filipe

As I've told you there are many many versions for the custard. I've posted 4 of them at Clotilde's "Chocolate & Zucchini" forums. You can check them if you want to (it's easier and maybe less confusing than to"recipeGullet" all of them)

Maybe due to Macau, a portuguese territory, near Hong Kong, given to the portuguese by the chinese on the 16th century, which returned to China in 1999. Maybe during all those centuries of portuguese administration and influence some recipes were trade eheh But that's just a hint... not sure about that

This is my personal suggestion for your phyllo/bric leftovers - make a codfish stew, well seasoned, and wrap it up with phyllo/bric. 5 minutes in the oven and it's done.

Congratulations and all my best wishes! Since you're coming to Europe - and if you stop in Paris - don't FORGET to visit Pierre Hermé's stores... beside all the pastry items and chocolates they just look awesome...maybe you can get some ideas there. You can also check Sadaharu AOKI in Paris as well. And if you stop by London, please try Yauatcha... one of the best designs I've experienced. It's on Soho, on 15-17 Broadwick St. It's a restaurant but also a Tea Room on the ground floor.

Sure that air can circulate freely wheter its upright or inverted...but you should try both ways and compare the result. When you invert the pan and let it rest that way the cake is much softer and light. As I've said this was my first self-made chiffon cake, but my mother did them a lot and sometimes she just took them off the pan without that "inverted rest period" and those cakes were defenetly worst than those she did properly.

By instinct you look at these tarts and think about cutting circles of puff pastry and just fill the muffin pans with them, right? That's what you souldn't do. You should not use flat pieces of puff pastry but small slices cutted from a bigger piece of rolled puff pastry. As David Leite says in his recipe (the one you've linked before) this is what you should do: Roll the puff pastry back and forth on a lightly floured surface until it's about an inch in diameter and 16 inches long. Cut it into scant 3/4-inch pieces. Place a piece cut-side down in each well of a nonstick 24-cup mini-muffin pan (2-by-5/8-inch size). Allow the dough pieces to soften several minutes until pliable. Have a small cup of water nearby. Dip your thumbs into the water, then straight down into the middle of the dough spiral. Flatten it against the bottom of the cup to a thickness of about 1/8 inch, then smooth the dough up the sides and create a raised lip about 1/8 inch above the pan. The pastry sides should be thinner than the bottom.

That would be great! That way more and more people would know these delights. I've found several recipe versions for the custard. The one I've posted it's the one i think as the best quality-dificulty ratio. For sure that a huge part of their success has to do with the puff pastry. But that would take people a lot of time to do. By using frozen puff pastry the results are not that bad. The secret is about the way you work the puff pastry more than on the puff pastry itself. About the custard... I've seen a lots of possible recipes. I've tried 3 or 4. Until now this one is the one that produces more faithfull results. Some steps behind the original Belém's tarts... but some steps ahed many of the industrial types one have a chance to get at other pastry shops and cafes.

Has anyone tried them? This is one of the most famous pastry items here in Portugal. Feel free to check my recipe and tell me what you thought of them.

Oops eheh just saw it sorry Anyway, if you take a look at therecipe I've posted on RecipeGullet, the method used is very different. The major difference, for me, its about the greased and floured pan - a chiffon, by definition, its cooked on a non-greased and non-floured pan. And part of the final result as to do with this. When you take it out of the oven you should turn the pan upside down and let it rest "in the air", supported by somethig - glasses, other pans, whatever) so that the air can freely circulate under the cake pan and near the cake surface. And only after that you remove the cake from the pan. If you use a greased and floured pan the cake will fall by itself when you do this operation.

In the original recipe I've followed for this cocoa chiffon they suggest to add 2 Tsp of cognac. I thought that it would spoil all the cocoa aroma so i didn't use it. For a mocha chiffon cake i guess that you would achieve a better result by taking out the cocoa and replace it for some powder coffee and mix it it the flours and the sugar. And then again a strong expresso instead of the water. But that's just a hint...never tried to do it Using the same base recipe and method you can flavour it anyway you want and achieve a very soft and wet cake.

Exactly. I've called it yellow because its how we call it here, but I guess that the correct translation is golden sugar.

Patrick, the recipe link you've posted goes to a tiramisu recipe... Yes, Maizena is a corn starch. I prefer to use that brand which I guess is also known in other coutries because it guarantees me the best quality. But any corn starch will do.

Portuguese Custard Tarts - "Pastéis-de-nata" This is one of the several possible recipes for the famous portuguese custard tarts. This one is very easy to make and you achieve a good result. Not "the best" result possible, but concerning the work it gives (in this case, it doesn't give any) you couldn't expect more. 500 ml milk 40 g wheat flour 275 g white sugar 5 yolks 1 egg 1 T butter 1 pinch of salt 2 sheets of frozen puff pastry Roll the puff pastry sheets and cut them in 12 slices with abouth 2cm. Insert each slice of the puff pastry in a muffin pan and adjust it in a way that it covers all the interior, just by pressing it with your fingers. You should be able to still see the traces of the rooling lines of the puff pastry. For the custard : Put the milk to the fire with the tablespoon of butter. While it’s on fire mix the flour with the sugar and salt and when the milk raise boil add the flour mixture stirring fast. Take it of the fire and let it cool a little. Then add the egg and the yolks, aromatize with vanilla or lemon. Fill each muffin pan up till 4/5 of its height. Bake at 290ºC-300ºC around 8-10 minutes. Shoulde be served sprinkled with cinnamon and icing sugar. Eat them while they're still warm. Keywords: Tart, Easy, Spanish/Portugese, Dessert, Snack ( RG1581 )

