pastrygirl

People sell businesses on Craigslist. What would you be selling exactly? Recipes? Brand, website, fixtures? The building itself?

2-3 days, as far below $1k as possible to be competetive with or lower than Callebaut academy or Ecole Valrhona. On one hand, as Ruth mentioned, it has to be long/intense enough to be worth traveling for, on the other, it can be difficult to get more than a few days away from a small business. I would be much more likely to attend something on the West coast - Seattle, Portland, SF, LA, or Vancouver BC... or at least west of the Rockies.

I would want some theory and science! Shelf life and calculating aW without expensive testing or equipment is probably a big one for a lot of us. I get so paranoid about shelf life of bonbons. I would love some experience with a small tempering machine and enrobing line like the Selmis that a few folks here have. And panning and airbrushing. And small batch bean to bar.

I think less liquid overall. Was the glaze pretty runny? I would try reducing the apple cider by 1/3 to 1/2 - reducing by cooking to concentrate the flavor, not just using less.

I don't really like the idea of separate menus, except to feature some boring stuff as early bird or happy hour but in a non-ageist way. Are some of your new dishes big hits or are you just attached to them? Look at the product mix, sales don't lie. If you need to have a chicken breast on the menu, make it a chicken breast that you know is as good as it can be. If done-ness of steaks is an issue, maybe switch from rare, medium rare, medium to a description of how much pink/red color it will have. Different steakhouses all seem to have their own definition of cook temps anyway, so train your servers to say 'the chef's medium rare will still be pink and cool in the middle, is that your preference?" I also disagree with the idea that your clientele is fixed. But if you are going to change the menu enough that the old diners are driven away, you'd better be 150% sure you can attract and keep enough new ones to stay successful.

I guess we're still a bunch of wild West fishermen and lumberjacks at heart!

Either/both. Actually I have some bonbons in the freezer that I just left in the molds and wrapped in a few layers of plastic, figuring the molds would be good protection. Of course I can't use those molds for more bonbons since they are in the freezer, but bonbons haven't been great sellers for me. I think they are too fancy or something.

Jim, I think it looks like the grip lids fit any bottom of the appropriate size, based on hotel pans. http://www.cambro.com/Products/Food_Pans_and_Lids/10737419403/1033.aspx I have several cambro quarter pans (the softer opaque ones) with matching lids. For most items, I pack them in ziploc freezer bags to protect from moisture, but for loose bonbons I just layer between candy pads then wrap the whole box in plastic.

You got a really nice rise on that puff pastry. Steam is powerful and some things just won't stay down, even with crimping.

Yes, stirred custards cook differently from baked/undisturbed custards. Do you have McGee's on Food and Cooking? I'm pretty sure agitated vs still egg cookery is covered in there.

I like the bar cookie idea, maybe I would have enjoyed church more in my youth if communion was a pan of brownies How about a rich brioche? You could do a loaf, a ring, or lots of small rolls baked together and easy to pull apart. Epi shape would also be good for sharing.

I meant more as a factor of why there are so many restaurants opening - I wonder how many cooks work for someone else for 5-10 years then decide they need to be the boss. I think it is seen as a natural progression to some extent, so maybe not motivated by financial stability. If anyone has a $1k signing bonus for pastry chefs, let me know, this self-employed thing is a bigger struggle that I realized!

Do cooks think if they open their own place they'll be more financially stable? I'll admit I have dreams of grandeur and hope that chocolate will make me enough money to retire in 15-20 years.

Ha! I hate chef coats!

I also have to question the I wonder about this, are you whipping air into the ganache to thicken it, or just stirring until everything is smooth? Adding air could hasten spoilage. I'm not familiar with the white chocolate you use, but some manufacturers have formulated less-sweet white chocolates. Consider Valrhona Opalys or Callebaut Zephyr if available. Adding some pectin to to your fruit will thicken the puree and should help lower available water. (I think, please correct me if I'm wrong.)

Edward, I bet your 50/50 honey/couverture mix works because there is enough liquid in that much honey. As you know, chocolate seizing is about the proportion of water, so adding a smaller proportion of honey like 70/30 might not provide enough liquid and cause issues. As you said, its more of a ganache, not solid chocolate.

Matty, I think Chefsfeed has a point. Young cooks want to be creative and contribute, they don't want to put in the time taking direction from someone else, making someone else's food. It's nice that the industry has become somewhat kinder, gentler, and less sexist, but its still not about making friends, its about getting the job done.

I agree with Lisa, honey is a bad idea. Do you have a way to grind sugar very fine? Since chocolate is fat-based, there is no liquid to dissolve granulated sugar, so you have to either use something very fine to begin with, or be OK with detectable sugar crystals. Or conch/grind it until smooth, but that takes special equipment.

