pastrygirl

When one was flirting with the cute line cooks or otherwise being inefficient, one chef always warned "you're going to need those two minutes" meaning don't slack now or you'll be in the weeds later. Of course he was always right.

There was a similar thread about whipping the eggs and sugar for ice cream several months ago. I believe we finally decided that the whipping was not necessary. Even if that wasn't what we decided, that is what I strongly believe! Why whip in bubbles if the heat is just going to pop them, or they are all going to rise to the top and annoy you? I whisk my eggs and sugar just until combined. As for putting everything in the same pot and heating it up, that is probably possible, but would require constant stirring/vigilance. I was trying to make pastry cream this way and had more issues with scorching. I think it is a little less work in the end to do it the traditional way by heating the liquid alone first - less active time of stirring and only one more bowl to wash.

rabbit guinea fowl yak. I know there are people farming yak in Colorado but don't know if the meat is available commercially. I guess if buffalo is a no-no yak would be too.

Considering that butter itself is around 80% butterfat, that seems like the way to go. Or you could whip it up a bit and go ahead and make butter with it. Edited to add: if you can't whip previously frozen cream, could you still make butter out of it ? Is the cream solid enough to seem like it really is that high, or is it more liquid?

Spatulas...leaving the spatula or wooden spoon in the pot of boiling sauce. Is that for extra flavor?

Well I don't qualify as big or successful, but there are things I don't like that I cook with anyway. For example, I'm not a big banana fan, but I know that banana desserts are usually good sellers, so occasionally I'll put one on the menu. I can still recognize what might be good to someone else, even if it is not what I would order.

There is more than one way to make a ganache, Greweling's butter ganache for example uses tempered chocolate and soft butter. I agree with your point about using warmer chocolate for mousses to facilitate folding in the other ingredients.

Continuing on the subject of glucose: I inherited a few pounds of atomized glucose from the previous pastry chef at my new job and am not sure where it is best used. Ice creams? Chocolates? In combination with regular sugar or alone? I do have the Migoya book and Greweling so I'll look at those some more. Also, if a recipe calls for glucose, do you think they mean the syrup or atomized? In Ducasse's Grand Livre, he calls for glucose as part of the syrup for Italian meringue. In other recipes, atomized is specified, but this book seems oddly written (or translated) at times so I kind of don't trust it. Thanks!

Good start. What is the difference between Asian food and Chinese food? Maybe you could say Asian cuisines including Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese, Thai, and Vietnamese, or whatever is relevant. 'Chinese' is a pretty big category, depending on the job you may want to be more specific.

She was really sweet, and seemed to take great pride in her product. I haven't tried them, it was JeanneCake who had just ordered some. Will look forward to Jeanne's report!

I've heard - and in my limited experience tend to agree - that dust in the mold sticks to chocolate better than dust applied afterwards. The stuff I have is CK products, non-toxic that I get from my local cake supply shop. I met a woman at the World Pastry forum who makes powder colors and seemed very passionate about having them all be non-toxic and food grade and all that. Her products are Crystal Colors, IIRC.

I get ticked off over the slicer; it seems no one ever cleans it when they're done with it. Ditto for the wall mounted dicer- every time I close it has tomatoes all over it. Gross. ← Word. Clean as you go, mo-fo!

Ever since a neat freak chef chastized me for leaving a bit of marzipan on the robot coupe, I have been careful to leave equipment clean after I use it. My current kitchen seems pretty neat and tidy over all, so I can't understand why the robot coupe, cuisinart, and vitamix are all exempt from being cleaned. The splatters of basil oil and beet puree all over the equipment are starting to bug me. How hard is it to take a towel and 30 seconds and wipe the thing off?

Accepting a salary that is what I was making 8 years ago, MINUS health insurance, and still feeling lucky to be the one who got the job.

Can't you boil it anyway, a la pastry cream? I've long wondered about the minimum amount of starch required in a pastry cream or sauce before you can boil the eggs. I really need to get McGee out of storage, but the starch interferes with the egg proteins somehow and they don't curdle. I have made ice creams/gelatos with cornstarch, and had worked out a coupe of recipes which were then lost with my previous hard drive , otherwise I'd share. If you are concerned about over cooking the eggs and undercooking the starch, why not cook the starch with the liquid as much as you like then temper into the eggs? Nick Malgieri has gelato recipes that are basically milk, milk powder, sugar, and a little gelatin - no eggs or starch, but when I made one I ended up adding some cornstarch because the base looked so thin. I may have added too much, I did detect a slight cornstarch-iness in the dish I had last night. Mark Bittman has played with cornstarch too: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/01/dining/0...%20cream&st=cse The recipe is linked to the article, and the linked McGee article is also pretty interesting.

Leoni, if bugs are a problem, maybe cheesecloth would be a good cover for your aging whites to let some air in and keep bugs out.

It was green cocoa butter then white chocolate.

Of course it is an attempt to turn the table. I see the problem as the server mishandling his directive to get orders in. He should have asked if you were ready to order your entrees or urged you to do so in some other non-pushy way. If the restaurant has allowed 90 minutes per reservation - pretty standard for a party of 2 or 4 - it IS going to mess with their system if you order each course after you've finished the last. It certainly seems reasonable to order the antipasto and get it underway while you continue to look at the menu and decide on your entree. But, as you know, food takes time to cook. Your risotto, pork chop, many entrees will have a 15 to 20 minute 'fire time', which is why it is helpful to the kitchen to have advance notice so they can get it started and it will magically appear moments after you have finished your first course. Desserts are not cooked to order - unless it says so on the menu in which case there is probably also a note that it takes 15 or 20 minutes and you need to be prepared to wait or else pre-order that souffle. Desserts are more often warmed or finished - the creme brulee is sugared and burned, sauces and ice cream and cookies are added to whatever, and it should take 5 minutes or less to get a dessert on a plate.

Have any of you developed a preference for baking macarons on silpat or on parchment and why? I had a recipe that I used to bake on parchment and was happy. I've been given a new recipe and told to bake them on a silpat and they stick. Is it the recipe, the sheet liner, or something else? Cakedecorator, I've used convection and not had problems. Don't know if I'm making the perfect macaron, but they are good enough for me.

Cafe Stellina had been for sale on Craigslist for at least a few months. I was near there last week and it looked like there was some remodeling going on, so maybe something new is coming.

Doesn't the high amount of sugar in dessert sauces change the rules a bit? Or can botulism still survive in caramel?

It may depend on your method. I've made the warm agar dripped into cold oil method, which were solid little balls that held for three or four days. Don't know about the calcium chloride/sodium alginate (?? or whatever) version.

Driving down Denny today, noticed a 'space for lease' sign in the window at WHYM on 1st & Denny.

I can't see that pectin and chocolate will be a good combination - although someone's gotta try it! ← I was thinking of a 'black forest' dessert I had in Sydney that was a parfait with chocolate gellee, kirsch chantilly and cherry granita. I imagine the chocolate gellee used gelatin instead of pectin. Kerry, do you think the heat required for pectin would ruin the chocolate, or does the texture just not appeal to you? Does fat interfere with pectin?

Could you do something like a pate de fruit except with chocolate? I have no idea how the pectin would work with chocolate, but if it was possible, it might be non-melty and still chocolatey.