cocoa chiffon This is based on Bertha Rosa-Limpo's recipe of a cocoa chiffon, of her Livro de Pantagruel. I had done one change - no cognac added. 180 g wheat flour 50 g corn starch (Maizena) 2 tsp baking powder 70 g cocoa 350 g golden (yellow) sugar 7 yolks 8 whites 125 ml corn oil 200 ml water The method used is the usual chiffon method. On one side mix all the dry items - both flours, sugar and, in this case, the cocoa. Open a hole in their middle and, by this order, start to add the corn oil, the yolks and then the water. Mix everything until you get a uniform mix. On the other side the whites. Mix until you get stiff peaks. After this you have to get both mixes together, adding the cocoa over the egg whites and mixing, by hand, from the outside to the inside and from the top to above, allways stiring the bowl in the same direction. This mix is essencial - you should not crack the air bubbles of your whites, otherwise you won't get more than an ordinary chocolate cake. You should bake it at a plain pan, not greased nor floured. Moderate oven (160-190ºC) When its done take it out of the oven immediatly and turn your pan upside down, and let it rest that way, supported on something that allows the air to circulate underneath it (under the cake face and your table). When it gets colder use a sharped knife to separate the cake from the pan's walls. Turn it upside down and with only a bang the cake will release itself from the pan easily. Keywords: Chocolate, Cake, Intermediate ( RG1579 )

I've made my fist chiffon tonight. I had eaten many, but had never done one. I started by a cocoa chiffon. The result surprised me A LOT - it was even better than all those I had eaten before and made by other people. It was really soft and wet... oh God, there goes my diet! I've covered it with a chocolate meringue, based on a simple italian meringue to which I added melted chocolate+butter. I'll share my recipe with you so that we can compare recipes and maybe achieve an even better one. I've used: Dry items : 180g wheat flour 2 tsp baking powder 50g corn flour (MAIZENA, is it known on your countries?) 70g cocoa powder - I've used Valrhona 350g yellow sugar Wet items: 7 yolks 8 whites 125ml corn oil 200ml water And this was the result....

My egg whites were at room temperature, but they were fresh, didn't have any age at all. Stiff peaks, yeah, no moisture forming under nor anything similar. The problem might have been with the folding. I've read somewhere that you should fold the almond+sugar+cocoa with the egg whites until you get a "magma". That could be checked if you stick your finger on it and in less than 10 seconds it would reshape for its initial shape. Is that it? Or is it too much? Should one get a uniform mix - one colour, one same texture ? Or should one be able to still see the almond?

Italian Meringue : I've baked the first baking sheet just after pipping them. The second one I've used a regular tray covered with baking paper and let them sit for about 30-45 min. The second one was better than the first one. But no foot at all.

I'm having a problem and I guess it has to do with "almond flour". I've tried to make chocolate macarons twice, using both a normal meringue and the italian meringue version. Those made with the normal meringue cracked and had no foot. Those with the italian meringue didn«t crack but had no foot either. I thought (but I'm not sure about it) that the problem might be related to the almond i added. The recipe talks about "almound flour" but here in Portugal I just can't find it. So I've used gratted almond, with a grain just like sand. How is it compared with the almond flour you use? Do you think this is the problem or I AM the problem? eheh It's so frustrating getting my macarons that way they're just cookies...

Ok, put it 14º C. Do you take it as a good temperature for a red wine to be drinked? I don't.

Yes, dropping it out of its bottle into a previously warmed (boiling water, take if off and then dry it) decanter. That's what one do to a red wine which was not more than 10 degress (Celsius) Beat me if i am wrong ehehe but I allways saw that being nicelly done

I just can't understand the "best somellier" award to Lagrimas Negras. I had one of the worst wine experiences of my life there about one month ago. They've just refused - yes, refused - to warm up a really cold wine, based on the argument that the room temperature will do it for itself! Which even if it was true - and it wasn't - sounds really bad to ear...

you can find a chocolate tart recipe at Jamie Oliver's "The Naked Chef", I had never bake it but it seems good

Exactly, the "ti" is like the musical note (Julie Andrews won't be more precise) About the "ay"... well you should just pronounce it like you pronouce the "ai" in the french word "maison" (house) or like in "André" or "Chez" moi..chez toi... you can have all those spellings for the same sound : er, ez, ai ....

Oh God No R must be eard Maybe some french natives could help us here As an example, for those of you who might be familiar with the ballet "positions", the word chocolatier is pronounced like the word "plier", which is the gesture you make when you fold your legs starting for the 2nd position.

When I've learned french at school, we've spent at least one month at the beggingin of every year with the "sounds" of the french language. The "oi" for "uá" was the highlight. As for the word "chocolatier" ... you should pronounce it chô-cô-lá-ti-ê. No "air" at the end, the "r" shouldn´t be eard at all. Both the "o" on "cho" and "co" are pronounced almost like "oh". The "a" in "la" is open, as well as the "i" in "ti". The "er" should be read without pronouncing the "r".