pastrygirl

Kerry asked me whether the Teflon bushing spins freely. It does. That part of the stem is round, only the end bit is square. The bushing fits 90% into the machine and is what the tightening screw holds onto.

Fillo - butter and stack 3 or 4 sheets, cut into squares, put buttered side down into mini muffin cups, bake until golden. Ok, so fillo isn't always quick and easy, but if you get a properly thawed box that behaves, its not terrible (true confession: I love fillo). You can use a gougere or choux puff like a mini bread bowl. A caterer I used to work with would fill gougeres with bolognese meat sauce for mini sloppy joes. How about new potatoes? Kind of retro, but at least gluten free - simmer small potatoes until tender, cut in half, use melon baller to scoop out a bowl. Would be good with smoked salmon. Narrow endive leaves are naturally cupped. Fill with goat cheese mousse. Can you bake prosciutto or pancetta in muffin cups until crispy? Like wonton skins, but pork... Are your fillings loose and saucy or needing to be baked in the vessel? Drier toppings can go on a potato chip or potato pancake, blini, round of polenta, etc.

I'll see if I can add a few pics to help you scheme The square bit on the end is about 10-1/2 mm square by 15 mm deep. (This pic is of the two halves stacked one inside the other.) Hope that helps!

If you have the tools to make one, I say go for it. I have the D&R coating pan http://www.dr.ca/confectionery-coating-pan-attachment.html%C2'> It is finished nicely enough with a rolled edge piece attached on the open side, but it is still basically two bowls, one with a hole cut in it, and a square stem attached to the back to go in the kitchen aid. You do wonder why it is $500, supply and demand I guess. The square stem to fit the mixer would be the hardest part to come up with. Nice that he (in the video) added screws to keep it together instead of just a bunch of clips, but it might be nice to have a wing nut for easy separation and cleaning.

This post and the next have been moved from the 'Fat in pate de fruits' discussion, as they are far more relevant here. Ha ha. But ice cream is fun! Maybe you should try making olive oil ice cream

He used sheets of gelatin in the live demo.

Interesting, thanks for sharing. He used gelatin, xanthan gum, carageenan, but no pectin. I know that with gelatin and agar-agar, fat will affect the set because only the water is bound up. So it makes sense that he emulsified the olive oil before adding the gelatin. I'm not sure whether pectin follows those same rules.

Before I start experimenting, does anyone here have an understanding of how pate de fruits would be affected by fatty ingredients? Boiron has a formula for coconut, but I don't now how fatty their coconut puree is. I recall eating an olive oil pate de fruit somewhere in Australia and wondering how it worked. Is pectin gel formation affected by fat? Would the texture be softer? Greweling does not make any mention of fat in the section on jellies, obviously with most fruit it is not an issue. Berries and cream, pbj, melon with prosciutto... will it work?

I like the short grain Lundberg, it has more of a sushi rice texture, slightly sticky. I have some Korean black rice that is pretty sticky when cooked alone. Not exactly like white sticky rice, but pretty good. I could swear I've had steamed black sticky rice at Thai restaurants, but when I checked my local favorite's menu was reminded they do a black rice pudding/porridge.

Pastry chefs are too busy running around being OCD. BBQ is more about tending the meat and fire, more slow & sedentary (my impression at least). If all you eat all day are a few brownie scraps in between sprints up the stairs to the walk-in, they don't pack on as quickly.

Agreed, add a little water to help get things melting and re-cook as desired.

"Perhaps this is why there has been a mass exodus of genuinely talented chefs, such Jacques Pépin, Sara Moulton, Ming Tsai, Lidia Bastianich and others, to more esteemed networks like PBS." Um, was Jacques ever on FN? He's been on PBS since at least the 80's, and weren't Ming Tsai and Lidia Bastianich on PBS before the Food Network even happened? I'm no fan of Guy Fieri, but you can't blame him for a mass exodus of chefs who were on another network to begin with.

