pastrygirl

Not sure why the still warm dictate for your cupcakes, but freezing cake layers is supposed to tenderize them.

The rules at my favorite neighborhood sushi place: #1 Mashiko is a non discriminatory establishment #2 Music is chef’s choice #3 We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone #4 Prices are subject to change based on customers attitude #5 Please respect others when using your cell phones #6 10% box fee added to all to go orders #7 18% gratuity included for parties of 6 or more. #8 We take reservations #9 Cork fee $10 (it has to be good bottle of wine or sake) #10 Everything you know is wrong #11 Tip well… live long #12 After you eat, eat more! #13 Enjoy life #14 Talk to the people around you (as long as you do not have food in your mouth) #15 Do not be afraid to try something new #16 Tako is not chewy #17 Chopsticks are not drum sticks #18 Soy sauce is not a beverage #19 Trust us, we are professionals #20 Visa and master card and washing dishes are all acceptable methods of payment #21 Because Hajime said so

The coconut fat might set up a little bit softer, but it seems like it should work. Try it!

Great photos, thanks for posting. You said there was some milk chocolate in there, maybe on the crane? Isn't dark chocolate preferred for its strength? Or were the milk chocolate pieces non-structural?

I believe it is less about Paula's food and more about Paula's story. Don't recall the details, but I believe Paula had some hard times (financial? divorce?) coupled with severe anxiety that kept her almost house-bound which she managed to overcome to be the very, very successful woman she is today. So Carla probably respects Paula's strength and drive more than her deep fried butter. I do, too.

Thanks for posting this. I missed the film when it was showing in town and was happy to see that it is also available streaming on Netflix, so I watched it last night. I would have loved to see more shots of all the fully finished displays. I think the teddy bears were part of a wedding cake, bears in love gazing into each others eyes.

Ice is not served with bottled water because the ice is made with tap water, and who wants their $15 bottled water diluted with tap?

I sift the TPT into the whites in the mixing bowl. Just the way I was originally taught. So do I , but I have an intern who today folded the whites into the bowl of sifted TPT. The macarons turned out fine, just wondering if anyone thinks it makes a difference. I figure success is more about ratio, drying, and mixing to the proper consistency than which goes into which, but you never know.

How many people fold the whites into the TPT, and how many fold the almonds into the whites?

I saw this while shopping yesterday and immediately thought of this thread. It's a fan that blows on your boiling pots to keep them from boiling over!

I've heard 'best of the shop' rather than 'everything in the shop'.

The next time I made sure to dry them longer and they came out fine. But I think I will check the ratio and adjust it. Thanks.

Natto, although I recall having some dried/toasted natto once that I'd eat again. It's not the flavor, it's the viscosity. I may give durian one more try, ideally not as a surprise at breakfast like last time There are two particular things that every time I eat them I vow to try to remember how disappointing they are and not eat them again. Not because they are disgusting in taste or texture, but because they are simply not worth eating and make me sad. Those are cupcake-store cupcakes and conveyor belt sushi from Blue C (local chain, not all kaiten sushi is bad, but this is). I had both back to back the other day, the disappointing cupcake was an effort to erase the memory of the disappointing sushi. It failed.

Anyone use Pierre Herme's chocolate macaron recipe from Chocolate Desserts by PH? I swear I had this one perfected at my last job, but recently I've been having poor results. Dense, essentially no feet, smooth rounded tops and at least several crack on top. Maybe I need a speck more whites? The other kitchen was a lot warmer and I haven't been warming my whites lately, could that be it? My non-cocoa macaron recipe is working out fine in the new kitchen. Same city, sea level, brand of almond flour. Hmmm.

I'm going to have an extern soon who has just completed a LCB pastry program. When she stopped in the other day to set it up, she revealed that she had not worked in a kitchen before but was sure it was her passion. I hope she is right, but I am still amazed that people will spend so much money to get into a field they have never worked a day in. The actual work can be very different from the idea of the work, or how the industry looks on TV. I really recommend that before you commit to school of any kind, find an entry level job or do an internship somewhere so you know what you are really getting into. A little experience will also give you a leg up in school and help you know which areas to focus on. Good luck.

Shame on you, you should always tell those chickens the whole truth. The usage that always annoys me is appending the word "off" to whatever cooking method one is using: "Okay, now I'm going to bake off these cookies" or "fry off these potatoes." What does it add? To me, 'bake off' indicates baking a portion of a previously prepared item. Example, in a bakery, cookie doughs are made in big batches, portioned, and kept in the cooler to be baked as needed over the next several days. Instead of baking all the cookies at once as soon as the dough is made, they are baked off in batches of a few dozen here and there. Likewise, muffin batters can be made in large batches and stored in buckets to be portioned as needed and baked off over a few days.

I had no idea shirimp and fish were regular ingredients in kimchi. I had always thought it was just cabbage, salt, and chili, but you prompted me to read the ingredients on the jar in my fridge, now I am enlightened. Thanks.

I realize that not all kimchi is necessarily meat free, it's more the assumption that everyone should care whether something is vegan that bothers me. Buy my apples, they're vegan! I mean really, how much of the population, even a liberal urban population is vegan? 5%? 2%? And the rest of us are supposed to be swayed?

Vegan. Especially with things that would already be vegan. Case in point: at the farmers market today, a woman had a booth selling kimchee. I like kimchee, had just had bi bim bap for breakfast and wished the kimchee had been stronger (it was a quick pickle, not long buried type). I may have been interested in this woman's product if not for the huge banner promoting it as vegan! probiotic! etc! Is it delicious, pickly and spicy or not? Vegans can presumably read labels and ask questions on their own, pretending that something being vegan makes it better/healthier is silly.

Do transfer sheets need more time in contact with warm chocolate for the cocoa butter to melt/fuse? Could refrigerating the molds immediately be cooling the chocolate too quickly? Just a stab in the dark... If the kitchen is 68 that should be plenty cool enough for tempered chocolate to set up quickly without immediate refrigeration. Would you get a better transfer if the molds themselves were warmer?

In a similar vein, I nominate linzer torte. I think really fudgey gooey brownies are better after a day or two, or maybe just easier to get out of the pan .

Which brand of passion fruit puree are you using? As RWood mentioned, Perfect Puree is already concentrated and doesn't need reducing. La Fruitiere is not concentrated and has some sugar, so much weaker in comparison. Haven't used Boiron that I recall. I have been using Greweling's passion fruit white chocolate cream ganache recipe in molded chocolates and am quite happy with the flavor, molded in either dark or white. This may vary slightly from the original (book is at work), but this is what I use: 250 g white chocolate 65 g cream 20 g glucose syrup 70 g passion fruit perfect puree 20 g soft butter Heat cream and glucose and pour over chocolate. Heat puree and pour over chocolate. Stir in butter. Let cool then pipe into prepared molds.

I use luster dust.

Yes, just add cocoa butter. Seems like 10% would be too much, considering that couverture is around 30% fat, and the difference between a thicker chocolate and couverture is probably less than 10%. When I thin chocolate, I just go by feel, adding cocoa butter and letting it melt until I am happy with the consistency. I have added it while the chocolate is melting and warm, around 120F to make sure the butter melts well, then temper as usual.

You want matcha powder, unsweetened green tea powder. It can be expensive. http://www.matchasource.com/about-matcha-s/19.htm