John DePaula

Decided to try my hand at the Chocolate and Hazelnut Dacquoise*. (*Can anyone tell me under what circumstances one uses 'dacquoise' vs. 'dacquois?' I see them both in print and would like to use it correctly.) It's been a while since I made a dacquois but these were great and simple. The texture was just right and they simply melt in your mouth. The left-over batter makes great light-as-air cookies, too. I made a couple of changes to Hermé's recipe: 1) I used only hazelnut powder; 2) rather than make a 9" tart, I made little individual 4" tarts. I think I read somewhere that these are especially good after freezing. Supposedly, the freezing/thawing will give them a pleasantly chewy texture. Always nice to have a do-ahead recipe. Thoughts?

For those of you don't read Portuguese, you can try to load/translate the page using Google language tools. The translation is far from perfect but you can get the gist. Here's a link: Filipe's partially translated Blog: XOCOLATE P.S. The page doesn't seem to display well in my up-to-date version of Internet Explorer but works well with Firefox. FWIW Thanks again for the pix, filipe.

Thank You for the gorgeous photos and the update! Bravo!

Does anyone know if PH has opened up this location as a storefront? Last time I looked, which has admittedly been a while, it was not open to the public.

I use a digital thermometer to check the temperature of the PCB colors but it sometimes gets messy or tedious with multiple color. Does the yogurt maker keep the colors in this temperature range? It would make my life easier when I paint the molds using multiple colors. ← Since I wrote that comment, I've stopped measuring the temperature with a thermometer. I just warm it in the microwave on LOW until it's mostly melted and the container is just slightly warm to the touch.If I'm working with a lot of colors at once, the yogurt maker can help keep them at temperature; though mine seems to be a bit too warm, so I have to cycle it on/off.

I keep a hydrometer in my work area and noticed one day that there was a spike in the humidity. I don't recall the exact percentage, but it may have been as high as 62%. The chocolate was a major pain to work with that day, constantly trying to seize. So working in Florida where it's difficult to keep the temperature and humidity in check, I can imagine that there will be problems from time to time. What do you think about using a dehumidifier in your work area?

I bought quite a few molds at J.B. Prince (I like their selection, prices and customer service). Here's the insert that arrives with the molds: So what do I think? I like to have clean molds when I start a production run, so I do wash them in the dishwasher: top rack, a tiny bit of dish washing liquid (NO DETERGENT), AND NO HEATED DRYING. When the washing cycle finishes, you can dunk them in distilled water to prevent dissolved minerals in the tap water from drying and leaving a film. (If you live in Paris, you need to do this! The mileage at your location may vary.) My chocolates come out with an unbelievable shine (someone once told me that it just doesn't look natural for chocolate to look that shiny…) and I get close to zero duds. Occasionally I have to chill a tray for a few minutes to help contract the chocolate a bit more, but the finish is still excellent. Do not chill in the freezer as this can cause the chocolate to fracture and ruin the surface.

Did you mean this? Payard Pates de fruits You can order this online and they'll deliver anywhere in the US. This thread on Pates de fruits may be interesting (I'm sure there are others as well): Pates de fruits

PortlandFood.org Tip Sheet Portland Dining Guide and Tip Sheet Portland Recommendations

Hey, I think it's a GREAT IDEA to have a thread for this information! Excellent French-American Baking Reference, What do they call that here?

I think this is the link to Boiron's Pates de fruits recettes: Boiron Pates de fruits Recipes

Just a friendly reminder: Although it sounds like your condensed milk wasn't spoiled, I'm sure you know that the toxins produced by bacteria that cause food to spoil are unaffected by alcohol and/or heat.

Perhaps we should use this thread to expand on the topic? Maybe there's already one (or several) on eGullet?

Thanks! I didn't see that. I have edited my original post to reflect the permalink.

If you are living in France and want to bake some American recipes, then you will need to print out a copy of David Lebovitz's invaluable guide: American Baking in Paris. I spent many hours trying to create my own list, but this is far more complete. Oh the time spent combing Paris for vanilla extract* only to discover that the French really don't use the same thing (arome de vanille NEQ vanilla extract). Or looking for a can of chicken soup… you're not gonna find it. *I was told, quite simply, that French chefs use vanilla beans when they want vanilla flavor! Imagine!

Slight error in the link as posted above; here's the corrected version: Fine Living: Made to Order

COCOLUXE fine pastries 161 Main St. Peapack, NJ 07977 908.781.5554 Looks like beautiful work. Nice clean simple web site. Bonne Chance, Madame.

For sweetening the ganache, you need to use something like corn syrup, glucose, honey or invert sugar to prevent, or at least slow down, crystallization.

Stop, Stop! You're making my mouth water! Good luck with the cinnamon experiments and please let us know how your trials turn out!

For what it's worth, count me in too! She was such a Great Lady; I hope that her memoirs do her justice.

Your question piqued my interest so I did a quick web search, which led me to the following site: That's Greece: Following Cinnamon's Scent Hope this helps to shed some light on the question. Be sure to check out some of the interesting recipes that follow.

In France, the eggs at the market are not refrigerated; although at cooking school, they were kept chilled until needed. When I asked Chef about the problem of salmonella, he was astonished to hear about such a thing. "Oh, we don't have that in France." So I guess it just depends on the condition of the poultry industry where you live. Here in the States, I always keep mine refrigerated just to be safe.

Don't know if this would work for your particular application, but some chocolatiers create a separate decoration piece and then "glue" it to a bonbon using melted chocolate. As an example, see the beautiful chocolates at Christopher Norman Chocolates. Note: I know that he isn't using transfer sheets here, but it's the same principle.

Love this idea. And the mint is really great in this dish, as well as a nice touch of cinnamon. Yumm!

Quite right!