Yes, I got my spool of guitar wire from TCF sales a few years ago. Give them a call.

I keep a wish list on amazon and things do often drop in price, sometimes significantly and sometimes by a few cents. Occasionally they go up. I never thought about it being tied to my search history, but it sounds possible.

No thank you.

Rob, do you also do a dry caramel? I think anglaise is similar to that. I do a wet caramel even though it takes longer so I don't have to babysit it and I put sugar in the yolks so i don't have to be careful tempering it. You may prefer being more direct with caramel and not waiting for water to boil off and like saving the step of not returning the custard to the pan (which I would support if I could get it to work for me). Do you prefer to multitask, or do you try to focus on one thing at a time?

CatPoet, I was wondering what the heck ljus sirap was, but I happened to see some at the import store today - I went to stock up on Lyle's and there were bottles of ljus sirap and darker mork sirap! So they are beet sugar syrups? Is there a special/unique flavor or mostly just sweet? Are they usually used in candies and baking, or would you use them on pancakes like we use maple syrup?

Adding the sugar to the milk will definitely raise the boiling temp, apparently enough to make a difference. Edward, are you familiar with Franciso Migoya's perfect pastry cream? It sounds like your hotel recipe, relying on the milk being hot enough to activate the thickeners without being returned to the heat. Sadly, I had inconsistent results trying to follow Migoya. User error, I am sure. http://www.scribd.com/doc/109770117/Perfect-Pastry-Cream

Couple of simple things, easier to link to instagram than download from my phone... pear-passion fruit pate de fruit: I got some pectin from l'epicerie and did a test batch to make sure it set up the same as the last brand. A little slower, but otherwise seems good. Some guy happened to email me about pdf the same day, and he bought all 5 boxes of my test batch. So that was serendipitous! https://instagram.com/p/1yAFe9pDbN/?taken-by=sugarchefseattle pistachio marzipan, greweling's recipe: It came out nice, could possibly be a little sweeter. Does anyone add salt to marzipan? I added a few drops of almond extract, but it seems to be lacking something. I'm thinking about layering it with saffron dark chocolate ganache and dipping. https://instagram.com/p/1yoi3cJDTM/?taken-by=sugarchefseattle

So basic creme anglaise method? My theory is that the sugar in the eggs helps the eggs not scramble. I don't know if it is because of chemistry or heat capacity, but I have made hundreds of gallons of ice cream by boiling cream/milk, dumping it all into my yolks/sugar, whisking well, then returning to the pan and cooking until thickened. The ONLY time I have scrambled the eggs was when I made a caramel ice cream where all the sugar was caramelized then dissolved in the liquid and the yolks were naked. That is when you have to temper in your hot stuff extra carefully. Some people may say that the sugar needs to be dissolved in the milk first, I disagree, sugar is not that hard to dissolve!

I have not used agave (and don't personally believe the hype), but so far all of the liquid sugars I have used in caramels have worked as doctors - honey, maple syrup, steen's cane syrup, lyle's golden syrup, and glucose. I really love the Lyle's in caramels, as it has a caramel-y flavor to begin with. I do use more maple syrup than the thicker ones, figuring it reduces a bit. I make caramels by caramelizing the sugar separately for flavor then adding everything else and cooking to temp. I'm not sure whether method makes any difference when it comes to formula changes. Isn't agave on the expensive side? Or are you just trying to please WF?

