chefette

In terms of working, I have found that Cluizel is really nice: tempers and holds well, has nice fluidity. I have found (the hard way) that in a very humid environment it is definirely affected, but that's what hurricane season will do to you. Also, it seems that over time the Cluizel seems to almost get dry and brittle (something I have attributed to the lack of lecithin)

Michael, Great topic. This is something that Steve and I have discussed often. In counterpoint one might say that Pastry is actually going great guns better than ever before - understanding that most people ever only purchased breads and for special occasions would get a cake or as a real treat would get pastries. Now however (perhaps), our expectations and world view and consumerism and advertising make us believe that we should have pastry, cakes, and chocolates all the time. In many ways the old French system of apprenticeship kept the numbers of people entering a trade under control and delayed new tradesmen's entry into the marketplace so that they were not really in competition with their predecessor, but supporting him, then replacing him as he phased out of the marketplace. Now the gates are wide open. I think that the US in particular is a rich, hungry, young naive marketplace which translates to green fields on the other side of the fence that can be cultivated, shorn, etc... I have a lot of thoughts on this, but will have to work out a better response. In the US, I don't think that being a MOF means much to anyone since most people have no idea what it is or what you have to go through to get that designation. I don't think that we have anything in the US that is remotely comparable. I do think that it is still very highly valued in Europe though. Maybe that very lack of structure and oversight is what makes the US such an attractive and lucrative market for young French pastry chefs at the height of their careers. Here is a completely unregulated, unarticulated market without strictures and without the long and weighty history and perceived requirements that will allow people freedom. In lots of ways exactly what the US is all about - freedom of expression, freedom to go out and follow your own vision and to fail gloriously if it doesn't work out. I don't think that there is that freedom in France. It is of course interesting that this very attractive lack of guidelines and structure is something that they complain about and are trying to recreate here. hmmmmmmmm

The cake you are talking about is actually a German specialty cake, so you might check in some German bakeries

Quote Tony: "I am loathe to just jump in and start "trying things." " Well, I would see that as a basic problem. Technique is the key, understanding impact and combination of ingredients, reactions, flavors, textures next key, recipes are pretty much reminders and notes to yourself. Jumping in a nd "just trying things" is where all the fun starts. I guess your 20 lessons should help you along the way with this. Also, I wouldn't put too much stock in the Just a Bite book. I was not too impressed with the results of several of the recipes that I tried out to test the book. A couple were so bad I had to throw them away.

A mere 2 hour drive (without traffic)

So Foodman, you never had quiche?

I agree with Sinclair that using puree mixed in makes for disgusting color in the final product. I think maybe one option would be the berries in the bottom then instead of bruleeing the top you could do a layer of raspberry gelee and finish with a crisp sugar tuile or a raspberry tuile.

Getting to the Hanover area from the White Mountains area could not possibly be any less convenient. I would not recommend attempting this in a short vacation during foliage season.

Personally, I would not select the serrated knife for this task. You want the weight and power of your French knife (if you don't use the chocolate chopper/ice pick) But your whole point is that you are sick to death of spending time and energy chopping the chocolate. You could jus hack it all up and bag it all when you get it in.

At the FL they make a really tasty sweet corn ice cream. It turns out that they take the denuded cobs and soak them overnight in the cream to infuse the flavor.

Quote Fat Guy: " Most pastry chefs are ignored because they suck" Well, lots of culinary professionals suck, but perhaps we are not really in any sort of position to judge whether anyone actually sucks at what they do, more that what we are sent to consume sucks. This could have nothing to do with the abilities of the people producing the sucky desserts. You frequently have very little latitude (as has been discussed by pastry chefs elsewhere on eGullet) and find yourself producing stuff that you would never ever eat yourself or recommend to anyone. I don't think I suck, but for a while where I worked I had no choice but to produce incredibly sucky desserts at high-end places where this was just an embarrassment. This all has to do with the power structure and decision tree in any restaurant. There is also some bizarre perception on the part of many culinary professionals that pastry is basically beneath them not worthy of their efforts or attention. People assigned to pastry feel cheated since they are not allowed to chop parsley and grill slabs of meat in front of hot fires like the 'real cooks'.

Quote Hobbes: "not the best station to be suit my skills." So, perhaps this addresses more of what skills you have not cultivated? what would you say your skills are?

Are you sure the oven temp was sufficient? It should puff up just like any other puff. I have not seen any difference in puffability using the chocolate puff to date. And have made it many times. I forgot to mention earlier that my total favorite chocolate puff recipe is napoleons. Yum YUM!

Portsmouth, NH is also a very cute place to visit since you will be in the basic neighborhood. There are lots of adorable shops and popular restaurants. Keep in mind though that NH and New England is NOT NYC and the people who live there, work there, and eat there don't really see too much of NYC other than what they see on TV. I grew up about 90 minutes away from Boston and really only went there two or three times (excepting airport trips). Until 10 or 15 years ago the most exotic restaurant in Manchester (the largest city in NH) was The China Dragon. They served drinks with paper umbrellas, french bread, fried rice, poopoo platters, chicken fingers, teriyaki strips... When I first came to DC and went for a job interview over lunch the interviewer asked if I liked Chinese - I enthusiastically replied that I did (like chicken fingers, teriyaki strips, fried rice) we went to the restaurant and none of this stuff was on the menu. "Real" authentic Chinese food was horrifying to me! In NH you grow up eating steak, potatos, iceberg lettuce, meat loaf, spaghetti, chicken, and tuna noodles. When I have out of town visitors from NH staying with me, I love to take them to enjoy the mysterious and terrifying foods of the world - like eggs benedict, bagels, Thai food, Vietnamese food, actual chinese food... Anyway, enough on that. There are plenty of nice places to eat but nothing really out there on the fine dining cutting edge (unless you are in Portland). If you are not in Portland think carefully before getting something that sounds really creative since it will probably be slightly less than fully satisfactory. Plan extra time to get around since during Foliage Season everything is mobbed. Especially the roads and traffic is horribly slow. Consider bicycles or renting a moped for short local hops. The Fryeburg fair is fun - fried dough, sausage and pepper sandwiches, lemonade then the twister ride Make reservations for restaurants wherever possible since many will be crowded. Have fun!

