NickLam

Hi Nichi, Try this recipe, it was adapted from Bellouet's Saveurs Chocolatees for Thailand. If you need 250, make the necessary adjustments. This recipe is formulated for a tall ring that is 6.5cm in diameter. However, you can substitute these rings for a suitable tough tin foil 'cupcake' mold. This recipe has 2 components, the ganache centre and the soft cake batter. After baking and cooling, you can store them in the chiller and nuke them for 45 seconds to 1min at 250watts in your microwave. It will come out nice and soft with a melted inside. However, beware that any chef's eating it will complain that its not freshly baked! This recipe is as easy as making ganache and making a sponge cake. Don't let the lengthy instructions deter you. Ganache Centres 525g Cream 45g Trimoline 750g Cacao Barry Mi-Amere 58% 225g Cacao Barry Fleur de Cao 70% 60g Unsalted butter (1) Boil cream, spill over chopped chocolates and trimoline (2) Emulsify the ganache and stir in butter (3) Ladle into Flexipan circle mold (Demarle Number 2266) 40mm diameter, 20mm deep and freeze (4) Alternatively, pour it into a sheet pan and use a small cookie cutter to cut rounds of ganache after it has been chilled overnight. The size of your cookie cutter should be at least 1.5cm smaller than the size of your baking ring or you will risk the ganache flowing out of the sides. Freeze the cut out ganache centres. Chocolate Cake Batter (Moelleux) 2000g Cacao Barry Mi Amere 58% 2000g Unsalted Butter 2000g Castor Sugar 2000g Whole Eggs, room temperature 1000g Type 55 Flour (All purpose flour), sifted (1) Melt chocolate and butter gently in microwave or over low flame (2) Ribbon whole eggs and castor sugar (3) Stir 1/4 of ribboned eggs into melted chocolate mixture to loosen it (4) Fold remaining eggs into chocolate mixture (5) Fold in flour in 3 additions (6) Cover the mixture with plastic wrap touching the surface of the mixture (7) Chill for 2 hours till piping consistency Assembling the molten lava cake (1) Grease and flour (Mix cocoa powder with flour) baking rings (2) Pipe chocolate moelleux into baking ring (3) Place a disk of frozen chocolate ganache into the middle and pipe chocolate moelleux all around (Important!), making sure there are no air bubbles. (4) Pipe chocolate moelleux until it covers the ganache (5) Freeze or chill till needed Bake at 180 to 190 degrees celsius for 12mins if chilled, and 22mins if frozen. It is normal for the top to collapse and look like a volcano. When removed from oven, let it cool and set. Remove from mold, wrap with plastic and chill till needed. When needed, nuke it in the microwave on low power for about 45seconds to 1min. Hope this recipe is what you need! Nick.

