pastrygirl

Beautiful, amazing work - so much love and patience. Rivers and Tides is my favorite movie, I must have watched it literally dozens of times, and can't wait to get home and find my DVD and watch it some more! So soothing after a long day in the kitchen - when he's pinning the twigs together in a lattice and a gust of wind comes along and destroys it or the pile of beach stone collapses and he just sort of sighs and says 'this is my work', or working with the bracken 'I always associate this material with bleeding hands' - those moments so relate to cooking for me, the things you do because you are driven to do them, even though they are painful and frustrating while you are doing them, the end result is worth it.

Don't worry, all French people know English, or at least these two words: f*cking Americans. Just kidding.

I sort of agree, but also think that trying to do too much can be an ultimate downfall. If those few salads or tapas are going to be as great as the desserts, then go for it, but if they are just going to take energy away from the real focus they might not be worthwhile. I'd definitely offer a cheese plate or desserts bordering on savory. You can't be all things to all people, so you should just do what you do best. As for food cost and efficiency, baking and finishing 10 cakes does not necessarily take 2x the time as 5, maybe 1-1/2 times. There is some economy of scale to having a full mixer & oven and setting up the workstation fewer times. The times I've run food cost, I've found most of my desserts to cost between 50 cents and a dollar to make, and sold for $7 to 9. I've heard that ingredient prices have gone up in the US, but even in Bhutan, using imported Valrhona that cost $15 a pound and eggs at 25 cents each, the chocolate mousse was still only $2 per serving to make. Most restaurants shoot for a food cost of 28 to 30%, so I agree with Paul that food cost for pastry can be very low, under 20%. Yes, Matt is correct that tools and toys can be pricier, but I think you can run a very low food cost to offset higher equipment costs. It is a difficult industry no matter how you slice it.

Even if each one is only 1 or 2 bites each? Good point though, the people who just want a big gooey thing to dig into and want that comfort food experience may love dessert but not be so interested in an intellectually challenging dessert experience. Some people really would prefer one big creme brulee to 5 tiny ones, or one big molten chocolate cake to various textures and pairings. I think you'd have to have options, and offer things in different sizes, so you could have whichever end of the spectrum you prefer. There are enough successful places that have slices of cake and coffee open late, so I don't think having a dessert restaurant is so unusual, just the focusing on tasting menus.

Get that torch up close and personal with the sugar. The flame needs to touch the sugar to caramelize it. Hold the nozzle of the torch about and inch to inch and a half from the sugar, and keep it moving. The sugar is already crystallized, you need to melt it. Sugar melts at around maybe 250 to 300F (?), and a nice caramel is around 325 to 350F, so it has to get HOT - don't worry you're going to burn it, 'burnt cream' is the whole idea! Those little torches do work, just slowly.

If you're speaking of coco ltd, I believe there were much bigger problems than the concept (mainly financial management), so it is hard to say if they would have lasted. I do agree that it is a difficult concept to make work. I've been to Chikalicious in NYC, which was a great experience, had two or three things, and Keegan Gerhard's D-Bar in Denver, which was disappointing because I went for lunch and they didn't have much in the way of plated desserts during the day, didn't have time to go back in the evening. I would go if I was on vacation, or possibly after dinner at another place if I had gone for happy hour or sushi or another cuisine that didn't feature much of a dessert menu.

I use arborio too, blanch it twice before cooking slowly in lots of milk, with not much sugar.

This is really weird, I am so curious. You said that the bubbles keep reappearing even after smoothing them out, which makes it sound like some sort of gas buildup, like maybe the filling had fermented or there was yeast involved. If it was just an air pocket, would it reappear? How do you even get air pockets in buttercream? CSI: Pastry!

Something alive is in there and trying to get out! Does this happen to fresh cakes or only after a few days?

You could also use green luster dust - either dust it directly on the marzipan, or mix with a little clear alcohol first.

Actually, loquats only have a passing resemblance to kumquats. Loquats aren't a citrus fruit. I think it's the only one of the "quats" that isn't a citrus fruit, since the other ones seem to be hybrids of lime/orange/mandarin with kumquats. ← Thanks for clearing that up. College was a long time ago

Loquats are like bigger, sweeter kumquats, right? I vaguely remember sampling from a loquat tree in horticulture class in college. There are also mandarin-quats being grown in I believe Southern CA that are a cross between a kumquat and a mandarin orange, about the size of an egg with edible rind like a kumquat. Not very common, and not in season now, but pretty cool if you ever come across them.

Ha, I don't mind always bringing dessert, I accept the duty, what is funny is that my mother and only my mother refuses to let me bring anything for Thanksgiving or whatever holiday, but I wish she would let me help her out so she doesn't have to work so hard. My brothers, on the other hand, won't open the door until I promise I have sweets.