A 3-pronged ice pick is the tool of choice for fast chopping - unless of course you have a stage - then use them.

Elizabeth - after whipping the butter til it is very fluffy how do you manage to add it piece by piece?

I didn't know that chocolate puff was available commercially - but it makes sense. Its just as easy as regular to make. Its tough to bake since you cannot really judge it by appearance and have to track time to avoid underdone or over crisped (burned). It is particularly nice if you caramelize it. brush the top with watered down corn syrup then bake 5-10 minutes, flip and brush new top then continue baking. My favorite was mini bouchees with a dab of plain ganache in the bottom, brandied cherries and pastry cream flavored with Grand Marnier piped in on top. You could do this with a mini scoop of vanilla ice cream and have them finish it off with another warm sauce or amusing topping since it is part of a mini dessert collection

You love to bake but mixing TPT yourself is too taxing? Are you also a waiter on "The Restaurant"???

When tinting your modelling chocolate or chocolate plastic or marzipan for that matter keep in mind that it is naturally yellowish and doesn't always look so pretty with other colors since the yellow hue of the white chocolate influences the outcome. Many times you are forced to go to a much darker color than you might have wanted to. As mentioned earlier you will be much happier if you play around with this ahead of time. Consider covering the cake in a more traditional covering such as plain buttercream or fondant and then wrap or decorate it with the modeling chocolate. A pasta machine is a great way to roll out long strips but does limit the width.

Try really drying out your hazelnuts . Toast, chop, retoast and then chop finer being careful nut to make paste. The oven temp is probably too high - you would probably be happier at 300-325F and they should be baked in 35-40 minutes. They may still be slightly flexible when you remove them from the oven so let them sit in a nice dry place for a while. Don't do this on a rainy day. They should be lightly golden brown

A few photos that we took are now available at http://www.pastryarts.com/connections.html

So Hannah, How did you happen to work with Tonti? Was it a professional or a recreational class? Duration? nationality spread? Do yuo think that he might not have taken your class seriously as students and so did not provide a really professional level of instruction, did he perhaps not believe that any of you would ever actually bother to temper? Or do you think that he just sees it as so elementary at this stage (probably having done it since he was about 12) that he doesn't even see it as an issue so why bother wasting time that way? Or, was this an advanced chocolate techniques class and he did not see any reason to teach advanced students something so elementary? What else did he demo for you? What did you get out of it?

As you see from the variety of direction provided in this thread, everyone has their own approach to achieving the appropriate temperature. The key is getting the right temperatures in the right order - yes? Of course 90 degrees F achieved one way is different than 90 achieved another way in terms of fluidity. Just this weekend I was having a discussion on tempering methods. I was questioning the instructions provided by some large chocolate manufacturers on how chocolate must be tempered: Melt 2/3 to 120, add 1/3 fresh to that and stir to melt. My belief is that you can gradually add the chocolate and stir until you achieve the correct temperature/temper then stop (thus conserving chocolate). We decided to test the logic with three equal bowls each with 600g 120 degree F dark chocolate E. Guittard couverture. to bowl number 1 we added 300 g new pistoles and stired to mostly melt then used the immersion blender to smooth out remaining lumps. We easily achieved temper, but the chocolate was thick, like the cocoa butter crystals were over-activated and difficult at 90 degrees; to bowl number 2 we gradually added pistoles stirring between additions until we achieved temper. We did this with 250g fresh pistoles and still had to blend out lumps. This chocolate was more fluid at 90 and maintained temp longer; to bowl number 3 we added 100g pistoles and stirred til they melted completely (temp 108) we then added another 100g and stirred till completely melted bringing the temperature down to 94 then added another 50g pistoles and stirred until we hit temper and blended out lumps. At 90 this chocolate was beautifully fluid and workable maintaining its temperature the longest. I think that this shows that method 1 proposed by some chocolate manufacturers is designed almost to guarantee temper by brute force. I think we also proved that forcing the chocolate to dissipate heat energy with smaller quantities of chocolate and thus a lower ratio of more solid chocolate mass resulted in a better overall temper that was more workable. I then took this to another level questioning the necessity to temper dark chocolate with dark chocolate. To test my concept I started with 600g 120 degree dark and stirred in 300 g of right-out-of-the-box white chocolate pistoles (using the gradual method #3 above.) Yes, white chocolate into dark chocolate. Result, the cocoa butter in the white chocolate "tempered" the bowl of 120 dark just fine. I now had a milk chocolate colored chocolate with which to mold.

Don't know if it is a fact, but I heard that Jacques Torres is planning on manufacturing his own chocolate in Manhattan sometime soon.

After using both the flexipan and the gastroflex I think I actually prefer the gastroflex for many things. Gastroflex has a nice sharp edge instead of the more gradual slope transition in the flexipan molds - I like that. The gastroflex actually seems to clean up better and last longer than the flexipans (I have noticed that some of the flexipans I have are starting to deteriorate and I don't think they should.) I like the smaller sheet size since you don't tie up as much real estate or as many resources if you want to keep something in them in the freezer I think that the flexipan comes in a better variety of shapes and sizes although I haven't checked availability recently.