Singapore Hainanese Chicken Rice Serves 3 as Main Dish. Hainanese Chicken Rice, probably one of the most famous hawker foods of Singapore. Characterised by its smoothness and tenderness paired with fragrant rice, it is a taste that many Singaporeans miss when they live overseas. Hope to bring the taste of Singapore into your home today! The instructions are long, but hopefully, leaves nothing to your imagination. 1.4 kg Whole Chicken with Head and Feet 2 Bunches of Pandanus Leaves 2 Inches Ginger, sliced thickly 3 Cloves Garlic, whole 2 inch piece of konbu (Japanese kelp 3 qt Ice Cold Water 2 Plum roma tomatoes and Cucumbers each, sliced thinly 4 c Long grain jasmine rice (1 cup of rice per person) 2 Heads of garlic, peeled 3 Inch piece of ginger, peeled and sliced thickly 7 Shallots, peeled 10 Saffron threads (Optional) 2 inch piece of konbu (Japanese kelp Fragrant Asian Sesame Oil as needed Kikkoman Naturall Brewed Soy Sauce as needed Recipe is written according to actual steps taken to make this dish For the Chicken - Set a large pot with enough water to cover, thow in the chicken's head and feet as well as the tied up pandanus leaves, bring to a boil - Meanwhile, wash the rice properly and leave in colander to strain all water - Rub the chicken inside and outside generously with salt, then rinse it away with water. This seasons the chicken as well as gets rid of any slime or unwanted odours - Cut away large flaps of fat around the cavity above the bishop's nose and around the neck and set aside. - Peel garlic, peel and slice ginger into the size of your country's coins! Shove into chicken's cavity - When water has come to a boil, put the chicken breast down into the water - Add the konbu - Cook the chicken uncovered on medium heat for 20 mins - After 20 mins, switch off the heat and steep the chicken in the hot water for a further 20 - 30 mins - Use a meat thermometer and poke it into the thigh to make sure its 'just cooked' at around 73 to 75 degrees celsius - The meat in the thigh has to be slightly pinkish. - The gentle cooking in the hot water prevents the chicken proteins from contracting too much due to high heat, thereby preserving a juicy and smooth texture. - Prepare the ice water bath in a pot large enough to submerge the whole chicken - Dump the hot chicken into the cold water to immediately stop the cooking process. Leave it there till its cool. - When chicken is cool, debone it a la Martin Yan - Slice cucumbers, tomatoes - Arrange everything on a plate, drizzle sesame oil over chicken...be generous - Drizzle soy sauce over chicken....be generous too! For the Rice - Finely mince ginger, garlic and shallots OR place into food proceesor and process till fine - Place fat into a wok and cook gently over a small fire to extract the chicken fat for use with the rice (It just won't taste the same without fat......) - When fat is rendered, discard solid pieces and fry ginger garlic and shallots till fragrant but not browned - Throw in raw, washed rice and saute the rice - Add salt to taste - Fry rice till its dry and whitish. This extended frying of raw rice ensures that when its cooked, it absorbs the maximum amount of stock possible - Set rice aside in rice cooker till chicken is done cooking - When chicken is cooked, we will use the stock to cook the rice - Ladel stock into the rice cooker till the appropriate level...and add 3 to 4 tbs more to compensate for the extra dryness of the rice - Tie up the pandanus leaves, throw it into the rice cooker along with the konbu and saffron - When rice is cooked, remove konbu and pandanus, fluff the rice - Rice is ready! When we serve this in Singapore, the boned chicken is placed on a bed of rice with tomato and cucumber. Its drizzled with the soy/sesame sauce. Cilantro and spring onions garnish the plate. Side dipping sauces include Sweet Dark Soy Sauce, Garlic and Ginger Paste (Garlic and ginger blended with oil to form a kind of aioli) and chilli sauce (Red chillies, lime juice, salt, sugar and ginger blended togather to a liquid sauce) However, just on its own, with the soy/sesame sauce, it is heavenly. Hope the long recipe doesn't put anyone off! Keywords: Main Dish, Dinner, Intermediate, Southeast Asian, Chicken, Lunch ( RG1920 )

Been getting wrinkled tops from Patisserie PH's recipe here in humid Bangkok on our Wachtel deck and convections. The big brass tasted a Lenotre macaroon and decided we are gonna sell them too. Anyway, here's the recipe for Macaron Azur's macaroon from PH10. My translation may not be exact, but here goes nothing! TPT 1000g Fresh Egg Whites 175g Pate de Cacao Extra (Valrhona) 200g Sucrose 500g Water (Standard 25% of weight of sucrose) 125g Old egg whites 175g Egg white Powder 3g Red Colorant 3g (1) Break cocoa poaste and melt at 45 degrees celsius (2) Prepare the Italian Meringue - Cook sugar and water to 117 degrees celsius taking usual precautions - When sugar reaches 108 degrees celsius, start whisking old egg whites and powdered egg whites - The egg whites should be at soft peaks (It is written something like...beat till mounted but not too firm! So I borrowed from Nicole Kaplan's Macaron thread about her experience at PH) - When sugar reaches 117 degrees celsius, pour it onto the soft peaked whites in a steady stream - Whisk cooked sugar and egg whites till lukewarm and stiff (As in Nicole's Pictures here http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=80243) (3) When Italian Meringue is at 50 degrees celsius, fold in the melted cocoa poaste (4) Seperately mix the TpT with the fresh egg whites and red colorant (5) Fold in the Italian Meringue (6) Mix to deflate the batter and continue mixing until it becomes shiny and slightly wet (Once again, look at NK's pictures (7) PH10's recipe does not instruct to pipe and leave it to crust up slightly before baking it, but I will be doing it till a skin kinda forms. Not sure how long here in BKK, but once again...experiment experiment experiment. (8) Bake at 170 degrees celsius in a vented oven (Doesn't specify deck or convection, but follow NK's directions if in doubt. I will use NK's temperatures tomorrow or the day after and post my results) (9) Follow the other usual directions to remove the macs...freeze for a few minutes, peel off etc...etc..... Really wondering how Lenotre does their macaroons. Its really humid here and I'm currently drying the TpT in my deck oven. Hopefully, this Italian Meringue version will be perfect. Have fun!

