pastrygirl

@curls, don't feel bad, I've totally dropped the ball this Easter season. I've made a few things but am lacking motivation as far as actually going out and selling them. I made/sold way more the past 2 years. @Jim D., nice work with the airbrush! Here are my few - I abandoned the painters tape for the eggs but still used the dry airbrush technique. Some of the colors are mixed with white chocolate and don't splatter in as fine a mist (or were just dripped from a spoon), best results were when dripping CB directly from the bottle. Truffle eggs, these are about 4" tall, some molds I got from Chef Rubber last fall. Truffles inside are about 15mm cubes. Couple of bunnies - small ones (bottom) are filled solid with truffle ganache, large (top) are hollow. I do like these molds even if the large ones have a bit of a learning curve in both scraping and connecting. I'll get more next time DR has a sale or free shipping, and practice my hand-painting

Yeah, like the shakers of dried chili bits at pizza places - that's what I think of as crushed red pepper.

I think the wrinkled ones are underbaked.

Was just looking at some Vancouver BC finer-dining menus, and they haven't gotten the memo not to charge more that $30! But big cities are always more expensive. Honestly, the last time I went across the border I went for Burmese food (can't get that here) and brought home Indian from Vij's. People make special trips for dim sum and the Richmond night market. So at least on the West coast, Canadian chefs also have excellent immigrant food to compete with. (Though I would like to try real poutine and Montreal bagels.) I wonder if the wine & tourism industries also influence Michelin and other list-makers.

"As Canadians, we think we have to be reserved and quiet." See, it's that nice polite thing coming back to bite you. "restaurants have become galleries for the finest produce a landmass can provide" This shouldn't be too much of a problem with all the varied growing regions. What you lack in citrus you make up for in seafood. But how much has the farm-to-table, heirloom vegetables, farmers market movement caught on? What are your "homegrown culinary traditions"? If Canadian cuisine isn't just poutine and maple syrup, what is it? Who are your star chefs?

@JeanneCake, I don't think any interns I've worked with have ever been paid, and most of them weren't worth paying. School may teach the theory and technique, but actually doing the daily production - and doing it like one particular chef wants it done - is a different animal. Sounds like yours is just a little over-confident? The schools promise these kids that they'll be chefs when they graduate, they don't know how much they still don't know or that they still have to pay their dues. Good luck, I hope she proves worth your training.

I've only enjoyed monkfish liver or ankimo in Japanese restaurants. So you could go that direction, keep it simple with steamed rice, ponzu, scallion. Yes and yes! Might be nice warmed up briefly, but further extended cooking should not be needed.

You should be able to add water to hot caramel without getting a grainy mess so I'm not sure what happened there. But I agree, reducing the milk a little more first might help.

Sounds like a good excuse to stock up on beer, champagne, maybe a wheel of parmesan ...

I'm getting my own kitchen permit renewed and yes, in my county it's the chamber vac "reduced oxygen packaging" use that needs the HACCP plan. And inspectors don't know everything about everything so you may need to do some educating or explanation. I suppose if you weren't vacuum packing (just ziplock-ing) and using the yolks immediately after pasteurization, you might not need the HACCP plan.

For sous vide, you may need a HACCP plan, spelling out all the precautions and steps taken to make sure you get safe pasteurized eggs and not something else. I've never done one, but if you know any chefs who do sous vide and have one, maybe they would share. Can you instead include a warning? Here, almost all restaurant menus have a disclaimer along the lines of "the state of WA has determined that raw or un-dercooked ingredients may be hazardous to your health". That way, they can serve runny eggs and steak tartare and the customer has been warned. Bombe is like Italian meringue but with yolks? Are you able to measure the temp of the mix? See how hot it is the next few times you make it. I make Italian meringue buttercream with fresh whites all the time and don't worry about it, I'll have to check the temp next time. As for buying a thermomix - I know, it is so tempting to buy a lot of toys and consider them business expenses. But that $1800 expense is not just the value of cake you have to sell, it comes out of the profit, so you have to sell at least double that much cake just to pay for it. Could you use it for multiple products or components? It does seem sort of magic and like it saves some active time. What is the capacity? Is it big enough for when you're really busy and doing double, triple, quadruple batches? I think if it's big enough, versatile, and gives you control over pasteurization it could be worth it. I recently had an inspection by the FDA. Aside from the usual cleanliness and good practices, they seemed mostly concerned with potential allergens and cross contamination. You need to either list all the sub-ingredients like white chocolate (cocoa butter, sugar, milk powder, vanilla) or put a "Contains milk" statement somewhere on there. Many manufacturers add a bit about made in a facility that also processes tree nuts, peanuts, etc. My understanding is spelling out the allergens is required, but best by dates and shared equipment statements are optional but helpful to inform the buyer and protect the maker.

