love peaches, my husband is a nectarine freak.) In general, nothing memorable so far.

I have no experience with molecular gastronomy; but what if you were able to make a honey sphere? I don't know whether it would survive the process of making the pastille or jelly around it but it's worth a try.

I have to wonder if they became "hot" after the fracas they started with the Marcus Waring thing. I think they handled that very poorly and my opinion of them (not that it means much) sank considerably as a result. I do think they are an overly Critical Couple, though....

Those were truly disgusting! I am not usually a licorice fan but I bought some of those on a whim and gah!

I am the same way with baked goods. I can also tell when dairy is about to go off; butter will begin to smell (to me at least) like Parmesan.

Two possibilities, both of which use a cake that could be a round or square or rectangle - you can finish the cake (e.g., finish coat of buttercream) and then put the design on it. For the first and most easiest possibility: use an edible image that a supermarket bakery could print out for you and you put it on the cake (if you are local to Boston, PM me and I'll do it for you) For the second: buy some black fondant from a craft/hobby store, roll it out and use a template to cut the outline. Then use royal icing to make the ovals, numbers and the X. You could do this in advance (a day or two) then dust a piece of parchment or wax paper with a fine dusting of cornstarch and use a spatula to move it onto the paper. You could put this on a rimmed cookie sheet, then cover with plastic. You might even want to make 2, just in case one breaks.