If I'm not mistaken, the UFM international programme is only offered on specific dates every year. I'd suggest calling them instead of emailing them as they may not reply as is the norm here. They will have staff that can speak english. Right now, I'd suppose your best bet is to go check out BITC in Singapore as it is the most easily accessible to you. Since you are quite near, get to Woodlands or Kranji MRT station in Singapore after you cross the causeway. Take a train to HarbourFront station all the way across Singapore. That should be a good hour to hour and 15 minutes ride. From the station, BITC is a 5 to 10 minute walk. Another alternative is to take the Malaysia to Singapore bus that will bring you all the way to the bus terminal near Bugis. From there, it is a 15 to 20 minute train ride. Or, you can take the Malaysia-Singapore train that stops at Tanjong Pagar Train Station. From there, it is only a short bus ride down the road to BITC. So maybe....you are looking at a 3 hour ride in and out of Singapore daily. Check out BITC first, go talk to the people there and see if you like it. It might be a more conducive place for you to learn as there are many Malaysians there too. While you are there, follow Don's suggestion and check out the Raffles Culinary Academy too. Can't really go wrong there. Lastly, if you can afford it and not really after formal certificates, hop on a plane over to Savour Chocolate and Patisserie School in Melbourne. www.savourschool.com.au. They offer short courses. Also, check out the William Angliss TAFE as well. http://www.angliss.vic.edu.au/ William Angliss has representatives in Kuala Lumper's IDP, so go look them up. I've been there several times when I was living in Melbourne and it seems to be really well run, up to date and dynamic. Temporary lodging if you decide to take a short course at Savour would be between 18 to 26 AUD a night. If long term rent to study at William Angliss, it'll be around AUD$350 to 600 a month, depending on where you stay. If you cook your own meals, living expenses will be really really cheap. If you eat out, really really expensive (On average, $6 to 7 for a bowl of noodles). But, you can get a job there in a restaurant waiting tables or once you get your food handling cert, a kitchen hand or line cook. You will be able to work 20hours a week and will definitely be able to earn enough to support yourself there. You'll be looking at AUD$16 to 17 per hour as a wait staff before tips. Thats around $1200 a month before taxes. After taxes, you will have more than enough to pay for rent, utilities, transport, food and the occasional night out. Now, this is a considerably bigger step than coming to Thailand or Singapore to study, but you will definitely learn much more, make more important international connections and gain more confidence in yourself. The catch.....its further and more expensive. If you wanna consider Melbourne, go to the nearest IDP and get more info. PM me if you wanna know more bout living in Melbourne. Cheers!

FangJin, Perhaps Malaysians are not used to foreign tastes and products, but that should not stop you from exploring the world around us and all the wonderful influences it can have. Take Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore for example, the most familiar for you as it borders your country. Everything we have is a hodgepodge of different cuisines and influences. Even here in Thailand, where everyday, people tell us, 'Thais won't like dark chocolate....or this is too sophisticated for Thais....etc..etc...' Personally, I don't believe in that crap. Thailand's most successful foreign entrepreneur, Bill Heinecke of the Minor Food Group was the first person to bring the Pizza Hut franchise into Thailand. Everyone got their claws into him, trying to pull him down by saying...."Thai's don't have a culture of taking dairy products, so they will NOT eat cheese. You will fail, Bill." Well, these naysayers can see for themselves how wrong and arrogant they were to assume things. Bill Heinecke continues to be our role model and 'mentor' in pushing the chocolate envelope in Thailand. We've fed people who drive cars and live in houses we can only wish to one day attain in the next lifetime, and these people, with 'sophisticated' tastes, can't tell the difference between cadbury's dark and Cacao Barry's Mi-Amere. A high society girl, when swiping some leftover chocolate glaze made with Ville and Eire cream infused with grade AAA Bourbon Vanilla from PNG emulsified into Cacao Barry Mi-Amere had one comment to say. Tastes like Ovaltine and that Fudge Cake glaze from Kalaprapruek (Which is powdered glaze and genoise in a box that comes from my friend's food company). Were we offended? Of course. We pour our passion and heart into everything only for people with supposedly sophisticated tastes compare us to what we would deem as rubbish. But that doesn't stop us from trying to educate people and change the tastes, being the forefront of this revolution we hope to create in Thailand. We don't lose our cool (Publicly...but bitch incessantly in private), but instead, work harder instead. I believe Malaysia is absolutely the same as Thailand and this shouldn't stop you from learning about foreign food and pastries. Of course we will have to tweak here and there to accomodate to local tastes, but only minimally to 'break them in'. But in the end, it is an uphill battle that passionate chefs from France to America to Singapore to Australia are fighting. Changing people's tastes and perceptions. As for travelling overseas, it is not as dangerous as it sounds. The first step is the hardest and once you take that step, you will be exposed to things beyond your expectations and totally change your way of thinking. When I took my first step out of Singapore, it was the hardest decision I've ever made and fear totally overtook me. Now, living in a foreign country means only one thing....something to look forward to and more fun to be had. Living overseas is fun and you learn so much. Is Taiwan dangerous coz thats what the papers say? I'd say Malaysia is equally dangerous. My mate's car got stolen in Johor, another got chased by a car gang after he overtook one car to make a turn on an unfamiliar road. My friend's dad got his window smashed at a traffic light and only his protective kris saved him. In recent times, some Singaporeans have been shot, murdered and robbed in Malaysia. As a non-Malaysian, it does scare me a little, but you're used to it and just don't fear it. Just like any traveller going to a foreign country. After a while, you get used to it. I'm afraid of living in New York coz of all the things I've heard, and a million bucks says the New Yorkers reading this will tell me I don't know what I'm talking about. And they are absolutely right. As for UFM, they do have classes in English, go through the english segment of the website and you will find it.

