John DePaula

I see you're inspiring the next generation of cooks, Jmahl. Bravo! Those cookies look delicious, by the way.

I'd try Carlyle Restaurant. I think their HH starts at 3pm. Also, a great place for cocktails is Teardrop Lounge; really high end cocktails.

OMG, by all means, try it with duck fat! But a little goes a long way...

← lardons are only one of many cuts available from pork belly

Try << poitrine de porc >>

What about Turkish pistachios? How do they differ from California, in terms of taste? ← Not to put down the CA pistachios, but from everything I've read, they're cultivated to be pretty and/or large instead of flavorful. (Welcome to US agriculture). I remember eating pistachios as a child and they were fantastic. I'm pretty sure they were Iranian since the US hadn't started growing them until around the late 70s. The CA ones I eat today are a shadow of what I remember... In terms of flavor, from most flavorful to least (to be taken with a grain of salt): Bronte and/or Iranian (unlikely you'll be able to get Iranian pistachios any time soon, eh) Turkish and Syrian Californian

The link that Chris posted was for in-shell pistachios. And the wt. wasn't specified. The ones I looked at are $26.35 per 0.4 lbs. or $65.88 per lb. The reading I've done says that the Bronte pistachio is one of the most flavorful - much more so than the California pistachios which are pretty and mild. I've only had the CA variety, and I like them, but I'd now like to try the Bronte.

Not a wholesale source, but the price is OK (at least, compared to the places selling them for $60/lb): BuonItalia It says they are peanuts, but they sure look like pistachios to me... ← Thanks, yes I found kalustyans (same price / lb) and buonitalia. They say they have wholesale pricing but I'm having difficulty getting the actual pricing from them... Thanks, Chris.

The cost of Bronte Pistachios is sky-high. Anyone know of a wholesale source?

Chris, you might try L'Epicerie to find some items. They have both small and large quantities. If you're really in a bind, Pastry Chef.com could have some items, too.

Ditto what Mark & Kerry said.

I don't have his book but he probably uses powdered gelatin. Here's a handy topic dealing with conversion of Leaf Gelatin to Powdered Gelatin: Gelatin Conversion Regarding the 2nd question, I would just repeat what Tammy said. Your choice of chocolate will put your personal stamp on the recipe.

Wow, what a wonderful trip! Thanks for the report and pix!

Tammy those look just wonderful! Brava!

Here you go: Silver City Culinary Extravaganza

Me, too! Let's just say that Portland is not known for its excellent (New) Mexican food... I miss it so much!

Really gorgeous, Fanny! Mmmmmm.... Where's that 'Drool' emoticon?

I feel for you, Kerry. That time change can be tough! P.S. If you're on a PC, Using Firefox (Ctrl + +) or Internet Explorer (View | Text Size | Larger) will help.

The word is 'ganache' in Spanish.

Oh Thank God! I was worrying about that all day long!!! I really wish that I could have made your Extravaganza, Rob! Even went so far as to check airfares. The $700 price from PDX kinda put an end to that idea pretty quickly. I can see why your friend preferred Santa Fe's proximity to an air hub... By the way, that Ice Wine that Kerry brought you is KILLER, Lucky Boy. I served some at a dinner party and everyone just loved it. Perfect end to a meal.

The more I think about it, I'm not sure if I used this recipe. I probably used another one from that book which I like & does stick to your teeth. I might have used that one & just added 3 oz of chocolate. If you want that one PM me, I probably shouldn't post a recipe from a book. ← As I understand it, ingredient lists are not copyrightable but methods / descriptions are. So, you can quote the ingredients list verbatim but you have to use your own words for the instructions.

Welcome to eGullet! Good choice to start by posting on something you are knowledgeable about. I recently read an article on a food blog that highlighted "snap" as a way to differentiate chocolate quality (someone mentioned this tangentially upthread), noting that a nice, bright snapping sound when you break off a piece is a good thing. Do you know more about why this is? ← This is why correct tempering is so important. Chocolate forms several types of crystals when it solidifies after being melted. If it's tempered, most of these will be Beta crystals which have the most shine and very importantly, they melt at the right temperature e.g. on your tongue. And it also has a nice SNAP! Correct tempering ensures that the chocolate will contract just a bit when it sets. That's good because then you're able to get it out of the mold.

Beautiful work; Impressive!

good point, you just detach the hose and the curtain (and put it in a heating cabinet) and blow away some chocolate with some hot air. you can go from production to knock off in about 10 mins. and leave a quite clean machine. in the rare event that you would need a really clean machine (color change from dark/milk to white) you can put the enrobing part right over the sink and spritz it with hot water until its clean. color change from dark to milk and back is also no big deal, you just let the machine run totally empty and fill up with the other color... ← Wow, I had no idea that they'd be so easy to clean up. Super!

Thanks for the pix! Question: how difficult is the enrober to clean? and how often does it need to be cleaned?