Good point. It appears some recipes talk about cutting the rhubarb into 5" long or so thin pieces and then slicing them into ribbons using a mandolin and then simply dipping them into a simple syrup which coats them and then they harden in the drying. I admit I haven't read the recipes very carefully...am getting ready to leave Moab...and was hoping for eG input. Sorry. Lazy and overtired at once. And can't type either... ← Ahh, well that might work. I was thinking of candying orange peels and all that boiling.

Whenever I cook rhubarb for more than about a minute, it totally falls apart. If anyone knows how to make it not fall apart, I'm curious. You might end up with something more like jam, but rhubarb jam would not be a bad thing!

This brought memory of Zachary's Pizza in Oakland/Berkeley. For some reason their 'stuffed pizza' is very popular. They put an extra layer of dough on top, plus more tomatoes and cheese. Problem is, the extra dough doesn't cook enough in the middle of all those tomatoes, so you end up with a pile of canned tomatoes and wet dough. Ugh. ← I live in Berkeley and have friends who've criticized my choice never to go to Zachary's. Thank you for justifying that choice. ← You're welcome! I applaud your firm stance. I lived in Berkeley for a bit and had Zachary's a couple of times at parties. It's a crime against pizza.

This brought memory of Zachary's Pizza in Oakland/Berkeley. For some reason their 'stuffed pizza' is very popular. They put an extra layer of dough on top, plus more tomatoes and cheese. Problem is, the extra dough doesn't cook enough in the middle of all those tomatoes, so you end up with a pile of canned tomatoes and wet dough. Ugh.

It's gellee, get with the program And if you serve it in a glass you can call it a verrine and yes of course charge extra. Couple layers of fruity, maybe a layer of panna cotta, call it a parfait and tell them it is low fat and gluten free and you're good to go. You could even use agar-agar and make it vegan, if desired. Nigella has a gin and tonic jello mold in her dessert book that is quite nice, slightly more mature than the jello shots of college days.

It seems many newer places are claiming that soggy in the middle is authentic neapolitan style.

Jeff, I'd say fill your muffin cups 2/3 and watch carefully, they'll be done in 15 to 20 minutes for a medium muffin. You don't want those little guys to dry out. If you are doing serious wedding cake layers you need to make some adjustments going from a 6" to a 12" layer, but for most things you just need to keep an eye on the time. You can try filling the pan with water to the level you usually fill it to determine the volume of your batter, then pour that water into your new pan and see how the volume is distributed. If you have the Food Lovers Companion, there is also a handy pan size substitution chart in there with aproximate pan volumes. RLB also has a list in the Cake Bible. Gfron, the only problem with bigger pans of brownies is that you tend to get a thicker crusty edge that needs to be trimmed off. Oh well, more snacks for you! Do you have sheet pan extenders? They come in very handy if you want something a bit taller than the sheet pan, and they are also more square than the pan itself. http://www.bakedeco.com/static/list/sheet-...n-extenders.htm (scroll down).

Are these horizontal? How about a sandwich of two thin rectangles of tempered chocolate or tuile or meringue? You could still stick something into the sides if they are vertical, or if the diameter allows, cut them in half and offset the two halves.

The instant gratification of baking something start to finish was much more appealing and less intimidating than the design profession I went to college for. Plus, as I'm socially retarded, I am totally happy back in the kitchen baking on my own, talking to myself. Of course I do like the positive feedback, but its more about the food, and playing mad scientist a little bit, and creative freedom. I took my current job in large part so I could save money, but it is not actually a high salary (just nowhere to spend it) and that was not the only factor.

New tag line!

Chocolate spring rolls/wontons with a gingery dipping sauce. Chocolate pastry cream will have less leakage problems than a ganache filling. Anything pineapple - tarte tatin, upside-down cake, jell-o mold. I really like 5 spice and vanilla with pineapple. New dessert going on one of my menus tonight has a layer of pineapple agar, a layer of 5 spice panna cotta, tapioca cooked in coconut milk, and mango sorbet. Would not be that hard to cook in quantity. semifreddo - chai, kaffir lime, thai coffee, coconut, banana, etc. rice pudding with black sesame and banana fritters or with cardamom and mango or sour cherry jasmine tea panna cotta with ginger poached pear churros y chocolate, especially spiced hot chocolate. Could also do bunuelos or sopapillas , may be easier than churros.

Also check out whatever local store has a good bulk section. Sometimes you can get Callebaut in bulk for $3 or $4 a pound. One store I used to live near would obviously just break up the 11lb blocks of semisweet Callebaut and fill their bulk bins with that. Maybe not the finest choice for dipping or molding, but perfectly serviceable for fillings, baking, hot fudge.