chiantiglace

well really, if the pastry cream is made properly you do not even need to strain it. If its too runny that could be the cause of two things, either not having enough cornstarch in the recipe or not properly gelatinizing what you already have in the recipe. The proper consinstency should be thinck but also smooth and creamy. You should re-whip it right before filling to give you that smooth creaminess. Set, the pastry cream should be thick enough to basically tear. You should be able to pick up whole chunks at a time, but there should be NO LUMPS.

If anyone is curious about who iHeartalbany is, hes the interested young man closest to the camera in that picture.

You missed Meridian again. wow. I guess theres a reason or two why hes not at left bank anymore. As far as I know that place has never done very well.

This is something I typed up for my chef instructor. The Homework was on pectin but I took it a little further. Hope this helps you get the jist of the hydrocolloid thing. Except for Tapioca Malto-dextrin. Methyl Cellulose is a hydrophillic substance that dissolves in only cold water. It will then create a clear viscous gel. It is used as a thickener and an emulsifier in foods and cosmetics as well as a treatment for constipation. Methyl Cellulose is not digestible, non-toxic, and non-allergenic. Methyl Cellulose does not occur naturally, it must be heated and treated with a caustic solution, aka sodium hydroxide, and methyl chloride. The reason Methyl Cellulose will not dissolve in hot water is because it masks polar hydroxyl groups. These groups must stay cold upon solution or they will immediately solidify causing a paradoxical effect of a saturated solution. You can find methyl cellulose in shampoos, toothpaste, liquid soaps, and also manufactured ice creams and whipped cream. Strangely enough methyl cellulose is the key ingredient in K-Y jelly. You can use methyl cellulose for numerous things in food if you are looking for a particular gelling factor. It would be great for super thing sauces, or possibly thick sauces binding loose ones. Gellan gum is one of the strongest gelling agents in the industry right now. And when I mean strong I basically mean versatile. It has an almost perfectly clear appearance and can withstand temperatures as high as 120degrees Celsius. You would only need half the amount of high acyl gellan to create the same effect that agar performs. There are two forms of gellan, high acyl and low acyl. High acyl gellan has a higher concentration of divalent cations than low acyl. The higher the level of cations the strong it can gel. This is so because the cations attract more anodes, or negatively charged a anions, in food. The more the cation and anion bonding the stronger the substance obviously. This doesn’t mean low acyl is a lesser product. The both have their place and both perform differently with a different end result. It is ideal to combine the two for the proper gelling factor you want to occur, (eg) 20% low acyl to 80% high acyl at a 4% ratio to lemon juice (for its citric acid). It is not neccessary to heat this solution to gel but for the best result it is reccommended. The gel starts to set up immediately depending on the ratio used. The heated mixture must go through a series of phases. The gellan will start to become less grainy and more smooth and clear in appearance. It will begin to thicken together, but this is an illusion. The mixture will then relax and/or lose its strength. This, by my theory, is just another dispersion of the compounds reforming bonds not before linked. It will then come back together during the heating stage and gel smoothly as the best product one will desire. Many people think gellan is artificial but actually it is created biologically. The reason people believe this is because gellan does not occur in nature, that we know of, on its own. They create the bacterium that forms the gellan polysaccharide, it being Sphingomonas Elodea. Tapioca Maltodextrin is a fine white powder with a neutral taste that is broken down from tapioca starch. It goes through enzymatic hydrolysis from natural, non-gmo, enzymes, and it is then dehydrated. If TMD is stored at ambient, low humidity, temperatures than it can last up to two years. You can find tapioca maltodextrin in baby food, cereal bars, biscuits, confections, ice creams, sports drinks, etc. Specifically the greatest thing about tapioca maltodextrin is it can turn any fat substance into a powder. Even foie gras fat can be turned directly into a powder. The chemical structure of tapioca maltodextrin is extremely hygroscopic. It does everything it can to find moisture, and in your mouth that’s exactly what it does. When the powder you put in your mouth finds