gfron1

I don't know about the truth to this (although I've retold these "facts" countless times). I've heard that the country with the highest consumption of gold is India. And I've heard that the place to find the most gold (outside of a mine or jewelry shop) is in the sewers of India. There...wasn't that helpful

I agree that I could have just as easily added nuts to 3 or 4 layers and improved the final product. I still won't go every layer - the cost:benefit isn't there for me. And I do think the butter needs to be on the bottom to ensure that it has full coverage. Let's just say - the purists may want to spend more time on their baklava, but for the rest of us this technique means that we'll actually make the stuff.

Alright, I made it tonight. From start to oven was less than 20 minutes - with about 5 minutes wasted drinking wine. I used whole wheat sheets because I had them. I did 1/4 honey with my simple syrup. I used orange blossom instead of rose water because I didn't re-read the whole thread - that was okay. And my nuts got gooey, so I added some more that were less processed. Next time I would process the nuts, sugar and flavoring all at once instead of stages. I also just halved the recipe to keep my girlish figure. Having never made baklava before I can't compare, but this was very fast and very easy. The taste is as good as any that I've had although I would definitely like to play with seasonings and nut combos in the future.

I just received an answer from Amoretti about what goes into these. As expected: food grade alcohol and my Siberian Fir "is made of natural Siberian Fir Needle extractives." Now wasn't that helpful

I would try PMing Filipe who I think is in LA right now, but lives in Portugal. Then come back and let us all know!

HERE'S a snopes.com review of if eating bread makes you a felon or violent criminal.

Ann Amernick's new book has a full conversion of egg sizes, as well as whites and yolks. Very helpful. I'll see if its original or if I can post it.

The croquettes were all about the timing. I wanted them still gooey inside while not so hot as to melt the buttercream (and transport the cake a couple of miles in the car). When it came time to cut the cake they asked, "What do we do with these?" I said, "pop 'em in your mouth - birthday girl first." So that's what they did - and discarded the filo dough.

Pineapple cake as chronicled HERE.

Rachel, I also appreciated your remembrance. When I make desserts, they're almost always for someone special for a special day, so there's a bit of emotion tied into it all. Well, here is what I ended up with. I started with a base of cinnamon dacquoise; a layer of caramel buttercream; Humminbirdkiss' pineapple cake (which included cherries) with a light brushing of rum; pineapple curd (ala Martha Stewart); a second layer of pineapple cake; a layer of apricot compote; a full covering of pineapple buttercream to hide my errors; and to fancy shmansy it - 4 of PH's ganache balls covered in coconut and fried holding a disk of whole wheat filo dough and some other stuff. I wanted to do white chocolate palms but my temper sucked. The birthday girl had 4 cakes and raved about mine. I liked it but as usual I think I had too much going on. The croquettes: The compote (you can see the cherries peeking through) pre covering with buttercream: The final product - sorry I couldn't get a well lit picture. Those aren't french fries - they're rum soaked pineapple strips that I fried in butter and palm sugar.

Good timing! I have finished my genoise (using canned pineapple because of all of the previous comments). I've finished most of my foo foo bling bling. I've also finished a super pineapple curd using fresh pineapple. Butter cream leftovers are done. All that's left is the dacquoise and assembly. Chefpeon...of course, I should have thought of that, so thanks for the save. I'm playing a bit with tempered chocolate today on this dessert too. (Little note: We all post replies and often wonder if they're used when we don't see them in the final product. Every idea here has been super useful and all will be in the final in some manner or another - so thanks.) Dessert coming soon!

Or better yet, post them to RecipeGullet.

So the high gloss...how did you create that? Each piece jumps out in perfection with it.

I've never seen that before - now I'm fascinated. How does it achieve such uniform structure? I want a demo!

(Brushing the dust off his shoulders) So I've been doing some deep digging in the eGullet archives. I found two topics of interest: This one has Kerry's attempt. This one is a whole topic on honeycomb, but not super useful. See if they take you somewhere... (hunching his shoulders as he dives back into the archives)

Bump - anyone doing anything fun plated?

But if you're going to enrobe it - does it need sheen?

Wow, you're asking me to support my claim (with 4 months of memory loss)... As I recall, the flavors weren't pronounced, nor were they interesting. I felt like I could have been sitting in a recliner watching football...which wasn't what I wanted on that night. Quick note - its not that it wasn't good, but it didn't live up to the other courses in my opinion. Here's what I said in my blog back then:

Where's the rest of the courses! Seriously...the short ribs was my least favorite of the courses (back in May), and I've heard other criticisms about it. I wonder if they've improved it, or if not, why its still around. How about that truffle explosion - incredible!

Updated based on previous comments and recent research. Please continue to add, edit. Bill Corbett, Michael Mina, San Francisco *as of 8/07 Dimitri & Keli Fayard, Vanille Patisserie, Chicago (Lycee Pardailhan & Culinary Institute of America) Gale Gand, Tru, Chicago (La Varenne) Will Goldfarb, Picnick, NY Johnny Iuzzini, Perry Street, NY (Culinary Institute of America) Jordan Kahn (Johnson and Wales, Charleston) Nicole Kaplan, Del Posto, NY Thomas Keller French Laundry, CA Michael Laiskonis,Le Bernardin, NY Michael London, Mrs. London's, NY Sam Mason, Tailor, NY (Johnston & Wales (RI)) Pichet Ong, P*ONG, NY Elisabeth Prueitt, Tartine Bakery, SF (Culinary Institute of America) Joel Robuchon, Joel Robuchon's Restaurants Guy Savoy, Guy Savoy's Restaurants (Troisgos) Alex Stupak, WD~50, Chicago (Culinary Institute of America) Adrian Vasquez, Providence, Los Angeles Sherry Yard, Spago, LA (New York City Technical College and the Culinary Institute of America )

Having looked at a bunch of previous posts on lemon cakes, it seems that RLB's Chiffon is the must have dessert: Here are some other links: Lemon Yogurt Cake Lemon Glow Chiffon Cake Lemon Chiffon Cake A pic that may push you toward RLB's Lemon Chiffon Cake

No answer really. It tends to be the low man on the totem pole who has to sit in the hot sun roasting chiles. I would lean toward morning when they're not in a huge rush to get you out of there and hide back in the shade. The point is to get them roasted enough - nothing worse than peeling un-roasted peppers. But in the end, part of that bushel idea that your friends had accounts for the 10% that are under-roasted.

Over a year ago I read that Vegemite was banned from entering the US, and sure enough my store's suppliers stopped carrying it. It was ludicrous and not worth peeling the scab now. But I'm bumping this topic to see if that ruling has changed or any other updates.

I've been perusing the Cookbooks & References topics from years past and didn't see anything on German Cooking. What are your favorites? BTW, any mention of German food leads me into my story of being 18 and in Bavaria for the first time. I refused to translate menus since I eat anything, and after 10 days of eating way too much meat, when I sat at a certain restaurant and saw "Wurst Salat" I was overjoyed at the chance to get a salad with a bit of meat on top. What came to my table 30 minutes later was a massive bowl of shredded bologna marinated in some dressing. No ruffage at all - none! Mmmmm...I ate 3 bites and was done. Now back to the books!

I commonly see this question, and I know I've been personally curious lately, but who is appropriate for these classes and workshops? Is it beginners, pros, in between? What does the typical student look like (skills not appearance ) Here's nightscottsmans write up of his experience at the French Pastry School.