pastrygirl

dark chocolate, french fries ... Is this a sit-down dinner (plated or family style), buffet, finger-food?

For firm slabbed ganache & gianduja, I use the stainless frames from design & realization, mostly 15mm but I have a couple of 10 mm as well. Pate de fruits can ooze under the edges a bit but they work. I don’t think caramels work in those frames, it stays too hot and runny for too long. Instead, I use 9” square cake pans lined with parchment for caramels. False bottoms a plus if you go that route. How many pieces do you want to make at once, and do you already have a guitar?

You wouldn't buy from Restaurant Depot only because of the delivery policy, or other reasons? I may need to invest in a fridge or freezer, I'm glad for the reminder to factor in the cost & inconvenience of delivery & set-up.

Was the cream weighed before of after heating and infusing? You may have lost a little in that process, or it may be high fat cream and high fat chocolate. I think every book recipe needs to be adjusted to your particular ingredients. Cream can be from 30% to 40% fat, and chocolates can have varying ratios of cacao solids to butter in a given percentage. Your 65% dark could be 30% solids and 35% fat or 45% solids and 20% fat or anywhere in between.

@rarerollingobject I love the carrot roses!

Oh, caramel can definitely be tricky, and people swear by vastly different techniques - clearly! I'm actually really surprised that stirring wet caramel did not make it crystallize. Usually you stir a dry caramel constantly, but that's why I don't make dry caramel Wet caramel should be easier to scale up, and constant stirring is not required - you only need to make sure all the sugar is damp and there are no dry crystals on the side, then stir or swirl once it starts to color. (Or at least that is what works for me). Sometimes I caramelize a cup of sugar, sometimes it's 4lb, the only difference is a bigger pot and it takes a little longer. You do want to be sure the pot is big enough to contain the violent eruption of adding liquid, that'll help with both safety and clean-up. Allow room for at least tripling in volume, ideally more. Have fun!

Agree with @Tri2Cook, I find the advantage of making a wet caramel to be NOT needing to stir continuously. My method is mix sugar and water, cook without stirring over pretty high heat, once it starts to color, turn the heat down and swirl the pan until you get even, desired darkness. But yes, do be very careful when adding liquid, both the steam and the splatters can burn your skin.

This is not one that I'm eager to replicate, but still one that I can't figure out what tool(s) they used ... Some of the scratches are centered in the white but then there are white lines without scratches. Parallel lines make me think dipping fork, but the scale is wrong and who would do that to their molds?

I’ve only had goat a few times, last was in a spicy Senegalese stew. Delicious!

Gain access to dozens and dozens of followers?

That wet, liquid center is the lava. Nothing necessarily wrong with the recipe, if you want cake that is solid in the middle, then you don’t want a lava cake!

Are botulism and listeria common in fish, or would it have to be a case of contamination?

Use less fat! Or ask if they prefer certain oils instead of ghee - fat is flavor, but you also want your customers to be happy and feel good about the food. Also, some fats will solidify as they cool and look less appetizing, but many oils will stay soft. Or you can skim it off. If you make the curry a day ahead and chill it, you can remove the fat layer from the top. Are the dishes delivered warm?

Speaking of multiple canisters, @Kerry Beal, how many of the size that are included can you fit at once and still have it function as intended? Bakon seems to be after a higher volume customer, have you determined a max capacity for the EZ? The option of larger canisters could be attractive at higher volumes - I'm picturing Indian tiffin lunch boxes that are 4-6" diameter or a round bain marie insert that could hold 1 - 2 kg. And can containers be plastic or glass? It could be handy to have smaller, pre-measured amounts of silk - if I'm making 5 batches that need 100 g of silk each, could I stack 5 plastic deli containers in there and skip weighing to order?

Huh, I’m getting a ‘user not found’ message when looking for kriss’ original post on Instagram. I mean, he may have blocked me after I told him his new tattoo was all wrong, but he should still show up, right? Weird. And I agree, only one canister seems less useful, with multiple canisters you can have one ready to go and a back up working for continuous supply.

And that is a luxury not everyone has. My cooking habits have definitely changed since giving up a salaried job to be self-employed. Cooking is easy when the sky’s the limit. But when its not, those expensive diver scallops, 24 month prosciutto, foraged mushrooms and fancy cheeses don’t make it into my basket anymore. I find it harder to get inspired to cook on a budget, it can be depressing when you have good taste but no cash. Sometimes money is an object - for students, single parents, retirees on social security, etc. Broke folks are welcome here, too.

I don't see ignoring quality anywhere in the challenge. Don't you think he's posting here precisely because we are the sort of people who won't ignore quality?

@cakewalk, thank you for your rationality I have no idea how much a Big Mac costs, but I can see that the OP is in Silicon Valley, so I believe that a $5 meal might feel more challenging there than other places. Maybe it would be interesting to see what you can make for $5 around the world. Those in Asia will have a feast, those in Alaska may be sharing a pot of beans.

Thanks for the tip on the wire connectors - 48 cents, one small blister (from getting those cursed screws apart), and a little help from my friends later, and the melter powers up fine again. Hooray!

Ok, with a little determination, I got the bottom off. No signs of smoke or anything, it's just that the wires have broken where the cord enters the machine, weakened from being bent back and forth. Video on You Tube says cut out the bad part, strip the wires a bit, twist together, making sure it's the same side (one half of cord is grooved, one is smooth), wrap with electrical tape. Sounds easy enough, right? I went to college, now I just need wire strippers and electrical tape. No husband required!

Note it’s a repost from Monde du Chocolat in Toronto. Her page has a lot of similar water-painterly pieces. Do any of our favorite Canadians know her?

OK, we're headed towards redemption, no thanks to Felchlin and their non-melting cocoa butter. The CB that fully melted and fully cooled before spending a night in the EZ was good, sort of a mayonnaise texture - or Miracle Whip if you prefer Now I realize that the one time before that I got good silk was after I'd turned it up and the CB melted completely. Made 5 molds of coconut bars, the white chocolate coconut layer being one of my more maddening formulations, but with a good dollop of silk it set better than it did last time. The coconut oil makes it thin and reluctant to crystallize, so better is a good step. And I guess I'll have to make a list of tare weights; I measure precisely in all my other pastry endeavors, but amounts of chocolate melted or seed added has always been by eye. I think if I'm doing a lot of production I'll want to melt lots of chocolate in the 24kg and hold it slightly warm, then transfer batches to the 6kg and temper as needed.

Yes, it’s an innie, not outie, and flush with the surface so there’s nothing to grab. It really looks round, but I’ll see if I can find a tiny hex key that will work.

So it’s a nut & bolt type situation, but the bolt head has a round hole. What tool does one use to hold that in place while disengaging the nut? Otherwise they turn together.

And waiting tables isn't laborious? Less than some jobs, but still on your feet all day, and multiple plates can be heavy. I don't know about wages or taxes in the UK, but good luck!