the moisture in your saliva it immediately goes back to its original form binding all the moisture in your mouth. This gives you an instant flavor charge of whatever fat was used. It actually doesn’t even have to be a fat, it just has to be something with very low to no water content that can be combined with the maltodextrin. A good example of this would be caramelized sugar, since the window of h2o has been completely closed by the time it starts gathering color. Xanthan gum, another gum formed from fermentation from bacteria, is actually the fermentation of glucose and sucrose. This polysaccharide occurs in nature naturally unlike gellan. One of the greatest benefits of xanthan gum is its ability to give high viscosity at a very low percentage. Xanthan is used lower than 1% to the mixture its being added to. With a high viscosity and a low shear rate (being stable), xanthan gum can make foods viscous and stable and still feel/appear light, especially in the mouth. Unlike other gums it is highly stable among a large array or temperatures and ph levels. Guar Gum or Guaran is sometimes an overlooked hydro colloid but it definitely has its place. Guaran shares a similar viscosity to that of xanthan but is more closely related to locust bean gum because of it being a galactomannan. Guaran is more soluble than locust bean gum and has a higher low-shear rate than locust bean gum meaning it is less likely for it to break down over time, due to stress or agitation, or pH fluctuations. Guar gum, like xanthan, will not form a gel unlike locust bean gum. But if the galactose residues are put through enzymatic hydrolysis then it could replace locust bean gum to form a gel if necessary. Interestingly guar gum retards ice crystal growth. What happens is it slows down mass transfer across liquid to solid staging/interface. This could be an excellent ingredient to add to frozen products like ice cream and sorbet that need small ice crystal formation during the freezing process. It could quite possibly give an beautifully smooth texture to the finished product. Locust Bean Gum or carob gum a.k.a. carubin is an extraction from the kernel in the seed of the carob tree. It acts as a food supply for the tree and supports water supplies for arid situations. Unlike guaran, carob needs to be heated to make a solution. It will not be soluble in cold water. Locust been gum will form gels (weak ones) but they will be thermally irreversible meaning once it’s set its set, there is not reheating. Unfortunately because of this trait, carob has poor freeze-to-thaw capability that guaran is capable of. Carob specifically interferes with crystallization during liquid/solid staging. It forms the gel during this process because the gum does not want to crystallize itself. This could possibly be a good stabilizer for frozen desserts depending on the textural outcome the gel produces. Pectin is a heterogenous group of acidic polysaccharides. It is found in fruits and vegetables, mainly orange peel and apple pomace. Pectin doesn’t not contain an exact structure like other polysaccharides. It is very often free forming and changing in its esterification. When in a solution pectin does not adopt a straight confromation. Pectin becomes very flexible in a solution with a curved-like appearance. The formation of the methyl esters in pectin determine its strength, characteristics and reactions. Typically esterification of pectin is around 70%. If the esterification is less than 40%, the strength of its gel will increase with an increase in Ca^2+. Calcium solution is used to create bonds on the interacting surface of the gel. The carboxylate groups bound water away from the calcium ions in which for salt links. This is naturally to protect water stores for the plant. This process is very similar to that of alginates. Like alginates, the strength of the gel is affected by increase in acidity and or temperature. Normal pectins gel in the presence of acids and sugars. This having an esterfication of approximately 67%. In the presence of calcium ions, and low acidity these pectins can form thermoreversible gels, while high methoxyl groups with a high acidity are irreversible with heat.

I like the myth about reverse osmosis water drying you out instead of hydrating you. All water counts, unless it has poison in it. Thats funny, I just learned something. Now I know why on those busy summer nights with no air conditioning I would drink literally like 3 gallons of water in a 6 hour period. But with that I couldn't help but tossing a few pinches of salt in my mouth every 20 minutes or so. Now I understand the unbelievable craving. of course its not all the necessary salts, but it still must be the reason.

products being frozen/thawed.

