pastrygirl

Bhutanese shakam ezay! It's dried beef bits fried with chile, doubtful you'd be able to source that. On a more realistic note, if you're looking for unique small producers around the US that have limited distribution, check out Bear's Breath Ketchup for the Bold, a more savory ketchup alternative. I had a booth next to the guy at a show earlier this year, it was tasty and unique. More local PNW companies are Grimm Bros hot sauces and Mustard & Co. Grimm's Fire Potion is thicker than tabasco, tomato and vinegar based with scotch bonnet, cayenne, and ghost pepper. I'm not sure who else is making condiment-type things, but you could check through the Seattle Made website and the roster for the Gobble Up event. I participate in both. My friend Melissa at The Kitchen Imp make spice blends and flavored salts and Peek's Pantry are other friends making Thai food and condiments. http://bearsbreath.com/ http://www.peekspantry.com/products.html https://www.thekitchenimp.com/ https://www.seattlemade.org/manufacturers/

It turned out ok, was a little thick, could have used a pinch of salt. I think puff pastry is best when baked well done or at least golden brown all the way through. Funnily enough, I've been working on a cookie dough chocolate, but it's not a ganache. It's brown sugar, brown butter, white chocolate and vanilla bean. I could put actual cookies in it, but I think this is easier and plus keeps it wheat-free. Apparently edible "raw" cookie dough is a thing now. It is kept refrigerated, but they do note using cooked flour for safety. https://www.cookiedonyc.com/faqs/

can you show us a picture?

Practice. And you can always make the hole in the piping bag bigger (start small) Do you know that trick of putting warm fillings in a piping bag and mushing it around on the cool table? You get more surface area so it cools quickly. Works with ganache, could help with marshmallow too. Yeah, I can't really think of a cookie that would mold. I'd avoid moister cake and brownie layers, but shortbread, sable, graham crackers etc should be safe for a long time. For layers like these, I temper the chocolate and pipe the mix in while still liquid. Yes, you have to temper one more thing, but you avoid some of the other issues. Harder to get a super thin layer, though. I just posted a raspberry pie bonbon over on confections! what did we make?. The pie dough layer was puff pastry scraps, baked until golden brown and mixed with white chocolate and browned butter.

A butter or brandy warmer? Though most of the ones on eBay have a pouring spout ...

Raspberry pie bonbons. Raspberry flavor came out really well - some raspberry white chocolate I had made with freeze dried fruit ganache-ified with raspberry puree. Pie dough layer involves puff pastry scraps, brown butter, and white chocolate.

Is there water too or just chocolate and cookie butter? You should be able to add up to an equal amount of fat-based substance (nut butter for example) to chocolate and still have it firm up when tempered. Too much fat isn’t really a problem unless you add water and need it all to emulsify. OP might also want to explore using cocoa butter or milk or white Chocolate to firm up the filling. Plus, it should end up less sweet than adding copious powdered sugar.

You don't get that kind of shine applying color to a finished piece. The few perfectly round dots of black make me think the mold was taped with the stripe in the middle, sprayed black but not full coverage, then the tape removed and sprayed gold.

I’m happy to report success - no tears, not too much panic, and I didn’t even have to cut it! Seemed to cut cleanly enough so that was good, people got actual slices. Several layers of Trader Joe’s all-butter puff (docked and baked between sheet pans to keep it flat) and whipped white chocolate ganache with vanilla and lemon. Toasted almonds and fresh raspberries to garnish. The bride was happy.

Definitely trying to avoid tears and panic I’ll bring a serrated knife and only do two tiers - usually I can just drop cakes off and run, I should be prepared for them to make me cut this thing! Maybe whipped ganache would be a firmer/less slippery filling ...

Thanks, I'll use supports and try resist the urge to buttercream it. We decided a chocolate groom's cake would offer appropriate excess, between that and the puff pastry there'll be plenty of richness. Though maybe instead of sprinkling with sugar before baking to caramelize, I'll brush the puff with white chocolate after to keep it crispy. It'll probably be a nightmare to cut no matter what!

Old topic but the classics never die ... A friend is getting married this weekend, and she has a vague recollection of some fabulous flaky, creamy cake she had in Italy once that we decided was probably mille foglie or mille feuille. I haven't eaten one in forever, much less made one so I thought I'd run this by you here. I'm thinking caramelized puff pastry with layers of chiboust or panna cotta - make the filling the day ahead and mold it in round cake pans lined with plastic wrap then stack that morning. I want to have 2 or 3 tiers - is it better to try to shove supports through the puff pastry, or just try to make the filling solid enough to support it all? Or really thin layers of filling so there's not much to squish out anyway? I got a box of Trader Joe's all-butter puff which is tasty but pretty thin, maybe 4 layers of puff and 3 filling per tier? I guess I could make regular pastry cream. I used to have an aversion to it but I forget why - the gloppiness and my tendency to scorch it, IIRC. Or how about white chocolate ganache? And what about icing - I could do naked with just powdered sugar. Would butter cream be too much? Too much is not necessarily bad, and icing adds another flavor ... What do you think? Thanks!

