WhiteTruffleGirl

duckduck, If Ciril did not give your roomate his bread recipes during his evening demo (which I missed), make sure you get a copy of them from someone's binder. He readily admits that he never used to share them while he was still competing, but now does. In my first (cursory) glance at his DVD it seems that he doesn't give the ratios of his components.

Yeah, I know...pretty steep. I haven't had the opportunity to look at them yet, but hope to today as the Championships don't begin until 2:00 this afternoon. He also has a "home baker" version of his DVD which "only" runs $40. I'll let you know my thoughts after I've watched them, but as you said, this may not happen until I get home.

Wendy, You can his DVD through his website breadhitz.com. He was running a special at the Forum selling the 3 DVD set for $100. It's $155 on his website, but you can purchase them separately as well.

What an incredible last day of classes. Ciril Hitz's class on decorative dough was AMAZING. I've worked with dead dough, but felt like a complete amateur next to his pieces. And the things he did were really not hard at all...just with so much imagination. It was his ongoing joke in class if that we wanted to be able create pieces like his, "just buy my DVD." He had to run from class at the very end for a photo shoot, but I ran into him later and told him that act of repetitive mention had worked, and I had bought the DVD. He had a good chuckle. My last class was Asian Desserts with Chef Mochizuki. Many of his desserts were Japanese inspired versions of classic French techniques we use every day...just with a flavor twist that bowed to Japanese influence. Really amazing stuff that was just so light on the palate. But his most stunning dessert is something called the Dragon Ball. It's blown (beautifully colored) isomalt filled with a very light mousse served over a creme brulee. It was gorgeous and tasted outstanding. I'm sorry classes are ending. It's been an incredible week...I've made so many new friends and contacts. On to the pastry championships and trade show. Should be a great next couple of days. I would encourage any of you who are in the industry and have not attended this forum to do so next year. The generosity of the chefs, the contacts you make and the general love for expressing yourself through pastry so widespread, it's very special.

I am not familiar enough with restaurants there to make any recommendations, but one thing they should not pass up if they are chocolate lovers is a trip to Thomas Haas chocolates. His truffles are sublime.

Forever Young, You shouldn't make your cuts until after they've proofed, i.e., right before they go into the oven.

Forever_Young_ca, You need to cut your epis deeper...don't be afaid, you are almost going to the very bottom of the loaf. Also, it seems like your angle may not have been steep enough. And you really don't need to "pull" them...just flip them from side-to-side as you cut. (I think your pulling is what resulted in the rounded edges as opposed to the pointed ones typically associated with this shape.) I've made thousands of epis, and love them because they not only look fabulous on a table, they are very "single serving." Keep practicing and you'll get it down.

One other thing I wanted to mention that is completely unrelated to the Forum, but to its venue, (the Desert Ridge JW Marriott), is the lack of thinking some resorts (and to be fair, event sponsors) have with regard to events like this. Lunch each day has been "okay," but certainly not great. When we went to the ballroom today, I walked the buffet line only to be completely surprised by the menu choice. When I mentioned to a friend of mine (who isn't attending but used to work at the resort) that the menu was themed, he said, "let me guess...Italian." And, indeed it was. I then said to him, "and what day is today?" He started cracking up. The winner of the chocolate showpiece competition took advantage of the fact he was competing on the 4th of July...the Marriott (and Carymax) took no such advantage. I wish some venues put a little more thought into their groups and didn't just go by a rote rotation of menus. Drives me crazy. Thank you for letting me vent.

duckduck, Chef Haas was commenting on the same thing this morning in class. Because Phoenix isn't exactly a bastion of nightlife, people are pretty much sticking around the hotel. He said that last night he finished dinner at 11:00 and was going to go up to his room, but kept running into people in the halls and didn't end up getting to his room until 12:30. Today after class, I walked the competition floor with Chef Glacier and got his critique of each the (remaining standing) chocolate showpieces. It was a wonderful learning experience. I'm really sad tomorrow is the last day of classes. I have Decorative Bread and Asian Desserts. I've heard Asian Desserts is great. I would say that I've really gotten something out of every single class, with the exception of one, which was more like an infomercial for the sponsor's product than a true class. Everyone at the Forum has basically been saying the same thing. And it's really too bad, because the Chef instructor knows his subject matter, even if his platings look like something out of the early 1980s.