I am sure you can, but I am not sure I would like the texture. Though I have never tried any cellulose ice cream so my opinion is negligible.

What I can tell you: Methyl Cellulose is derived from cellulose that has been treated with an alkali Methyl Cellulose does not dissolve readily in hot water When there is a high concentration of CarboxyMethylCellulose (CMC) molecules, the gel will become thermoreversible. By reducing pH levels, and increasing the ionic strength (higher concentration of CMC) will both decrease the viscosity of the gel. It is said because of the viscosity drop during heating, CMC could help yield in baking because it increases gas bubble formation. Methyl Cellulose is used for all kinds of artificial things out side of food. It is the main ingredient in K-Y jelly, oddly enough. You can find it in toothpaste and shampoos, and really anything else that needs some viscosity to it that is non-toxic. Hydroxypropyl Cellulose is a cousin to Methyl Cellulose that does not form a gel. It is used as a stabilizer and an emulsifier predominately. An interesting characteristic of both HPMC and CMC is that they can be used to substitute gluten in gluten free bread. This is one thing I am going to have to experiment with in the future.

guar gum dissolves rapidly in cold water, which is useful for this particular need. It creates a more viscous liquid, kind of like xanthan gum. Guar gum does not, on the other hand, form a gel like its counter part locust bean gum. What makes guar better than locust bean gum for this instance is it is more soluble and a better emulsifier. This is due to a greater amount of galactose branch points. (galactose present in many forms. Galactose is a monosaccharide that is less sweet than glucose. It is converted from Galactan through the process of hydrolysis. Galactose is use for food energy (stores) for the plants these gums are extracted from. .....Galactose plus Glucose = Lactose). Guar gum is typically not affected by pH, but will be affected with pH extremes. like Locust bean gum, it retards crystallization during thaw-freeze circumstances. Apparently it does not intend to do this as Locust Bean Gum. But I am guessing theprocedure is the same. Locust bean gum forms a gel to protect its food stores. This gel infact blocks crystallization from forming which enables the product to freeze consistently and smoothly.

I would use guar gum. It has a natural sense to keep water from crystallizing during the freezing and thaw-refreezing.

there you go, test it with both and see what you like better LittleIsland.

Sidewalk Cafe

steeping sounds like a good idea. But I wonder if you could just temper the cream into the eggs and banana puree. Then allow it too steep/cool overnight and strain.

should be able to very easily.

its not a puff pastry in any way shape or form. There is NO folding/lamination, none. All it is, is a pie dough, just another ones way of making it with a slightly different characteristic.

pie dough is a rough puff pastry. Just give pie dough a few three folds, and looky there, you have blitz puff dough.

You know Margo, its all about professionalism. I had asked a chef the day before Sams event if he was going to come by and check it out because I thought he would be interested being a proactive pastry enthusiast. He looked at me and said, who is it, Alain Ducasse. I chuckled and said no, Sam Mason, you know that. He said a few things and basically told me to come to him when I bring someone that is a big name. I really didn't know how to take it, so I smiled and shrugged it off. I invite people like Sam to do events because it is the professional, out-going, individuals I want. The incentive is to be apart of anything and everything that could turn out great. I told Sam I really wanted him to come up because a lot of the students here are unaware of the modern cuisine that is going on today. Many of them have never even heard of a hydrocolloid, much less specifically methylcellulose. I wanted Sam to help me open up their eyes to see that its no "chemical play", just a breakdown of substances we reincorporate to out favorite flavors and textures to create something new and innovative. During a meeting, After a long and persausive conversation about school and students, Sam looked off for a second and replied with a, "yea, lets make a day out of it". There are many things I would have liked to have contributed to the event and to give Sam while he was here, but unfortunately I was basically a one man team up until 6 oclock tuesday evening. When I come back from extern I will take my time with the chefs. I will take them to dinner, give them tours, introduce them to selected students and chefs, really get them in deep with the school. I think Sam even wanted to hang out in Hyde Park for a little bit after the demo, but unfortunately it was take the 11pm train asap or take the 3:57am. I have 6 months of extern awaiting me in just a couple days, but when I return in January, expect some sensational things. Because with these events being so popular and appreciated, there is nothing to stop me from doing less than 10 next year. Maybe even a grande event at the end.........

sounds like if you just over mix any pie dough recipe thats what you will get. Its all personal preference.

