John DePaula

Cave, great to meet another ferrandi alumni. Do U know about the pastry course that they offer? Is it as highly regarded as their culinary course? (Any ways to get the exact syllabus taught and hours spent) Or do you have any ferrandi alumni web groups that I could find out more? I have gotten some info from stephanie via email. But would like to know more exact details about their pastry program which she cant provide over the email. I do have a sample of their daily schedule, but cant really make out of it. The 2yr course you mention above is only for french speaking and experience person yeh. Im currently researching on Ferrandi pastry courses from all sources available. Pls provide any insights possible. (Well, in fact im still comparing them to Bellouet and the FPS and shorter courses) thanks ← There is a dedicated thread to Ferrandi here -> ESCF Ferrandi culinary school. I am an alumnus of Ferrandi Anglophone Pastry program (attended the 2003/2004 school year). My primary instructor was Didier Averty. He is very skillful and talented; you will be in good hands if he is your instructor. Actually, all of my instructors were the best. You are going to learn all of the classics of French Pastry. Take a look at the French Professional Pastry series (Vol. I - III) and that's pretty much the kind of stuff you'll learn. The books were written by instructors at the school and it could loosely be described as a syllabus for the pastry program. Even if you decide not to go to Ferrandi, the books are great as a reference. In our program, we had boulangerie once a week on Friday and cuisine classes once every other Wednesday. Generally, we'd be in the kitchen from about 7:30am to 1pm or so every day. Then in the afternoon, there would be some little pick up class like language or computer work. If you're having trouble making out a sample schedule, why don't you post it here and someone will explain it. The school is very well connected to the top places in Paris and beyond. If you work hard and do well, you can be placed at some amazing establishments. Also, I'd say that the school is in a GREAT area of Paris. I have always wanted to live in France and become fluent in French, so it was a good fit for me. If these are not your goals, then consider the French Pastry School in Chicago. I've only had one class there but it seemed like you could have a very similar experience. I don't know about their program of stages and how well they're connected. You mentioned Bellouet and I think that he has expanded his program since I was in Paris. He's very well respected, so that might be another France option for you.

I think that Mette started a topic about this. Here it is: Demo: Molding bowls and containers with chocolate. The method that Kerry is describing is shown, more or less, about 3/4 of the way down from Mette's 1st post. (though I do look forward to Kerry's post...)

Looks like La Tienda is a source.

Hi, Thanks for the response. Sorry, I am not a candymaker but what are you scraping? What does this mean? You mean to make it level? What kind of tool do you use? Where does the excess end up? ← You can use a palette knife to scrape the top and make it level. Excess is usually just off the end. When you balance a recipe for the size of frame, you won't have much excess at all.

My pail says it's 95% Invert Sugar + 5% Saccharose (which is just sucrose), so I don't think drivert would be a good substitute.

That's true. In this case, the product I have does show a 'Best By' date. I was just surprised that invert sugar could go bad since I've never noticed one to get moldy or taste off. ← I have a question because I think I'm confused about this. Is invert sugar the same as invert syrup? Isn't the sugar dry like powder sugar and the syrup a liquid? ← I have only seen the syrup, though I suppose there may be some form of atomized powder out there. Mine is Invert Sugar Syrup.

Very cute mice!

That's true. In this case, the product I have does show a 'Best By' date. I was just surprised that invert sugar could go bad since I've never noticed one to get moldy or taste off.

Thanks, Rob. Looks like the info I was seeking.

I have this big pail of Invert Sugar and it's marked with a 'Best By' date. My question is: Does Invert Sugar really go bad? If so, what would be the signs that it has gone off e.g. crystallizes, looks funny, tastes funny... Seems like it's a natural preservative that wouldn't expire.

Interesting, Abra. I was just looking through my copy of Larousse du Chocolat and Herme refers to sucre en poudre which, until your post, I would have incorrectly translated to powdered sugar (even though I know that's sucre glace). Thanks!

Vanessa, don't stress! First of all, we don't have sales tax here and I can say "what a relief that is to NOT have to worry about it." Second, I didn't want to have the monthly expense of credit card merchant account so I only accept credit cards via PayPal on my web site. For Farmers' Markets, and the like, I just take cash (~$80 in a mix of bills) and local checks though some recommend against that. I've yet to have any bounced checks, "knock on wood."

From what I recall nobody sells them. I believe the FPS just went to a metal supply shop and had them cut to size from sheet stock. ← Well, duh! That makes sense, David. I just never think about going to these metal supply places but they can save you a lot of money.

Not at all! Just line them up to whatever size you need and tape them down so they don't shift around when you pour and level the ganache. Having them in seperate pieces facilitates removing the frame after it sets up. This is really simple and you can use almost anything of the height and length you need. ← thats exactly like i work, but you dont need any tape if you put em on a silpat ;-) cheers t. ← Ditto. As an aside, does anyone know where to get those plain flat sheets? Sort of like a cookie sheet but with absolutely no rim at all.

I think that's fantastic. It truly saddens me that so much of our culture here in the States is becoming / has become so homogeneous. Rob, it might make an interesting thread to discuss how your region differs from the more populist version of "New Mexican" or SW cookery. Esp. if you include recipes and/or sources for supplies...

Thanks very much, that's very helpful! I thought it might be more akin to sanding sugar since the 'Crystal Sugar' that I found was really large.

That's true! You have to request a quote for every little thing; what a waste of my time and theirs. Oh but wait, they stopped replying to my requests about the 2nd time I asked so neither one of us is wasting our time anymore... to them!

Is this before or after scraping the top of the mold? Do you put it in the fridge upside-down? ← This is after you've scraped the mold. You want to be certain that the top of the tray is absolutely flat so you'll be able to properly seal the bonbons after they're filled. Depending on the fluidity of your chocolate, you may have to scrape more than once. (I never do because my chocolate is a thick formulation.) But at some point, you've scraped the tray for the last time, then you flip it over and wait to see that it's crystallizing around the edges. That's when you stick it into the fridge.

Yes, I think that Lapin has it right. Cook some sugar to just short of a burnt caramel, pour onto silpat and let cool; break up and pulverize in robo-coupe; add this to hot cream and chocolate to make a ganache in the usual way. Hope this helps.

Hmm, I didn't think about that. I was thinking the temper was fine because the ones that did release had a perfect crisp "snap" to them when bitten into. Of course, that's not a very scientific way of determining proper temper . ← One thing that you can do is to wait until the chocolate has just begun to set around the edges, then pop the tray into the refrigerator for, oh, 10 minutes or so.

Chris, From the pix on your web site, I'd say that the shells were not at all too thin. Could be that the chocolate wasn't quite in temper or that they took too long to crystallize. Setting chocolate is an exothermic process, i.e. heat is generated, and that can throw the temper off if your environment isn't quite cool enough.

Rob, that all looks great! Esp. love the idea of the petit fours with the sugar coated fennel - which, by the way, tastes like anise or licorice.

Such as?

I have seen several recipes using << sucre cristal >> or "crystal sugar" e.g. in Pates de fruits. I live in the US and here the crystal is very large grained and contains (or is polished with) carnauba wax. I was hoping to find out if Sucre Cristal in France is different. In other words, is it just large-grained clear sugar without the wax? Thanks

Perhaps you've already heard this but the recipe doesn't specify to "freeze;" rather, you must cool overnight in the refrigerator. I noticed that the recipe calls for "sucre cristal." Here in the US, sucre cristal comes with something called "carnauba wax" which I think must be used to polish and give a shine to the sugar crystals. Is this the same in France? Or does the French version omit the wax? Thanks.