Not sure if this is what you are looking for but its worth a shot. In Singapore, you have At-Sunrice (Do a websearch on yahoo.sg). Pastry wise, nothing on that, but a culinary school being increasingly taken more seriously in our region. Of course, Prima and its Baking Institute, or BITC at www.bitc.com.sg. I've done a few courses there over the past couple of years including the bakery and patisserie course, bread course and chocolate course. All in all, a pretty well equipped place, but maybe not so well organised or managed. However, you will learn quite a bit there and is in my opinion training 'employable' bakers. You won't get much creativity there as the people I've met usually see bakery as a means to an end, not a means of expression. Those and the occasional housewives or over-laboured executive looking for a career change. I got a feeling you are already in Shatec in Singapore, and I do know an Indonesian graduate who is going into the pastry field. Once again, according to her, most of her classmates are not self driven and do not really have that much passion......pastry being a means to a steady paycheck. If you are interested in chocolate, go beg and beg and beg Geert Renmans at http://www.maison-gerard.com. This guy has passion, skill and is quite a nice guy. I say quite....coz as with every great chef.....you don't wanna piss them off. He left Win Sin (The largest factory praline/truffle maker in Singapore) as well as a high profile position at the Prestigious Les Amis group coz they were stifling him and just pissing him off by being idiots. Now thats his side of the story, but meeting the guy and eating his chocolates, I am absolutely impressed. A guy for the cause and might be big in Asia soon. He doesn't do formal lessons, but maybe if you beg hard enough..... Over here in Thailand, the ones I can think of are (1) Suan Dusit Culinary School http://www.chefschool.dusit.ac.th/course_e.html (2) UFM Bakery School http://www.ufmfc.com/new/English/businesses.php The Dusit school is quite prestigious in Thailand and may be worth a shot. But once again, you will be surrounded by people who are mostly studying for steady employment. I'm pretty sure you will get one or two firestarters here and there, but TBH, I almost hired one graduate from a better than average Thai family and we decided to pass him up. Our mate who intro'ed him told us after that he confided to her that if we paid 1000 baht more, he would jump ship. Bye bye birdy. I also know one of their head instructors...who single handedly made a success of the first Paulaner Brauhaus a roaring success. Unfortunately, he too is blinded by money and not the passion for his craft. As for UFM, they have a really large bakery school here and they are similar to BITC in Singapore. Don't really have any experience with them other than dropping in and taking a look around. But, the people there are really hardworking and the students seem to be very serious about their studies, which is a good thing. Creativity wise? Not so sure. For Manila, check out www.iscahm or International School for Culinary Arts and Hotel Management. No experience whatsoever with them, just read about them from Pastry Art and Design Asia Pacific Vol2, Issue 1, 2006. The one with Eric Perez on the cover and downloadable from www.chefmags.com. Go to page 42. As for other parts of Asia, you will have to go looking.......if you can afford it, Japan is definitely a place to consider. Maybe Hiroyuki or some of our members in Japan can help you out in this. There is the Hattori Nutrition Centre and a few other famous ones who may or may not have pastry courses. With the amount of pastry-chefs there, I doubt it'd be that hard to find a good school. Perhaps in our part of Asia, we cannot expect a CIA or Le Cordon Bleu or Bellouet Counseil or Ecole Lenotre. But its slowly changing and perhaps the level of pastry and desserts in SE Asia will improve. All the best in your journey and I hope you will be able to find a school that will fit your requirements. Cheers. Nick.

