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rickster

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Posts posted by rickster

  1. Not that exotic an idea, but I recently made a gooseberry tart. Prebaked a tart shell, added a layer of pastry cream and then added a layer of gooseberries that had been stewed with sugar and some cornstarch, It was delicious.

  2. Interesting: I wonder what's going on with this pie? Some people are reporting total unqualified success, but others can't get it to firm up in the time stated (me) or at all (cmflick). It must be the blueberries, right? They're the only real variable. Or how much juice is squeezed out of the apple? Could the specific apple chosen make the difference? I note that they do not call the the shredded amount by weight: I think we could easily see very large variations in the amount of shredded apple included.

    Interesting idea that it may be related to the apple. I used a Granny Smith apple as they called for and squeezed it pretty dry in a towel. I also wonder if it could be related to whether you're using fresh or frozen blueberries. It seems that the people having better luck with the pie setting are using frozen berries.

    I wonder whether different varieties of blueberries have different levels of pectin, or whether it varies with time of harvest, growing conditions, etc.

  3. I noticed on the website that the Pastry Camp is tailored for food enthusiasts, not pros so I would think you're OK.

    I would be really curious about how it goes for you. I've thought about taking the same course but couldn't get the schedule to work. Also thought it might be a bit too basic for me, but not sure if I would be qualified for the next level up.

  4. One thing I miss on Masters is the lack of our knowledge of meal development. I mean you have almost no idea what they are cooking until it is brought out to the judges. I like to see some of the prep and thought process that went into their plate. This is my only real criticism of the show. I want to see more cooking.

    I agree. Too much time judging and not enough cooking.

    I had thought prior to the season that some chefs, like Wylie, would have difficulty when forced to operate out of their element, cuisine wise or technique wise.

  5. I was surprised how "gushy" they were. I expected the English guy, in particular, to get in some zingers. But this was the first episode, and I think they were feeling their way. Also, to be honest, all four chefs did a pretty good job under these bizarre circumstances.

    I think the fact that this is all done for charity may be tempering their comments.

  6. There has also been a big demand from the States to include the popular cups and spoon , this will be considered for the next edition.

    That's odd. At this price range and with the type of material it seems to cover (I haven't seen it), I wouldn't think it would appeal to the type of baker still wedded to cups and spoons. Still, I suppose it would broaden the appeal.

  7. I think Schott calls for refrigerating most of his slab ganaches - I'd be cautious about that and use room temp instead if you're having cracking problems.

    You're right about refrigeration/freezing. This was what I thought was giving me too thick a foot, so I tried applying the foot to room temperature ganache and got a thinner result and still had the cracking problem.

    I have been using pistoles melted for the foot, not worrying about getting them to any particular temperature.

    Thanks for al the advice. I think I will try warming the knife and cutting sooner and at room temperature ad see what happens

  8. Maybe someone can provide some advice. I am a rank amateur at chocolate making but have this book and have made a number of the hand dipped chocolate recipes from it. Everyone loves the results, but I have what I guess I would call a production problem. When I cut the set ganache, often either the ganache cracks parallel to the knife cut and falls off the foot or the foot cracks. I would guess I am losing about a third of the chocolates this way. What am I doing wrong? My first guess was that I was applying too thick a foot and maybe cutting the ganache too cold, but I've adjusted for this and it still happens. I've tried cutting with a chef's knife as well as a serrated knife. Should I warm the knife? or is this inevitable when using a less than professional cutter?

  9. I'd be interesting in hearing from somebody who used them too. I can't believe they'd perform the same as frozen. If I were guessing, I'd guess they're like UHT milk you buy in Europe, or drink boxes you'd buy here. I could be totally wrong of course.

    I would guess this is right. I do know that any shelf stable aseptically packaged product is heat processed, just at not as high a temperature as a bottled or canned one. But frozen does nto have to be at all, so I'd expect some degradation in flavor, which I guess is the tradeoff for convenience.

  10. Cook's Illustrated Blueberry scones. They use a neat technique of folding the dough so it has lots of layers. They were seriously excellent scones. You could vary the fruit.

    This sounds similar to an excellent Rose Levy Beranbaum scone recipe in the Pie and Pastry Bible. General concept is you take the chunks of butter and flatten itno flakes and combine with flour sugar leavening and cream. You then roll and fold the dough through a couple of turns. It's a bit similar to doing a rough puff pastry dough and makes a very flaky scone.

  11. My experience has been that the thickness/hardness of the crust has a lot to do with how much steam you introduce at the beginning of the baking. My current oven set up with a baking stone does not allow for good circulation of steam from a pan of ice cubes, and I've found my crusts to be thinner than before.

  12. The source I've used defines 'proofing' as the rising of the dough, and whether I let it rise 12 hours or 20 hours, I still have the collapsing problem

    Are you proofing in a refrigerator? 12 hours seems awfully long for yeast risen dough, unless you are retarding it in the fridge.

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