It is simply peanut butter mixed with tapioca malto-dextrin, nothing more really. He added salt for taste. Basically The modified starch absorbs the oils present making them very cakey. The powder was actually a little bit grainy the second you put it on your tongue. But the TMD being so hygroscopic it just pulls in all the moisture in your mouth instantly turning the powder back into peanut butter. Who knows, maybe Sam will breeze by and give some more detail. Rico, if you are going to be back for bachelors, I will have plenty more events to come to after winter break.

Well were all set to go for the final event of my pre-extern days. I finally got Sam Mason to come up and do a quick set of demos. Unfortunately he came up at around 6 and had to leave by 10:40. The event didnt even start until about 9:20 giving him a mere 80 minutes to perform. I was very displeased at this, but unfortunately me and Sam were at a loss for oppurtunities. It had been a struggle all the way through, even from the first day I showed up at WD~50 in somewhere around April I believe. I was driving my sister home back to North Carolina from her missionary trip in Honduras when we decided to stay a night in staten island. I figured I had some free time I thought I would go drop by a few restaurants to meet some chefs that have caught my interest. It was this same day I have the privilege of finally meeting Richard Leach. On my way down to the lower east side, running in and out of coffee shops and book stores, checking maps and asking questions I finally found Clinton street. There me, my sister, and her boyfriend walked three blocks before we figured out we were going the wrong way. I finally show up to WD~50 at around 3:30 on a saturday with good chances that Sam would be there. But no, he wasn't, he was out of town for the week, I think Jacksonville. So then, no worries, I took a card an would call back in a week. A week later I called and asked for Sam. Unfortunately they could not get a hold of him at the time but if I left my number they would give him my message. My message was that I was a CIA student that was wondering if Chef Mason would consider comming up and doing a demonstration in the near future. About an hour and a half later I received a phone call in the middle of class from Wylie Defresne. He wanted to return my call to fill me in on the details of the staige procedure they had there. As graciously as I could I tried to turn the conversation around to what I meant to say. A slightly disrupted Wylie replied with a subtle confusion and an answer of, try back t/m. So, the next day, same time, I call WD~50. I get disconnected twice before the receptionist finally patches me through to the basement. Finnaly I get to speak to Sam, and I am excited because now my brain is frozen as I stand ontop of Anton plaza looking at the Hudson with a confused grin. All I could remember was the "Chef Robbin" incident here on egullet that Sam stirred up. Charging my brain with the information that had once run through a fine tooth comb, making sure all the words were appropriate I remembered what I was calling for. I kept it easy and told him I would be in town this weekend and asked if he had time to speak to me if I dropped by and when would be best. Unfortunately neither one of us said a specific day. I was told around before 4 is best. I showed up on Sunday after noon, a perfect 76degree day in the lively lower east side, extremely excited to get to know the crew at WD~50, and wouldnt you know it, Sam is off on Sunday's and Monday's. After telling the receptionist at the front desk/bar the entire scoop and why I was there (getting it all out to make the second time around a little easier to speak) , she replied to me with the unwanted information with caution. A little frustrated at myself for spending $30 on a train ride, $6 on a metro-card, and a 5 hour voyage to acheive nothing all I could think about was Sam expecting me on Saturday, which I couldn't make it in time so I came Sunday. It was stupid on my part to not set up a specific day and make sure lines were cleared, but I payed for it. Not to feel like the trip into Manhatten was a total waste I took a nice long walk through China Town and on the way up I discovered Mulberry street. Let me just say I haven't been to a night time college party that had more going on than Mulberry Street at four in the afternoon. A few more phone calls later, and two more city visits later we were in the clear as far as I was concerned. I can't tell you how hyped up the campus was before Sam came. Mainly because after my first meeting with him he was positive on comming up. So for about two months I had been telling people to expect him soon. Many more e-mails to Sam begging for information and images to put out there on what he may do didn't come until about a week before the event. Unfortunately for me and Sam we were both extremely busy in our lives at the time, and still are. I made so many phone calls in and out of class just trying to get small bits of information I could use, but rarely did I even get a hold of Sam. Through all of this me and Alex Stupak were also speaking on similar terms in trying to get him out here from Chicago. Originally I was going to Sam at the beginning of June and Alex at the end. As time went by things kept changing. Sam had to go to boston, so one date was out. Try the next week, no hes in Vegas then, DAMM. Well its at the end of May and I have no proper dates to book Sam, and Alex is booked on the 27. So with extreme unbeleivable displeasure I had to e-mail Sam and ask if he would mind postponing until winter when I come back from extern. I even tried to make it sound better, or more plausible. That night, not the next day or the day after that, that night Alex e-mails me. In his