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?act=Po...#12483;ク If you are in the states, go to www.kinokuniya.com and order it from them. They will be able to send it to you. The ASBN number is 4388058122 or 杉野英実のデザートブック. Hidemi Sugino in Japanese is 杉野英実 The book is in Japanese, but comes with step by step pix. Recipe ingredients are also listed in french, so it should not be a problem to get the most important part. Find the one nearest to you and call them http://www.kinokuniya.co.jp/english/contents/network04.html Or....if you have any mates going to Japan, ask them to pick it up for you at Hidemi Sugino's place in Tokyo. His place is about 5 mins walk from Ginza 1-chome and though not the easiest to find, isn't the hardest either. If you need directions, just lemme know. Don't be an idiot and go all the way to Kobe to find him when he closed down there a few years ago to move to Tokyo! If your mate wants to try anything at all....I'd suggest being there at 10am, when they open, coz they will sell out everything within the hour. He limits supply to drive demand up, coz he has a huge 2nd floor bakery that does wholesale and c'mon............I bet he can churn out a few more. Any questions, just lemme know and I'll try my best to answer them for you.

Hi all, One of my mates is a bodybuilder here and he loves chocolate, but doesn't really like buying it coz of the weight contracts that he is on. So, he asked if its possible to blend whey protein and make a chocolate ganache and enrobe it in really bitter chocolate so he can kill 2 birds with one stone. Has anyone done that or see any pitfalls in that? Thanks.

Altaf, I was at kinokuniya today looking for another book and I came across Hidemi Sugino's The Dessert Book. Its in English/Japanese and has some cool looking recipes. Didn't know it was dual language. He segregates the recipes by citrus fruit, vegetables (Pumpkin gnocci with something dessert) and other sections. There are not as many recipes as a western book coz they have step by step pictures of how to make the recipes. Check it out here http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/4...7020753-0808307 Just go to your nearest Kinokuniya or Japanese bookstore and quote the ISBN number to order it. This is so far the only one I've come across.......but will report more when found. Hironobu Tsujiguchi has written several good books too about pastries but unfortunately, its all in Japanese. Bought his Wagashi book today. Hope this helps!

Atcake, your work looks amazing and I'm pretty sure your shop will be a rip-roaring success. And don't say you are naive. The fact that you are thinking about all these issues now says to everyone that you know what you are doing! I've made the mistake thrice of jumping into a venture without knowing anything thinking I did and eventually burning the wallet really really badly. Thats the result of not asking enough questions. You on the other hand have the skills as well as prior business knowledge and zest for learning to do it. Baker + Bookkeepr + admin person. The most important aspects IMO of a business owner. If you like reading, do read the E-Myth by Michael E. Gerber. http://www.e-myth.com/ Its a cookie cutter book that many professionals and business experts may turn their nose up on, but it touches on some concepts of entrepreneurship that they do not teach in schools.....even entrepreneurship degree programmes (I know coz I graduated from one in Australia). Best of all, its not academic and is really fun to read. Basically, the book is a story based around this lady whom Michael meets and starts to help. She runs a small time pie bakery and what turned out to be a passion turned into a business that was killing it. She poured her sorrows to Michael who decided to help her. Michael just mentored her slowly till she got her head around things and concepts that eventually helped her to succeed. I think its a true life account.....but I may be mistaken. It will not teach you how to run your business, but it will teach you important concepts to grasp and think about. Call me silly for supporting the E-myth (Michael was basically a bum who never started a biz before he wrote the book), but sometimes, an outsider sees things differently. It is not a motivational get-up-and-do-something-about-your-life book, nor is it a 'how-to-stop-working-and-invest-in-real-estate-and-business' kinda book. So don't worry, after reading it, you will not become a highly motivated annoyance to everyone around you. But hopefully, it will answer some questions of yours, give you a peek into the future if certain decisions are made and make the brain tick on a different tangent. Cheers and all the best for your decision!

