pastrygirl

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.

Can't get enough cherries, at least until the local peaches come in, then peach fever takes over. They should be here by now. Made cherry cordials today (chocolate shell molded) but have to wait a week for the fondant to liquefy. I couldn't find a commercial brandied cherry so I just took some dried sour cherries (montmorency) and soaked them in some kirsch. Can't wait to try them. Edited to say: I did get the job from the tasting and chocolates I posted a few days ago. Will start on Friday, hope it works out and I'll have more luscious pics to post!

Thanks to you and all for the kind words. I haven't heard from the chef so I think he might be going with someone else. That's OK, maybe it will motivate me to get my business plan together, otherwise I will remain bored but make my brothers happy with experimental chocolates. The speckles were flicked on with a small paintbrush, let set then I brushed gold luster dust on the back before filling the mold with dark. I was a little surprised at how much the gold showed through the red cocoa butter, I had used that batch of color on some other chocolates and it seemed more intensely red, but I thought they looked cool and was happy in the end. I've done rosemary-infused ganache before and thought the olive oil would add a nice flavor component. In truth, it didn't really come through over the rosemary, but I think a really fruity green olive oil with some salt could be good with a milk or white chocolate. Oilve oil ice cream/gelato has been a little trend in the past few years, why not with chocolate? It was to replace the butter - the ganache was 60 g cream steeped with a couple of sprigs of rosemary, 10 g honey, 90 g milk chocolate, 10 g olive oil, and a couple of pinches of kosher salt. Came out on the soft side but I like soft ganaches for a nice contrast with the crisp shell, shelf life be damned!

The opening poster is asking about a specific brand of chocolates...See's. Their buttercream centers are most definitely NOT actual buttercream. There are also different kinds of buttercream (setting aside semantics) than meringue based ones. pastrygirl, I live near the See's factory and several stores if you'd like me to get you some . I'm pretty sure some of the other replies are closer to the point...fondant. ← Oh I know where to find them, it was more of a curiosity of what is that stuff than wanting to eat it. My grandparents used to always give each of us kids boxes of See's at birthdays, or gift certificates for boxes so we could go and pick out the flavors we liked. For me, mostly dark, extra marzipan and toffee, no maple or marshmallow. I'm crashing at my parents house for a while between jobs, was doing something with chocolate and my Mom thought I might know. My guess was fondant, but I wasn't sure if it could be mixed with butter without breaking down or what. I like to fill my chocolates with more chocolate, not fondant! If someone wanted Italian meringue buttercream coated in chocolate, shell molding might work. Wonder how the shelf life would be.

If things are getting soggy over time, maybe a light coating of cocoa butter would help waterproof them to maintain crunch.

Tasting for an interview today. Bonbons: green = rosemary milk chocolate with a little olive oil & salt, speckled = strawberry apricot white chocolate, both with dark shells. http://www.flickr.com/photos/11037087@N02/3719508160/ Dessert tasting: chocolate mousse with raspberry center, vanilla-star anise creme brulee, cherry almond cake, key lime-lemon verbena gellee & sherbet with shiso, apricot coulis. http://www.flickr.com/photos/11037087@N02/...in/photostream/ The chef and I both liked the rosemary bonbons and the shiso on the key lime sherbet the best. Unfortunately there are a lot of good unemployed pastry types right now, the competition could be tough. I seem to have forgotten how to use imagegullet, too tired to figure it out right now

That's so funny. If you aren't being ironic, it was the hot gossip of the year. Here's one account and lot of comments: and do read the comments! ← Not ironic, I had been in the Himalayas until several weeks ago, may as well have been on Mars. I guess I do recall reading something about the sale, probably here but it hadn't registered as 'closed'. So is the restaurant still open, open as something else, or closed completely? The Leson link suggested the new owners would try to keep it open - did they try or was that just talk?

I was making chocolates in my Mom's kitchen this afternoon, which somehow prompted her to ask me what is in the 'buttercream' centers that some See's candies have. I have no idea, so now of course I am curious. Haven't had any in a while, but I recall they are very creamy and awfully sweet. Is there fondant involved? Is there any butter in the buttercreams? Do I have to go buy some to find out?

Nancy Leson gives the tally of '09 closures: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/ally...s_seattles.html Anyone know what happened w/ Cremant and when they closed? I've heard Madrona is a tough neighborhood to survive in, but I at least used to be willing to make the trek from Queen Anne. Bummer.

OK, people, after sobering up and overcoming technical difficulties, you can find my Flickr set of the WPF 09 here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/11037087@N02/sets/ While you're there, the Australia set has photos from my 4 days of chocolate class at Savour School in Melbourne, and a bit of food interspersed everywhere else if you care to look. Enjoy!

Could you 'splain this to someone who never worked in a commercial kitchen? I get the "behind" thing, I know what "in the weeds" means, but this has me confused. ← An 'all day' is a running total. If stealw needs two onions for the soup, two onions for onion rings, and an onion for caramelizing, he needs five all day. Or if table two orders two chickens, then right after that table six orders two chix, you have four all day. On the fly is ASAP, needed it two minutes ago.

I guess I wasn't aware of Adria's version of "air," but the Alinea version is what I was referring to. Not a foam at all. Nothing is actually eaten; it's a scent that adds to a dish. The concept is solid, and it adds to the dish in a way similar to a cocktail garnish. I think I'd just prefer "scent of rosemary" or something in that vein. "Air" just rubs me the wrong way. ← In this case - Alinea air pillow - scented seems to be the appropriate word. But I would ban 'scented' from just about every other place it is used. For example, vanilla scented panna cotta that may have been infused with vanilla beans but does not noticeably smell of vanilla. Lemon scented shortbread, etc. BAH!

Don't know a thing about fondant, but a "mud cake" doesn't sound easy to split and fill. Since this is last minute and it sounds like you don't have a lot of time, do what you can do and let the bride know this is what you can give her. If you can't do the level of detail without serving week-old cake that you are uncertain about, convince her she needs less detail. Take control!

Is that your usual recipe? 1-1/2 cups of sugar is only about 10-1/2 ounces, so having more butter than sugar could make things tricky. I don't have a recipe handy, but I think mine uses much more sugar than butter, 2:1 or 3:1. More butter is usually better, but I think there is a maximum amount the sugar can soak up.

Congratulations to Team Chowdhury our new US champions and Chef Anil Rohira, PC of the year! I'll have a link to a flick page in a few days. Later, after I sober up

Then one needn't study French when one can simply study food.

Is that true even in, say, Vancouver? ← That said, unless there's a big specific enclave of Spanish speakers in Vancouver (or Calgary, or whatever) of which I'm unaware, I'd say French is still more useful. It still appears on all the packaging, many signs, etc.. ← In Vancouver, Mandarin or Cantonese might be more useful than French or Spanish.

I wasn't thinking both in the same piece, but you never know!

You could get pockets sewn onto all your shirt sleeves.

Last weekend I was feeling restless but too lazy to go to the store, so I made peppermint caramel bonbons using water and butter instead of cream. I have the numbers at home, I think it ended up being around 100g milk chocolate, 90 g sugar (caramelized), 90 g water, 30 g salted butter and 4 drops peppermint oil. The texture was soft and gooey like I wanted. These were for a friend who doesn't drink, otherwise I would have used peppermint liqueur for some of the liquid and less oil. Other than trying to make totally non-dairy chocolates, is there reason to use oil instead of butter? I do see how water instead of cream can lead to intenser flavor, but butter is so good.. OTOH, olive oil could be interesting.

There may be a minimum time you need to work with the company before they will transfer you, like a year. Still, that may be a good plan for the long-term planners.