"I know one of the reasons why Boston is getting hit hard by it is because so many chefs and resto owners are getting amazingly greedy - an incredible amount opening a 2nd, even a 3rd restaurant is as many years, flooding the market with yet another taco/burger/latest trend idea. Another reason I think, at least here why things are rough, is because inexperienced people are being promoted too early - I've had resumes pass through where they've been a 'sous' for the past year or two, when they have maybe 4 years *total* of kitchen experience - a lot of places are promoting people too fast just to hold on to people, so they don't get even more screwed, so the few people looking have no real experience or idea what they're doing." I think this is a big part of it. In Seattle, two local restaurateurs have something like 20-25 restaurants between them, and many more chefs have opened 2-3 locations. Plus, it seems like everyone who was ever a sous chef has opened their own place, and you have another fraction of the industry splitting off to start some other specialty food business. I left a good pastry chef job to struggle as an independent chocolatier with the goal of having a little chocolate/pastry shop within a few years. I see the industry expanding more rapidly than the talent pool, and too many kids who went to cooking school but didn't learn how to WORK. And yes, some of the entitlement that you & Deryn mentioned. They love to talk about how passionate they are but fail to actually get the work done. I like to talk about food, which is why I come here in my free time. At work, I'm trying to get as much done as possible, not standing around talking about who I'm following on Instagram. You're also right about chefs holding on to cooks because they are afraid of not being able to replace them. That happened at my last restaurant job, the CDC who opened the new location left, a new CDC came on who I really liked but was kind of a hard ass on the cooks, the cooks all threatened to quit, new CDC got fired and the line cook who had been promoted to sous not long earlier was stuck running the place. He didn't really want the job and wasn't cut out for it, but the cooks stayed.

Good ideas here, especially the ganache cubes for individual servings. I used to make a simple ganache to be used for staff mochas at my last restaurant, we'd keep a quart in the fridge. And I didn't know about samovars, very interesting, that would look great. But I spoke with the market director, and while she liked the idea, it sounded like hot food would require an extra $300 vendor permit plus the fire permit plus equipment, and the prediction is for a relatively warm dry winter. I think I will back burner this idea for a few months and try the year-round market with my current set-up before I sink another $500 into anything. Thanks anyway!

Thanks, Drewman and Tri2Cook, you're probably right that 8+ hours is too long to expect insulation alone to keep things hot. The market in question runs from 10am-5pm, and with travel and set-up time, I'd be heating and leaving the kitchen around 8-8:30 am. I would be OK with making a small amount and selling out before the end of the day. I will check with the actual requirements for open flame, a couple of those portable butane burners would be easy enough as long as there isn't an expensive permit required. Since I wouldn't be using eggs or meat in the hot chocolate, the health dept shouldn't have too much issue, as long as hot stays hot and cold stays cold, I am already permitted as a caterer in a low risk category. Being able to grab things from the fridge and heat on site would save me a little time in the morning too. I'm heading to a different market run by the same people today, so I'll see what they think of the hot chocolate plan.

LizD, I'm not sure about volume. Somewhere between 2-5 gallons? Alex, I won't have electricity, so I don't think that will work. Are you talking about the heat created by friction alone? Unfortunately a vita prep is not in the budget at this time, though it would make for unique presentation. I think if I want to use propane burners all I need is approval from the fire department, and approval from the health department either way for hot holding. So the question is how airpots/Cambros heated in advance compare to heating on a propane burner either in a pot of Bain Marie in both price and effectiveness. Warming small batches on site might be better for the product, but also more distraction. I'm not sure if the extra heat would be nice on a cold day, or if having a burner in my booth would be too dangerous for the other chocolate items. I've been fighting heat all summer! Anyway thanks for your input, if I'm going to do this I want to do it right from the start

Since Solo is corn syrup, seeds, sugar and water, you could experiment with making a syrup and cooking the seeds until the consistency seems right. Here are a few recipes from a Viennese baking book: Poppyseed filling for strudel - bring 3/4 c milk and 1/2 c sugar to a boil, add 3 c ground poppyseeds and simmer a few minutes, stirring, until seeds have expanded. Remove from heat and add a little melted butter and the zest of 1 lemon. Add 2 bars or squares grated semisweet chocolate if desired. Spread poppyseed filling over yeasted strudel dough and scatter with raisins. Roll up like a jelly roll, let rise then bake. If you're after a cake, you could try this one with ground poppyseeds instead of the paste - plain poppyseed torte/einfache mohntorte beat 4 egg yolks with 1/2 c sugar until light and fluffy combine with grated zest 1 lemon, pinch of cinnamon, pinch of clove Beat 4 egg whites until stiff but not dry, gently fold into batter along with 2 cups ground poppyseeds bake in a buttered, floured 9" pan at 350F 30-40 minutes when cool, slice into two layers and spread 4-5TB apricot jam in the middle cover with chocolate icing or confectioners sugar, as desired. mmmm, now I want to bake something with poppyseeds!

Hi all, wondering if anyone has experience with keeping hot chocolate hot for several hours? I've been vending at a couple of outdoor markets this summer and since it has been quite warm chocolate sales have been slow. I'm looking forward to cooler weather and also debating whether I want to add hot chocolate to my offerings. There are a few year-round outdoor markets, and I know of one person who does hot cider and a hot ginger drink but no hot chocolate drinks. I would either have to heat the batch at the kitchen and keep it hot for 8 hours, or sort through additional regulations and permits in order to heat it up onsite. I would rather not have to buy too much extra equipment beyond beverage dispensers and cups, but would consider a gas stove if that was a better way to keep things hot. Winter in Seattle can be soggy and cold, and I think a couple varieties of hot chocolate could be popular. I don't have a generator and electricity probably isn't available. I appreciate any experience or advice you may have! Thanks, Andrea

Pine nuts are pretty soft compared to other nuts/seeds, so you may get lucky, but I'd proceed with caution and have extra wire handy. Also with harder things sometimes it helps to not make a full slab, and eliminate those those last few rows where the cutting angle is more acute and you have to really push to get through the slab. I make a peanut butter gianduja that is much easier to cut as a 3/4 frame rectangle than a full frame square, the full frame is too hard to cut through the last few rows. Ymmv.