You could try the Demarle book, Exceptional Excursions with Flexipan. I thumbed thru it at the show and there wre quite a few recipes from Japanese chefs. However, it may not suit your requirements 100%. Someone here once posted this awesome website www.cakechef.info and you can use altavista's babel fish programme to translate the site into English. Hidemi Sugino's books (Which are like the Japanese versions of Pierre Herme's books) are must haves, but unfortunately, its in Japanese. You might also want to do a general search for books published by Kodansha International who have put out english cookbooks. And Dejaq, maybe Brazil might not be a good place for you to move if you wanna avoid Japanese competition....coz they have the largest Japanese population outside of Japan! Ahaha in Brazils case.....they DID migrate there en masse!

I've purchased MSG free Dashi no moto in Australia, Singapore and Thailand. I can't remember the exact name, but it comes in either a blue or green box, with a picture of a bonito on it....and to make it obvious.......it says MSG free across one corner! But they do use mushroom extract and seaweed extract, so maybe MSG free means no chemical MSG but natural ones.

Hi all, just came back from FHA. They had a 'Japan Pavillion', but unfortunately, not so heavy on foodstuffs but heavy on booze. However, one company I spoke to that deals in confectionery items has mentioned that they might be able to source it from their area of Nagoya. Basically, they are a trading company. Whilst that is not as good as getting direct from the manufacturer and distributer.....its better than nothing I suppose. Anyway, here are their contact details. Just contact them and ask them about it. Let them know you got their contact from Food and Hotel Asia in Singapore from the guy asking for Sakura Powder. That should've been a wierd enough enquiry for them to remember. Matsumoto Trading Co. Ltd. Rainbow Marunouchi Building 903, 3-6-11, Marunouchi, Naka-ku, Nagoya, 460-0002, Japan Tel: +88 52-957-3661 Fax: +88 52-957-3662 Website: tabeka.co.jp Email: info@tabeka.co.jp The person I spoke to was: Mr Yutaka Matsumoto Managing Director. I'll be going back tomorrow again to cover ground to see if I missed any other supplier. It was just too crowded and I was too tired to talk to so many companies. Hope this helps for now!

In case you did not come across these sites on your websearch. http://www.midorikai.org/wagashi_recipe_index.html http://konny.fc2web.com/info/jsweets_e.html http://www.geocities.com/scocasso/mochi/mochidex.htm Also, check out the book, "Wagashi" by Mutsuo Takahashi. Other than having beautiful pictures, it contains short information on the different types of wagashi as well as how they came about and what they are supposed to resemble. Do let us know more information about your project as it unfolds....Wagashi is a topic I'm deeply interested in too. Cheers!

Cherry blossom products of every sort where VERY popular at last month's Foodex in Tokyo, I am sure you will be able to find some distributors. ← Sigh, I really wanted to go to the Foodex as well as the small chocolate salon thing in Shinjuku, but unfortunately, time didn't permit it. Anyway, I hope they will have a gamut of Japanese products at FNA next week. Amongst other things.....I'm looking for stuff for wagashi. With any luck....I can make my yearly pilgrimage to Meiji-jingumae next month..before it gets really really really hot.

Wow, cherry blossom powder/extract sounds really interesting. I will keep a lookout. Cheers!

Hi all, Food and Hotel Asia is next week in Singapore and I"m back home to attend it. There'll be quite a bit of Asian manufacturers here and I'm not sure if they travel to your parts of the world. Anyway, the website is: www.foodnhotelasia.com If anyone needs me to find out more about anything or look out for anything in particular, just post a message here. Will try to get the info for you. Cheers!

