CKatCook
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Posts posted by CKatCook
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My love and I's first meal together was at this chinese food resturant that no longer exist. It was a small rather crappy buffet. But I made up for it on the third date when I made lasgana (sp?) with everything hand made, down to the pasta, with eggplant patties. He hates eggplant, but ate it anyway to impress me. -> now that is love.
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I know, I know, I know. Its close to the big day and I have not decided. I was hoping for ideas. I am determined to go out on a limb this year and do something different. Any ideas anyone?
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I made the fudge. I have never had fudge like this. I mean, I have all kinds of flavors of fudge, but this is different.
Is there a name to this kind of fudge other than "fudge"?
(nobody I know wants to eat it because its not chocolate fudge....how do you store it? By the way, I don't care, more for me....
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Emily_R : Yeah Nutella is so easy to work with!
CKatCook : I wanted to try caramel do i need to use thermometer ?
Thanks!
personally, I cannot imagine doing caramel without one...
No confections "on deck" today..but croissants and banana bread gotta use somethings up. If I get motivated I may do nougat...
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Today for the first time I tried fudge and caramel...
The caramel turned out great! It is still sitting up, the fudge, I am a little worried, It was a little too glossy for me to pour into the pan to sit. (I was doing the Confectionary 101 class here on Egullet) such fun!!!
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ok, I got done with only one small pin-head size burn. When I dropped my butter in the sugar. Yeah, you were certainly right about that stuff splattering. I don't have a decent camera or I would take pictures, my camera comes out way too dark on every picture (cheap crap...)
anywho, the color is a beautiful golden caramel that looks like store bought caramel. (to give you an idea of what it looks like)
I have a question about candy thermometers, when you clip it to the side of the pan, isn't the temputer of the candy cooler on the outside edge than the middle? How does one get past that?
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i didn't know if this thread still even existed, but I am taking the plunge today and makeing some carmel using your recipe, I will let everyone know how it came out...
I am excited! I never done this before.....
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II was feeling kind of stressed and worn out, so I went to a bookstore and then meandered around a grocery store. After that I was rejuvinated and much more cheerful.
and here I thought I was the only one to do that.....
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Risotto- it'll cure what ails ya.
AMEN!!! When I am really toasted from stress, it is risotto all the way...
Baking bread. Roasted chicken w/ mashed potatoes..these come a close second..
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Very nice!!! Can't wait to order some....
and make my own as soon as the piggy bank allows...
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But how does one go about positioning themselves carefully?
Well, a little soul-searching, a lot of research and a bit of luck help but what I was not-so-elequently getting at is that it doesn't have to be "now that I'm doing this as a job I don't like it so much anymore". It may take time and money (or the lack thereof) to get where you want to go but you can get there. Best case, your research into yourself and the industry will lead you to the right door and all is warm and fuzzy. Worst case, it leads you to a wrong door and you have to move on a time or three (all the while gaining valuable experience and new perspectives on how to do things). Eventually you will find what you're looking for without the job dread that makes you start to hate the thing you loved.
Oh, I get it..(finally)...there is no clear cut path, which is very different from the computer field where I currently am...
I am just so excited. I have wanted this for a very long time, I just want to make sure I am going about this career change in the right manner. But I am discovering that this may mean different things for different people, different stories.
Thank you once again everyone for your inspiring words....
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greenbean raises some valid points but I think most of that is more related to individuals and their specific situation than the industry in general. Cooking for work and cooking for pleasure are not the same but it's not that big a gap between the two if you position yourself carefully. That requires being honest with yourself and seeking out the situation you want to be in even if it slows down the process of moving up in the ranks to where you see yourself eventually. Even then, it can become tedious at times but that's true whether you're doing something you enjoy or something you hate. Kinda like if you love chocolate and hate liver, if you had to spend all day every day tasting one it would become tiresome at times either way but at least with the chocolate it's something you actually like.
But how does one go about positioning themselves carefully? Right now I am looking up every industry magazine, article, book, etc. I can get my hands on to learn more about the business itself. Where can I find the best information about the industry to make good informed decisions? (I read Egullet's fine posts, from fine people, but other than that I am lost)...
Thanks!!
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I didn't think this would be an interesting thread when I first clicked on it, but I am hooked. But then again I am one of those people that look in other people's shopping cart at the grocery store....
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Thank you everyone for your wonderful words of encouragement, advice and support. I do plan on voluneering in a bakery as soon as I hone my skills a wee bit more (I currently bake every sunday for 14 of my husbands co-workers) and I want to get some more home practice in, maybe a weekend course at French Pastry School in Chicago, before I volunteer somewhere. (as to not make a complete fool of myself!) I love French pastry in particular, but if I wind up making other kinds I would love that too. I have given chocolate a thought. That would be fantastic! (I am pea green with envy!) I would go now and volunteer, but for some reason Oklahoma is very low on "quality" pastry shops places to volunteer. Most people go to supermarkets for cakes and such....
I also realize it will be hard, sucky at times maybe. But ever since I was being pulled out of my classes in High School to design cakes for the Home Ec. department, I dreamed of being a pastry chef, fear has kept me from it all this time. I am determined to not let fear win this time. I am going to bake and do it for a living. The ultimate goal is my own shop, maybe work in France only a few years once my husband and I are out of school.