e-mail Alex explains to me it is unfortunate but he is leaving Alinea and moving to New York to work at a new restaurant, but he assures me it is a notable one, even though he wont tell me the name. Alex needs to postpone until winter. A couple days later here on egullet Alex makes it public he is moving to WD~50. The irony was so unbearable I could barely stand under the weight on my own mind going in circles. I immediately and continuously try to get in touch with Sam. I have two postponed events that I have already been adverstising. What are the odds something like this could happen. It was so bazaar I couldn't even be frustrated. I call up Sam about a week later and ask if he is still interested and to send me some images asap. Which he is, and he does. The flyer that was made by one of my friends, Bonnie, was so remarkable I don't even have words to describe it. If I figure out how to reduce the .pdf file size to a jpg I will post it. Anyways, after two days (many many hours) of running around to every chef and instructor I can find, both A.M. and P.M., I handed out flyers and explained to them the nature of the event soon to come. Such a controversal issue modern pastry brings up, I had many long conversations with instructors and their opinions. June, 27 Sam is comming to town on the train. I have my friend Shiraz Noor (president of Food Science Club) waiting for my phone call to pick Sam up at the station. at around 5:30 p.m. I get a phone call from Sam telling me hes in town. I am right in the middle of class so I am running around with an ounce of an insanity you may say. Did I mention my phone was dead, so I had it charging in the back of the bakeshop. I had no idea which train Sam was going to take so I didnt know what to tell Shiraz; when to be there. When he calls hes also in a cab heading my way. A little shocked and at ease, plus a new frustration; where to send him and will he know where to go? Thankfully I had a couple dedicated club members to help Sam while I was in class. Sam showed up at my bakeshop excited it seemed. I sent him over to Danny Kaye Theater where the kitchen was suppose to be ready to go. Unfortunately people dont do there jobs I suppose. During my dinner break I ran around to about 7 differnt kitchens and bake shops borrowing ingredients for Sams Demo. I should have mentioned just because were the worlds premier culinary college, it doesnt mean we have an endless rack of supplies for visiting chefs. he kept looking around the kitchen in the theater and saying "there is nothing here". I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. It was cool though, I kicked it into overhaul with my pal Mike to retrieve what he needed. We have the money for anything here on campus, you just have to go through many many lengths to get what you need. I am out of class and ready to give full attention to Sam with an hour left to go. He seems to be pretty set up, we had to run around and get a few small things like parchment paper and a kitchen aid, because for some reason the whisk attatchment to the special edition copper one in the theater is missing. There were a lot of thingsin the theater that were acting right. The audio and visual components were not acting like they were suppose to, or atleast how Andrea(B&P club) and Jared(Brew Club) were trained to know how they work. Andrea finally got the microphone to work the best it can work, which is not very good. Unfortunately we couldn't get the main screens in the theater to show the camera footage, even though all the computer monitors were showing. So everyone had to bare with us. I must say, if anyone thinks that Sam isn't a natural entertainer, they are very wrong. Everyone thought that he was hilarious, and he did an excellent job of keeping their attention. You can really see he enjoys being infront of a live audience, as do I. you can see this just by the reactions on the guests faces. Unfortunately Stephan didn't take too many pictures of the crowd, I would have loved for everyone to see how many people were there. It was the largest event I have ever seen a club perform. There were atleast 30 people without seats, unfortunately, but we did have tastings for everyone. Don't be scared by whats going on here, thats just Sam's assitant turing up his microphone. This is Sam showing the clarity of the chocolate consome that was a huge struggle all evening. The flame of the burner didnt go below medium, it kept buring out. So it was either boiling the consome or dying out. We didnt get to do a tasting, but it was more for show/experience than anything I suppose. The quickest demo was the Tapioca Malto-dextrin. Sam made a peanut butter powder, which was highly talked about afterwards. Here is the eggless lemon curd that got so much argument over in the bakeshops the day after. A few chefs came into class just to taste it. It had a very very powerful lemon flavor, I enjoyed it very much. Here is a shot of the compounds he brought to use: Sam in his Kingdom: They had the consome on the floor a few times trying to get it just right, but unfortunately the equipment was not ideal. The students still got a lot out of it. I am really not sure what Sam is doing right here, but it was such an interesting picture I saw no reason why to edit it out. you can tell a lot of people are very into what is going on right now. By the way, does anyone recognize the chef at bottom right? Sam finishing the curd, and getting ready to chill it. Sam answering questions as the grapefruit foam whips. Me and Shiraz, along with four or five other people prepairing the tasting plates. For the last demo, sam does the mango pectin noodles with B&P helper Denise. not a bad way to end it. I have plenty more to say, but this has taken several hours. Please share questions and opinions.