David, Thank you so much for the encouragement. And you are right in your observations on the path we intend to take. The sad part about all this is re-educating the customers about what we are doing and teaching them to discern quality. The best ice cream they have there is Haagen Daaz and Ben and Jerry's, the latter of which I absolutely LOVE. However, these cost an arm and a leg and come in such dastardly small portions. Well, these guys sell small portions for high profits that the high society only can afford. We wanna target different people, the rising middle class, with a high quality product off which we can make a reasonable but not large profit. Profits will come in volume, and thats our target. Right now, its all about re-thinking our supply chain and how we can skip the value chain here and there as well as make use of our contacts to get cheaper supplies to get a cost advantage. Who knows.....today we have 1 machine, maybe tomorrow, a whole factory

Perhaps what you need to do is ask some eGullitier with large volume ice cream experience to come over and teach you!! I'm sure there are folks out there who want to see Bangkok (and take home some vanilla beans). edited for spelling of bangkok (interesting never noticed that appropriate spelling before) ← Ahahah yea, sounds like a great plan. Actually, I've always had this idea at the back of my head that in about 6 months, we will start requiring foreigners to come in and do shows to wow the people....and thought EG would be a great place to find people. Getting Asian chefs isn't really as effective as a western chef, coz no one really associates western pastry with Asians! Ahaha can Americans do European accents well? If any of you buy vanilla beans or saffron in bulk, let me know and I can refer you to a company who can sell direct to you from Australia. Not sure what the prices are coz they have fallen since I got out of the trade last year. I rem. the last price to a chinese company was USD$135 for a kilo of grade AAA beans. Not sure what prices you guys get over there in USA, but lemme know if anyone is interested and I'll hook you up, but you deal direct with them. Cheers!

Lee, great recommendation on the Ice Cream book. Seems like the most comprehensive one of the lot, and the best thing is.....its affordable. As for the ice cream course at Penn State......I saw that on TV once, but unfortunately.....that would mean sending someone from Bangkok to go attend it. Our staff don't have the english skills to effectively understand everything! Also.....$10 says once they get back here, they will leave us for a better paying company or hotel....as everyone's main dream is to work in the brand name hotels, where there are more bonuses and looser cost controls (Read: Easier to steal stuff and sell it outside!). Might be paranoid, but its happened before. Not sure how much ice cream we are gonna sell, but as far as we know from the chefs and our suppliers we have spoken to, the majority of local producers use premixes and flavourings. Flavour is severely lacking IMO. Maybe its just a pipe dream, but we wanna concentrate on only 2 flavours, vanilla and chocolate. Of course, using real chocolate that we currently use like Cacao Barry, callebaut, Sicao and Aalst (Sicao and Aalst from Singapore). Gonna blend them for flavour/cost benefits. And for vanilla......how I long for REAL vanilla ice cream, with the custard base steeped overnight for maximum flavour and seeing tiny seeds in every scoop. I get incredulously low prices on AAA bourbon method taitian beans, straight from the farms from PNG, so thats an advantage we have over everyone else here. Lots of work still has to be done in regards to costings and other finance thingies to sort out the profitability of it, but heck, ahahah we have a free machine. Its a Boku 863.....and its 40 litres....not 20 litres as I was told. http://www.boku-eismaschine.de/english/english.htm You guys have been great with your recommendations. My fullest thanks to everyone. Hope our plans don't freeze up on us.

In Nov 2005, Unagi imports from China were banned in Singapore because of the high levels of carcinogens detected in the eels. Apparently, the farmers were putting lots of funny stuff into the waters to maximise yields. Maybe the Singaporean government is a bit paranoid, but hey, better safe than sorry. At the time, I was still living in Australia and still saw unagi in the Chinese supermarkets, so not sure if any other governments banned these imports. Such a pity.....coz they taste so goooooood

I've been checking out this book and your summary for it is awesome. Thanks! The price is good, much less than the Ryon Emmanuel one I intend to buy. Seems like this one fits my purposes better. Ahahaha now I'm tempted to buy everything!

Yes and yes. ← Sold! Thanks Nightscotsman and Kerry, I'll be getting both books!

Cheers Austin, you've got a good point on being focused as a regional cookbook and authenticity. Well, ahaha I guess I will have to wait a while longer for the lazy person's Thai Cookbook! But if your distribution is in Asia, people won't have problems having access to the ingredients.....except maybe China. In Malaysia and Indo, they definitely have the ingredients for Thai cooking, but Indo may not have Kaffir limes, though they may have frozen ones (They have frozen ones in Australia). In Singapore, we have Thai supermarkets out in the suburbs coz of the high population of Thai workers there. There are 2 within a 5 kilometre radius of my flat. In Japan, my ex-girlfriend's favourite is Pad Thai and she can find all Thai ingredients there, including Kaffir lime and pea aubergines. China....whilst I was living in Shanghai, didn't really come across any places selling these things, but there are Thai restaurants there....so they have to get their stuff from somewhere! All the best for your book and take care in your travels to the South! Ahahah you are going where even my local friends dare not go!