gfron1

I just use a clean sharp knife, not warm.

Wow! Beautiful! It looks so heavy. I am so i awe of those of you who do wedding cakes. So much pressure. Great job!

don't refirgerate because of the moisture. Room temp, uncovered unless you have a cat that's going to get at it.

I use acorns all the time at the restaurant, and my use is based on indigenous uses from North America and Korean use in dotorimuk. I've heard of acorn liquor in Spain and Korea (haven't tried either). I'm wondering what other uses outside of the United States people might have heard of.

That's exciting! Recipes generally call for overnight, but I can usually tell if I blew it or nailed it within 30 minutes depending on room temp and humidity.

I sorta ignored the comment about - isn't your food good enough to overpower the smell (obviously my skewed version of the statement), but I'll chime back in now. I like scents. But they have their place. A strong cologne or perfume in a confined space of a restaurant where the emphasis is on the food effects the ability to taste the food by diners surrounding the stinker. Its basic physiology with the role of smell on taste. Some of the examples above are evidence. For geeky eaters like me I would suggest Neurogastronomy: How the brain creates flavor and why it matters. That book did amazing things for how I constructed my dishes using the consideration of smell and how we can manipulate how those smells are introduced into the diner.

are you going to share your recipe or just tease us?

I can but that's where the publisher needs to start earning their keep. I have a publicist assigned to my book and she's already asked for specific cities and dates. Then she'll line up the signings and interviews. She asked for a video clip to see how I perform on TV. I gave her THIS. While my plating sucked, it showed that I'm not shy with the camera. As far as west coast - I had to play to my strengths and that is much more east oddly enough, even though I'm in the west. I went to communication program strong undergrad so many of my friends are now higher ups in PR agencies, ad agencies, broadcast, etc, and all of them in the east.

Scaling down shouldn't be hard. I make mine as individual cheesecakes to sell, so portion it down, use ring mold, lower oven temp a bit and shorten bake time. For an example, I bake mine at 285ºF for 55 min, then turn off the oven with a spoon in the door and let rest for 30 more minutes. That's for a 3" ring.

The blurb process is really fascinating to me. There are three categories of potential blurbers: 1. people I know; 2. people that are known by people I know; and 3. people that the publisher knows. All three have to have enough name/position value to potentially sell books, otherwise what's the point. In my case I wanted names that were big enough to be recognizable, but not so big that its clear that they have no connection to the book. I'll keep it a secret who wrote blurbs (I feel like now I want as much to be new and exciting as I can for all of you who've followed this years long journey), but oddly and for no real reason they seem to be centralized around Chicago. I know two of them very well. One I have never heard of who was recruited by the publisher (another author), and the others are friends of friends. What's been fun is that it is clear that all of them took the time to read the book at least enough to make their comments valuable. I was expecting more "beautiful and insightful," comments, but its clear that they read the book. I hope someday I get to blurb a book! The proofreader did a great job finding more stuff. Asked questions like "fresh or dried oregano?" Good catch! The editor is incorporating the comments and will get the re-laid out updated PDF to me tomorrow. I have notes that I want to check on (such as the ginger issue above), and have my prep cook doing last minute recipe testing on a few recipes that never got tested. We have to have it 100% done by Tuesday. The editor said it will be sent to the printer in China on Wednesday, and our official release date is September 20th with pre-orders sent the week before!

If you don't see yellow pectin (which I assume you will), search pectin and watch for pectin for pate de fruit. Its common. It'll be there. And you're welcome. Can't wait to see what you come up with.