I'm surprised to see so much wood in a chocolate kitchen. A little more trouble to clean than stainless or stone.

Cakes for my niece's 1st birthday party yesterday. Rainbow themed, if you can't tell the "good" cake: I was hoping that painting onto white fondant would be faster than kneading six different colors into it, but I think I was wrong. It was vibrant, at least! The smash cake: Everybody hand-pipes white chocolate sprinkles in six different colors, right? V 1, Cake 0

A couple of well-done funny faux commercials - Olive Garden & Taco Bell. https://munchies.vice.com/en_us/article/wjxzwn/lets-talk-about-these-weird-fake-commercials-for-taco-bell-and-olive-garden

Passion is over-rated, anyway. If you're going to cook for a living then it really helps to love it, but speed, consistency, and being able to take/follow direction(s) are more important. What field are you coming from? You usually want food cost 30% or below. @chromedome and @gfron1 have good advice. Yes, you should do inventory, and meanwhile check your invoice pricing to make sure you're up to date. Salad being un-profitable seems odd. Either they're putting way too many expensive goodies in, or they just need to charge more. Keep a closer eye on meat & cheese portions, and also consider switching a few more expensive ingredients. Now I'm not suggesting you compromise quality, just be strategic. Candied pecans may be a lovely crunchy bit in a salad, but they are expensive. Walnuts cost less, almonds even lower, then peanuts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds. Prices do fluctuate for produce and meat, too. Get to know what is in season, it is usually less expensive than imported or hothouse-grown. Do you offer staff meal? It can be a good way to use up odds and ends and discourage staff from making their own snacks, but it does take time and materials. What is the chef situation? Is there a chef or sous chef and your role is more organizational, or is it just you and a bunch of cooks? It takes time, you'll have to look at what comes in and goes out over several weeks - are you doing all the purchasing and receiving for the kitchen?. Maybe do inventory weekly for the next few months. Clean out the freezer and find ways to use excess product. Keep an eye on snacking and waste. Is food thrown away because they made too much and it went bad? Make a smaller batch, only enough for 2-3 days instead of a whole week.

I believe there is an element of timing as well - flipping the tortilla once the first side is cooked but not cooked through past the middle.

Oooh, good to know, I have a request for a mille-fuille cake coming up soon.

Another cake this morning - Disney Descendants theme for Babette, daughter of a chef colleague.

My older sister is turning 50 so I made her a cake because I'm so nice ... ... and put chocolate dinosaurs on it because sibling rivalry will never die

@RWood, Thank you again for the recommendation of Steve's GF pastry flour from Authentic Foods. I got a bag and made a cake and it was not gritty at all! It was a bit pasty, but that may have been due to all my other substitutions. I went full gluten-, milk-, and egg-free, using egg replacer and a combo of oil and cocoa butter for fat. I believe if I had used butter and eggs as usual it would have been even closer to "real" cake. (With so many substitutions plus winging it, I didn't have high expectations. I'm sure even vegan could be better with fine tuning.) I don't get many gluten free cake requests, but next time I do I'll use that flour. Do you think it's better frozen for storage or fine at room temp? Here's the cake, layered with strawberry jam and cashew/brown sugar/vanilla "cream"

Could you simply scuff them up with sandpaper to dull the shine? Otherwise, maybe 'chalkboard' spray paint? Personally I wouldn't worry about paint types. Obviously not lead-based, but the chance of much paint residue being ingested from rubbing off on a napkin is slim.

I think it depends on what kind of detergent, if any, is involved. Shouldn't be anything wrong with a rinse or gentle cycle without detergent.

Seeing is believing - Full disclosure: I did break a wire on the first cut, and a slab that I cut a few hours later when it was warmer did stick together more after cutting. Like so many things we work with, it's going to have to be juuuuust right.

So something like this, but polycarbonate? https://www.jbprince.com/flexible-silicone-molds/orange-non-stick-15-pyramids.asp I have one of these, the cavities are kind of huge so I never use it https://www.jbprince.com/chocolate-and-sugarwork/ridged-pyramid-18-cavities.asp Is there a preferred weight? How about a cone? https://www.jbprince.com/molds/cone-chocolate-mold-21-forms.asp https://www.jbprince.com/chocolate-and-sugar-work/pointed-cylinder-chocolate-mold.asp