Thank you everyone, thank you! You have no idea how much the words of advice and encouragement has meant.
edit to add: now if I can just keep from eating my product....hmmmmmm....LOL
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I am about in tears as I read your words of encouragment. I almost started out of high school to go to culinary arts school, but life had other plans. I dreamed all that time of going. Everyone I know thinks I am crazy (exept my husband, who wants to be a chef) for wanting to chuck a computer career for something that has the potential to be not as profitable. But they don't understand its not about the money....it's about doing what I love. Its about not spending 40+ hours out of the week miserable. I live in the US, so I move to France is going to be tough, but that is a few years away and we have lot of time to prepare and learn what to do. Right now getting my foot in the door is the main thing. And getting my butt to Denver to go to school. I get to leave in October (our lease is up then, and we get time to save a bit of money) I can't wait....I am itching to go....
Have any of you volunteered in a bakery? If so, how did you approach the chef?
Thanks again for all your love and encouragment.
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I wanted to throw this out there in hopes that maybe I could find an answer, a plan, advice, some way of doing this...I have searched around here at various threads and found a lot of wonderful great advice, but frankly I am still a little scared, mostly of being a laughing stock at the idea. Most of the people in my life with the expection of my husband and best friend of 17 years only knows this...but...
I WANT TO BE A PASTRY CHEF... A FRENCH ONE!
There I said it...I admit. So? go be one you may say. Ok, well enough, but I am almost 39 years old and all the profiles of great chefs I have read started when they were way young. I don't have to be famous, I don't have to be rich. I just want to spend my life making great pastry. It makes me happy to see people go MMMMMMMM....and smile when they eat my cooking. I sneak home from work to check my bread rising. I am home today to study croisants, I bake every waking minute that I don't have to be at my miserable job. (I am a computer tech) I don't even need money except enough to pay the rent maybe, I am not into fancy clothes or cars....I just want to bake....in France. French pastry makes my heart sing. I soothing peace washes over me when I bake. I can stand there for hours and hours without flinching just making dough, hunting down ingrediants....
My husband and I are looking into moving to Denver to go to Johnston and Wales in October, then hope to move to France and work when we are done. I want to volunteer in a pastry shop or hotel kitchen somewhere before we go to gain some insight and experience (staging, I think it's called) I been too scared to ask a chef, don't want to be a pain, or to be laughed out of the place. But I also realize some guts are needed here....
Is this too crazy at 39? Is there someone on this board with a simular story? How did it work out? Any "pearls of wisdom" you would be willing to share?
Thanks for listening.....just wanted to take the first steps in getting it out there...
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sorry my camera sucks so bad, or pictures would be comming...
today it's homemade ciabatta bread....
yesterday it was devils food cake.....yum....
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Turkey bacon.....what do they have to do to turkey to get it to taste like pork?
Those pre-done simply microwave lunches that must have sat on the shelf next to the soup since the dinosaurs, WTF?
I was in the freezer section the other day and actually saw pre-cooked bacon and cheese hamburgers that was pre-formed and in microwave packages. (I forget the brand name)
Anything with high frutose corn syrup...
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ok, here is what I did, boy, what a mess....
I downloaded the King Arthor Flour bagette lesson, according to the online lesson you make a poolish. 1 1/4 c. flour, 2/3 c. water, 1/8 t. active dry yeast. I mix and let it set for 12 hours (overnight) I can tell in the morning it had poofed up quite a bit, and was real goopy. I mixed in the rest of the ingredents, which was more flour water, yeast, and some salt this time. The dough was way, way dry, so I added more water (just a touch) put it in the food processor, pulsed a bit, let it rest for 20 minutes, then finished kneading in the food processor for another 2 minutes. The dough was real lumpy, but the directions said it would be. So I stuck it in the fridge, at 6 am. at 5 pm I came home from work, the dough had barely risen. I let it come to just a little cler than room temp took it out of the oiled bowl, and it was tough as nails, stringy, snapped like taffy when I tried to knead it....threw it out....
I followed the directions, what could have gone wrong?? Any ideas?
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I am going to try it tonight and see what happens...I am very curious now...
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Would this work? I make the dough, let it rise overnight in the fridge, then in the morning, punch it down shape for the second rise, go to work, come home from work, punch down, shape rise and bake?
That would make bread making easy.....
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All that and my bread burnt on the outside but stayed doughy in the center....
the recipe called for me to have to divide the dough into 3 1 pound loaves, I made two loaves out of them...do you think that could be the reason.
the oven was the temp the recipe said...
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I posted on here at the beginning of the week or so that I have been on a quest to make the perfect bread. I have been fighting with yeast, and so far this weeks attempts are comming out much better thanks to everyone's advice.
I went down to my local health food store and bought this incredible refrigerated yeast. Came home and started making the bread according to the recipe. It fermented once, I punched it down, fermented twice, punched it down and heard it deflate.
Then I got the bright idea to stick my nose in the spot I punched the dough down, thinking I would get this wonderful yeasty-bread smell I am absolutely addicted to.....I swear the fumes burnt a hole in my head. The pain was unreal...if I have a nostril hair ever again it will be a miracle! Now all I smell is yeast. Who knew it could do this??
Just thought I'd share....
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I think choice plays a HUGE role. I was a social worker, I am now in the computer field and considering going into the food industry...by choice. Now if I was ever stuck in the social work field forever, yep, I would be very depressed. Now I know we are talking the food industry, but I doubt the dynamic is different. If you don't love it, its hard to go thru the "daily grind".....
Bacon Salt
in Kitchen Consumer
Posted
Ok, I have to have some of this.....