One really cool thing he showed us was how to create chocolate showpieces without precast molds. He basically took two large lexans of cocoa powder and using a spatual and small offset created forms in the cocoa. In the lexan in which he created the base of the sculpture he used a sphere to create a female half sphere, and in the lexan containing the "J" shaped arm of the sculpture he created the male (rounded) half sphere. This is how we would join the two pieces. He then piped chocolate into the molds and put them in the freezer to set up. He simply brushed them off when they came out and attached them. (You have to scratch the chocolate surface wherever you are going to attach anything as nothing will adhere to the remaining cocoa powder on the sculpture.) He showed us three different techniques for making chocolate flowers...two of them quite easy, the third (as he readily admits) takes some practice. In the first, he created leaf stencils of varying sizes and dipped them in the chocolate and then onto acetate. (He used white chocolate into which he drizzled tempered colored cocoa butter.) He then laid the acetate in a length of pvc pipe so they would set up curved. He then glued these petals onto a half sphere of chocolate using smaller petals as he got to the center of the flower. Really easy, and really beautiful. The second method involved using balloons. Instead of dipping a balloon straight down into the chocolate like you do for balloon cups, you dip it sideways...first on one side, then the other. (The chocolate from the two sides should not meet.) Let it set up, and you have perfect petals from which to create a flower. The third method is a little difficult to describe, but involved using a paint roller to paint a piece of rimless stainless steel. He then let the chocolate set up and using powdered colors rubbed them into the chocolate. When the chocolate had reached the perfect temperature, he used a very flexible knife to scrape strips of the chocolate that curved just slightly. (This is the part that takes a lot of practice.) The edges of the strips were ruffled, much like a French tulip. He created the flower as a decor for a small cake. It was stunning.

May I just say that Jean-Phillipe Maury is not only one of the best pastry chefs in the world, but also one of the most amusing...LOVED his class on chocolate decors. He used techniques we use every day at work and just elevated them...all with simplicity, but in ways that were so imaginative. Also, his philosophy of "thinner is better" when it comes to most acetate spreading work really makes a lot of sense. The thinner they are, the less likely they will break. Counter-intuative I grant you, but based upon his demo, so true.

No, not at all. The class was geared towards industry professionals. What he was trying to get us to do was to better understand why failures can occur (and they do to everyone) and how the only things you need to do to judge whether your chocolate is ready is its color, the look of it and its viscosity. He never looks at the temperature. We learn about crystalline structure in school, but then most of us don't really think about the properties of Beta crysals when working. He was trying to get us back to that way of thinking. Also, his discussion of cooling based upon mold type (silicone vs. polycarbonate was quite useful.

Perhaps "new way" is a tad misleading... He dislikes the word tempering as he believes it leads people to believe that temperature of the chocolate is what is important in determining whether your chocolate is tempered. He prefers the term precrystallizing, which while related to temperature, is not about temperature. He went into detail on the 6 crystalline forms, each of which have their own melting temperature and focused his discussion from the scientific point-of-view. To quote him, "Correct temperature does not mean that the correct crytalline form is present. Bit if the correct crystalline form is present, the chocolate is in a specific temperature." He spoke a great deal about the nature of Beta crystals (the only good crystals) and how they behave under different circumstances. And then, most importantly, how to correct for these circumstances. He also spent a good deal of time talking about the importance of correct cooling. I know I'm not giving you useful information here, but it was really more about turning your mindset to stop thinking about temperature and to start thinking about crystals. His book (which I bought) spends the first few chapters dealing with the subject. It's an excellent book and would highly recommend it.

