pastrygirl

I use the ganache frames from dr.ca. They are stainless, but much lighter than a solid ruler, so you do have to be careful sometimes to make sure product doesn't run out the bottom. PDF shouldn't take an hour of stirring, half an hour, maybe. But even that feels like 20 minutes too long.

I charge by the dozen, $20-28 depending on item. I believe this is lower than some of my local competitors.

Do you have any difficulty finding ingredients? For sweet snacks, think about muffins with carrot, pumpkin, banana, zucchini (courgette), apples, or other fresh or dried fruits. You can usually use less sugar - if the recipe says 2 cups sugar (400g), try 1-1/2 cups (300g). Also granola bars with oats, dried fruits, nuts, and honey. You can make different versions like peanut + raisin or almond + dried apricot. Some recipes are baked, some use sticky ingredients like dates or honey so everything will stick together. I do hope the bakery chef will be able to help. Good luck!

Following up as far as healthy snacks, have you tried making healthier versions of snacks you know people like? Use less sugar, add whole grains or lentil flour for protein, bake instead of fry. Experiment in small batches first or at home if you can. And, different people have different versions of healthy. Low fat used to be considered healthy, now lower sugar and "good" fats are recommended.

Are you trying to create more European/American menus rather than Indian/Asian? What cultures do most of your clients come from? It sounds like you are comfortable cooking Indian dishes but need help with more western menus? I was an expat pastry chef for a bit, so I realize it can be hard to re-create foreign dishes with local ingredients and equipment, and its hard to know what a dish is supposed to be like just from a recipe or picture if you've never had it before.

Some sort of citrus-infused club soda (lime, lemon, grapefruit) would be nice and refreshing, but I agree, then it's not a margarita anymore.

No problem, if you do find cocoa butter color that can glow by itself, all the chocolatiers here would want to try it! Nice work anyway

Did you actually find something both edible and phosphorescent? To me, there is a difference between glow-in-the-dark and the interesting effect of looking at things under black light. If you can take it into a dark room or hide under the covers and it emits a glow of its own, then it is glow in the dark. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosphorescence

Sangria? Or use in dessert - make sabayon and serve over berries or stone fruit. Or poach/cook dried apricots in it to make a compote, eat over ice cream or pound cake. Poach pears with it or freeze it into a sorbet or granita.

So then how do you determine the baking time and when they are "done"? If the interior of the cookie is too moist, of course that moisture will soften the crisp outer shell. Seriously, another minute or two in the oven might be all you need.

my mol d' art melter - painting bunnies 2 at a time today

Oh I didn't realize she was moving. Maybe she will have even more toys!

I won't be there, but a couple of notes for y'all - Jean-Philippe had a nice chocolate/pastry shop in the Aria. Didn't try anything, but pretty stuff and some seasonal chocolate sculptures, worth a look if you're on that end of the strip. Melissa's studio is at the very rear of the building - her husband works with the pain clinic on the street side of the building, so look for that and go all the way to the back. What Ruth said about x-rays, they can't see through chocolate As for heat, hopefully you'll be going from air-conditioned building to air-conditioned vehicle and back and the middle of your luggage won't get above 75. Chef Rubber is worth the trip, semi-close to the airport but off in a business park. I'd allow at least an hour.

@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?