Okay, I have a better understanding of what your situation is. First off - the guy who sold you the pectin doesn't know what he's talking about. Its not a matter of which is best, its a matter of which is correct for the job. NH is for glazing pastries. Go get the right stuff. Its not that expensive and it'll be worth it. Here's what you're going to do: 1. Take as many black currants as you have and add 60 ml water. Process in the blender with about 20g more or less of sugar. Process really well and run through a strainer. I like texture in my PDF so I would use a course strainer so I can get some pulp, but if you prefer more refined use a finer holed sieve. End up with 200 g black currant puree. This is a small batch that I think will give you about a loaf pan of final product. 2. Combine 22 g sugar with 8.5 g yellow pectin (whisk with a fork); when the puree is warm to the touch (not hot), add the sugar/pectin mixture and whisk very well so no lumps form. Whisk/stir for 3 minutes. Now add 200 g granulated sugar in three additions, whisk/stirring really well each time. After the last addition, add 40 g glucose or corn syrup. 3. Stir consistently, but no need to be aggressive, until you reach 107ºC. While you're waiting for that to reach temp, line a loaf pan with foil. Lightly, very lightly, oil it with cooking spray or a neutral oil (canola, veg) and wipe out excess. 4. When mixture hits 107ºC add 2.5 ml combination of gin and lemon juice (meaning a combination of the two totals 2.5 ml). Remove the pan from the heat and pour the gin and juice into it and whisk quickly. Immediately, and carefully so you don't burn yourself, pour this mixture into the lined pan. Let it set for at least 3 hours and ideally overnight. That's it. It really is easy. The two biggest cautions are 1. the pectin sugar mix which you already understand; and 2. don't panic and not cook it to 107º. Take multiple readings in various locations of your pan to get an accurate reading. If you're too low on the temp it will be sticky. If you're too high, it will be edible but too firm. 5. Once its set, cut into squares. In a bowl add 125 g sugar with 20 g citric acid/tartaric acid or worst case, lemon zest. Toss the squares in the sugar mix and store in an airtight container. Let us know how it goes. [note: pros, I think you'll see why I suggested some of the things I did to accommodate her pantry and equipment. Not ideal but we're not worrying about shelf life and such.]

Too much water in your water bath. I do about 1/2" but no more than 1" of water up the side of the pan. The batter should be heavy enough that that springform sinks to the bottom. BTW, I usually put two baking sheets under my springform to further insulate.

You don't need much of this, and you do need yellow pectin or pate de fruit pectin. I'm sure it can be done without the pectin, but that's a key ingredient for reliable success. The pectins you have are used for jellies or glazes. The other things I crossed out are also irrelevant for PDF. The recipes are fairly straightforward. With that set of fruits I would do the raspberry recipe which doesn't require a base (apricot or pear). All you need is a the puree, sugar, glucose (or corn syrup) and tartaric acid. If you don't have access to the acid its not the end of the world, but a hit of lemon juice at the end would be nice. PH meter also not necessary, but a fairly reliable thermometer is. Is there a specific question that you have about the process? ETA: I'm rethinking this. I missed that the coulis has cornflour in it. I would probably go the route of the black currant then which also does not need a base puree. Add a little vodka or booze at the end.

HERE is there YouTube channel - all sorts of fun stuff! They're based in Florida.

I think many of you will find this as fascinating as I did: VIDEO (sorry, I don't know how to insert the actual video here.)

I would just wrap it well, put it in a dark cool place and see what happens. Again, the sugar content is high enough that there's not really going to be a food safety issue. Depending on how you made it you may experience some fat seepage, and you may see some crystalization (although I doubt it now that I know what you made). Worst case you're out a buck in ingredients.

@Lovebaking2125 I also found it to be thick. I'm wondering if there's not a difference between US and EU swtd cond milk. Next time I'll think it some more. Heating it did not thin it very much so that's not the answer.

I think the sugar content will make it unfeezable. Likewise, you may not need to do anything to it to allow it to last for quite some time. Worst case you might get some crystallization which can be removed later by warming the caramel up.

I'm guessing they can't change their mind and say, "never mind" at this point

The official answer from my editor:

One word...Squeeeeeeee!! (This must be a preview copy for us to all see how it looks prior to the final edit and layout.)

Everyone involved has made it clear that right now is the most important time for me to sell books. Sales out of the gate determine the publisher's interest moving forward. That's hard because I think its easier to sell a book once its in-hand, but I understand that they aren't focused on selling one book, but one case of books. To that end I just sent this email to my publisher and their publicity person laying out my strategy and asking for guidance.

An article today in the NYT updates some of the successes and failures of no-tipping policies starting with Joe's Crab Shack pulling out of the movement (mostly). Danny Meyer's group says its an initial success but attributes that partly to the media coverage his restaurants have had about the change. Interestingly, each of the restaurants that they identified as dropping the no-tip policy concluded their statements by saying - it's coming eventually.

It would be really, really hard to have a smooth enough surface using any other technique but I guess its possible. Maybe if you're really good with buttercream. But any flaw at all shows right through poured glazes.