While I am new to the EG board (don't know why except being too busy to join before this), I know some of you are probably also in Phoenix for this event. It was a good first day. My first class was with Jean-Pierre Wybauw on chocolate candies. For the first half hour he asked us all to dispel what we had learned about tempering chocolate and to think about it in a new way. He was fascinating, charming and extremely informative. I finally got a chance to really browse his book. I've never seen a book about chocolate with so much technical information presented in such an easy to read and devour format. And despite its price ($80), knew I just had to have it. Having it inscribed by him was lovely. My second class was with En-Ming Hsu on chocolate amenities. Having worked in a resort envioronment, this was near and dear to my heart. Her enthusiasm for the subject, her superb presentations and her delightful personality made it a truly great session. She's incredibly creative and hope she shares her talent through many books. What classes did anyone else attending take today, and what were your impressions?

I don't use any recipe for mayo, just the formula of one egg yolk to one cup of oil, with acid (usually lemon) and salt. Mustard does help the elmusification come together easier, but if you're looking to make any of the derivatives of this mother sauce, it's best that you get accustomed to making it without. I make it about once every couple of weeks for home use, and always hand whisk. I find it's just easier to achieve the desired consistency if you whisk it by hand. I usually find that I need to add a few drops of water about half way through to lighten it. It's frequently easier for people to learn how to hand whisk this when using a ratio of two eggs yolks to two cups of oil. Egg yolks are like little balloons...they have to inflated slowly. btw...grinding your saffron and salt together creates a flavor profile that is beyond the separate additions of salt and saffron. Hightly recommend it.

One of my personal pet peeves is the pronounciation of aïoli. Most Americans pronounce it AOLI...it's proper pronounciation is IOLI...forgive my bad phonetic representation..

Trish, You are in line after me... And, I agree with you...Dan and Steve CAN cook...thank God they chose someone who could...

It's funny...I work at a four star resort in Phoenix (although am returning to my beloved NYC next week--YEAH!) . At lunch today we were chatting about various FN "stars" and it seems that almost all industry professionals (that I have talked to on the subject) have the same reactions to almost every "chef" on the network, with the exception of Sara Moulton. It seems that about half love her, and half don't. I am among those that love her. I don't really learn anything from her (only because I cook for a living), but find her to be personable, real, informative and just really nice. (One of my favorite episodes was the one she went fishing with her brother.) As for Jacques Torres, I HAVE learned from him. I grant you that unless you're experienced in pastry many of his techniques are wicked advanced for the average cook. I made some custom gelatin molds based upon his champagne mold episode. Let me tell you...he makes things look SO easy...but that is why he is so good.

What more can you tell me about Sucrasec? I've been working in a pastry kitchen in the bone dry environment of Phoenix, and will be returning to my beloved NYC in a couple of weeks. Needless to say, the humidity levels are radically different. How about caramel? What can be done to keep it stable in 80% humidity?

I also own a Simac and wouldn't trade it for love or money. It's a great machine. As good in small batch as the $30K model I use at work is in large batch. I'm really looking forward to the gelato class at the World Pastry Forum this Friday!

Thank you so much for the links. I love this wine, and with the current weather, it's perfect.

Bugey Cerdon is one of my favorite sparkling rosés. I was able to buy it last year while I was in Denver at a wonderful wine store called City Wine. But since returning to NYC have yet to find it locally. Any leads?

Sara Moulton's contract wasn't renewed...and while I certainly don't know for sure, Jacques Torres is off the air as of this week, so I'm not sure what's going on there. I hope to ask him next week at the World Pastry Forum. Amy

Does anyone really care who won? Food Network ceased to be about food a long time ago...most of their "chefs" are IMHO one-note (dare I say) hacks that know very little about food, but a lot about self-promotion. The good ones on the network are (by and large) gone (or are going, in the case of a couple who the network decided not to renew contracts for). Yes, I watched a couple of episodes of this program, but I was completely aghast at what the Food Network had chosen as potential next "stars." I'm with a few of the other posters on this thread...why can't there be serious shows geared towards real foodies. We aren't a small audience. Thanks for letting me rant. Amy

Michael had NO trouble nominating Chris, and his smirk showed it. I think the "Elsie vs. Michael" scenario quite likely...