A 'best by' or expiration date is not required, so depending on how much testing costs, you may be better off using your best judgement. Either 'best within X days' or include a note on how to store and handle the product. Your state Dept of Agriculture may also be helpful. With summer coming, I'd recommend starting off with some very stable items that won't need to be kept cold, like biscotti. With more perishable foods you need expensive insulated boxed, ice packs or dry ice, and expedited shipping. You won't get great shipping rates unless you do pretty high volume - hundreds a month. I use USPS priority mail during cool months, which works OK but I have had one box totally smashed, and one shipment to Texas that melted (should have seen that coming), and they don't guarantee their delivery date (usually 1-3 days). I think this summer I'm either not going to offer shipping or only do next day air or something. Will everything be made to order, or will you be keeping inventory?

Somewhat better. Just the other day I was talking to a chef about how the restaurant owner was giving him a hard time about the chicken breasts in the walk-in being labeled 'tits'. The chef, who has two young daughters and seems decent and relatively professional (as far as I can tell) felt like "yeah, but at least they're labeled, pick your battles, man". And I'll admit, I did consider making a foil cock and balls (instead of a swan or the blob it ended up being) to contain the treats I was bringing him, but then remembered it's not supposed to be a contest to see who can be most inappropriate. So yeah, it is still fairly male-dominated industry with a work hard, play hard, fairly lowbrow sensibility, especially when cooks tend to be younger men. And it can be fun to be raunchy, flirty, foul, etc. But it's all fun and games until someone gets hurt, and it did get tiresome and was one reason I wanted to get out of restaurants. On the one hand, alcohol abuse and sexist behavior have become less acceptable in the 20 years I've been in the industry. On the other, every chef I know has a hard time finding good workers so in some ways employees can get away with more BS when they know it'll be a pain to have to replace them. Apparently it's a bonus when people actually show up for work instead of OD'ing on heroin or spending the night in jail, so chicken part labeling is not going to be cause for dismissal.

Why freeze them? Nothing in there to go bad. Do they stay crunchy and together if you don't freeze?

Yeah, I was thinking soda bread doesn't rise as much as a yeast bread, and you don't get that same oven spring from the yeast getting all excited.

I wanted to make some zombie bunnies but maybe I should stick with alien!

I painted one with green polka dots and it looks like he has the pox .

OK, I know this is sweating the small stuff, but I'm wondering what you see ... Is this rabbit https://www.dr.ca/rabbit-mold-7-5-inches.html holding an egg, or is the oval a fuzzy underbelly?

There may also be a bit of palate fatigue going on. Sometimes you've been tasting, tasting, tasting all day and it's hard to enjoy the finished dish because you've already tasted so much. Or what everybody else said

Those definitely look like scratches. Or maybe a hair or bit of fiber got caught in the mold-making process? It must be a pain to have to deal with returns to Belgium but I agree that imperfections are not acceptable.

I agree, better to discourage that. If it is something you're selling in your business, why would you give a direct competitor your recipes? Right now I make mostly chocolates and dessert minis. If a chef I knew and liked needed a recipe for ice cream or focaccia or something peripheral to the business, I'd share. If my competitors want to copy me, or if I want to copy my competitors, I think it's up to us to figure it out. Would it be an option to sell to those items to them or trade product as part of your rent?

What are the restrictions? Mostly sugar, or others? When I think of Asian bakeries, I think filled buns and very light sponge cakes with cream and fruit. If you're buying, not making, are there Asian bakeries you can visit instead of Costco? Or if Costco adds a lot of sugary glazes, can you special order without? Think lighter brioche or fruit danish, sponge or chiffon cake instead of coffeecake. Bacon is low carb, sugar free, and pre-portioned Speaking of savory items, I think TJ's has frozen Asian buns you can bake. I like their pot stickers but haven't tried the bread-ier baked buns. They should be sugar free and maybe lower carb than straight pastry. Also look in their appetizer section, mini quiche or little filled turnovers could work well.

@RWood, I'm looking for a shortbread crust that cuts cleanly. It's something I've avoided until now, but recent attempts to fulfill requests for caramel-topped shortbread bars yielded frustration. Delicious and buttery but too crumbly! I figure a lemon bar base should be similar. If you'd be willing to share your recipe or any tips, I'd appreciate it! The recipe I tried was CI's millionaire's shortbread with melted butter. Easy to make, not as easy to cut nicely. thanks!

this one looks pretty close: http://www.pastrychefsboutique.com/matfer-bourgeat/648116-matfer-bourgeat-cw1673-polycarbonate-chocolate-mold-quenelles-2-x-8-molds-10gr-1-3-4x-1x-1-2-modern-shaped-molds.html

Also, you said once a week for two years. If it's a regular breakfast meeting, you'll probably want to mix it up with scones, muffins, coffeecake, etc. How many people are in the group?