Everyone says fonadant is the way to go on eclairs, but I have never been too partial to fondant. Personally I like a good hard ganache myself. Filled eclairs get soggy in less than a day. Ideally you would want to fill to order, but sometimes that is not practical. I would just have everything prepared way in advance and fill and glaze what you need for the day. You can make pate a choux way ahead, pipe and freeze it. You can even bake the choux and freeze the mostly baked shells, then just recrisp them when you need them. Pastry cream is only going to give you a couple of days max though. The reason for the bread flour is the strength. For the amount of liquid absorbtion it will give you the most strength, which is what you want to keep those shells hollow and at peak. The reason for as much eggs as possible is because if the choux is too stiff from flour it wont go anywhere. If it is too liquidy from the liquid or butter it will just spread out like a cookie. The eggs are a liquifier in the mixing and a stabilizer in the backing.

there was a neat idea I've seen just recently. Lining sheet pans, half sheet pans, hotel pans, etc. with plastic wrap, then filling them with water and freezing it. After that wrap it again with alluminum foil. Place your chocolate on there and they should keep for a while. Maybe have a few back ups to change out?

when I think of chocolate frosting (which I thought frosting was a dead word) I think of a shortening-confectioners sugarmix. I nasty, filimy, thick super sweet topping that you get inside your bettycrocker cake boxes. I sure hope thats not what you are thinking of.

ServSafe says 4 hours.

there is a ratio: 2 parts liquid 1 part fat 1 part flour 2 parts eggs example: 16 oz milk 16 oz water 16 oz butter 16 oz flour 32 oz eggs example: 2 oz water 1 oz butter 1 oz flour 2 oz eggs make sure you use bread flour if you can