Definitely depends on where you are and what you are making, there is no universal standard of thin. I like your tablecloth/napkin/leaf descriptions, it helps to have a measurement or comparison. I might roll a shortbread cookie or cinnamon roll dough to 1cm, but more likely a little less, and I would call that thick, not thin! But 1cm would be relatively thin for a(n American) biscuit or scone, those would usually be 2-3cm. I've never made phyllo or strudel and work with more tarts, cookies, crackers, and biscuits. Since what I roll most often is pate sucree/brisee type tart dough, standard thickness to me is about 1/8" or 3mm, thin is 2 mm (for crackers and a certain empanada dough) and 1mm would be extra thin. Tuiles and some chocolate garnishes are the only things that I can think of that I make extra thin. Oh and one cracker recipe - these are all spread with an offset icing spatula, not rolled.

http://www.starchefs.com/cook/recipe/antonio-bachour/white-chocolate-cremeux-lychee-granita-grapefruit-gelee-campari-meringue Here's my chiboust recipe - Rhubarb Chiboust 1/2 sheet rhubarb juice 700 g dried hibiscus flower 1 tsp reduced rhubarb juice 350 g cream 225 g egg yolks 12 lg sugar 120 g cornstarch 37 g bronze gelatin 4 sheets egg whites 8 lg sugar 170 g glucose syrup 35 g water 85 g Combine rhubarb juice and hibiscus flower and simmer until reduced by half. Combine reduced rhubarb juice and cream and bring to a simmer. Meanwhile, combine egg yolks, sugar, and cornstarch and whisk until smooth. Soften gelatin and set aside. Mix hot rhubarb/cream mixture into egg yolk mixture, then return to the pan and cook, whisking, until thick. Return cooked pastry cream to the bowl and add the softened gelatin. Stir until gelatin is melted. Set aside at room temperature. Put the egg whites and a pinch of salt in the kitchenaid bowl and start whipping on medium speed. Meanwhile, combine the water and sugars and cook on high until the syrup bubbles thickly. Slowly stream hot syrup into beating egg whites - the whites should be at soft peak before adding syrup. Fold italian meringue into pastry cream until uniform. Spread over the prepared rhubarb agar and chill until set. Unmold and cut desired shapes. Keep refrigerated.

I've made a rhubarb chiboust that might work. I never tried freezing it, but was able to slice it. I made a rhubarb gellee and let that set then spread a thicker layer of chiboust on top. It was then cut into squares with a cookie cutter and layered between crispy phyllo layers in a napoleon. Reducing the rhubarb juice with some hibiscus flower made a more intense rhubarb flavor and nicer color in the finished product. This would work best if you are making the cake in a ring or mold, it might be too soft before it sets up to spread as a filling. You could also try a white chocolate cremeaux with rhubarb compote added instead of some of the liquid. A couple of variations to get started with http://www.patisserieesmeralda.com/2013/08/fresh-mint-cremeux-and-white-chocolate.html http://www.starchefs.com/cook/recipe/antonio-bachour/white-chocolate-cremeux-lychee-granita-grapefruit-gelee-campari-meringue Here's my chiboust recipe - Rhubarb Chiboust 1/2 sheet rhubarb juice 700 g dried hibiscus flower 1 tsp reduced rhubarb juice 350 g cream 225 g egg yolks 12 lg sugar 120 g cornstarch 37 g bronze gelatin 4 sheets egg whites 8 lg sugar 170 g glucose syrup 35 g water 85 g Combine rhubarb juice and hibiscus flower and simmer until reduced by half. Combine reduced rhubarb juice and cream and bring to a simmer. Meanwhile, combine egg yolks, sugar, and cornstarch and whisk until smooth. Soften gelatin and set aside. Mix hot rhubarb/cream mixture into egg yolk mixture, then return to the pan and cook, whisking, until thick. Return cooked pastry cream to the bowl and add the softened gelatin. Stir until gelatin is melted. Set aside at room temperature. Put the egg whites and a pinch of salt in the kitchenaid bowl and start whipping on medium speed. Meanwhile, combine the water and sugars and cook on high until the syrup bubbles thickly. Slowly stream hot syrup into beating egg whites - the whites should be at soft peak before adding syrup. Fold italian meringue into pastry cream until uniform. Spread over the prepared rhubarb agar and chill until set. Unmold and cut desired shapes. Keep refrigerated.

Chris, those look fantastic! I totally believe those took all day, I don't even want to count the hours I spent on rabbits