tan319

boulak, Can you explain the "windowpane" process, how it works? I fully understand what you mean about writing an article and am not sure that the authors of articles in Pastrys Best should change anything to cater to anyone, anymore than Thuries or any of the international mags are going to change anything. The mag is really great and I think we all look forward to it arriving when it does!

That first to second speed shifting to first is a great idea, thanks for relating that. I don't usually windowpane dough, as I learned a more "overall" feel for the dough itself from my French friends. The adding all of the dry was spot on, not criticising that ( nor anything else, I think). I didn't use european style butter today but didn't see that as a problem. I suppose I just wanted to spell out in this forum for anybody who has suscribed to Pastry's Best but may not have pro experience a couple of things that will help them better understand a pretty foolproof excellent recipe.

I'm on the first stage of the brioche recipe in the new issue ( refrigerator overnight) and found it pretty winning. Just thought I would try it as a change from my usual one. My thoughts on the instruction so far are that, for any semi pros or amateur bakers, that it assumes that you would add flour ( very little at a time) at the last stage until you "clean" the sides of the bowl , and that you could work the dough maybe a bit too long to get it "greaseless" on the sides. That might be achieved easier if you're using "euro" style butter but many may not? I made a lot of brioche when I worked with French bakers and picked up some tips like those I mentioned. The recipe is very much like I learned from them. The texture of the dough after the initial one hour fermentation is pretty impressive.

I second you, Sethro! Patrick, I don't know which I like better, the way you shoot photos or the way your cooking turns out!' Both look pretty damned incredible.

My copy arrived today and it's looking extremely good. Nice stuff!

Re: Alton's comments about publicists and managers. A- He must have one, of each, and for some time now. B_ Chefs started having managers in the late 80's/early 90's, when Shep Gordon, who managed Alice Cooper and was/is a top level gourmand, basically started a chef management firm. This was reported in Food Arts, I believe, and the article listed his roster, which was just about everybody!

← There you go! I think that's where thickeners of the seaweed variety is coming in too.

Perhaps. I liked what Hermes said for instance in his sugar table in "the Way to Cook" book. There's two ways I came to inroduce gelatine into caramel based sauces. One was reading many examples in Albert Adrias "Los Postres de El Bulli in the caramel sections where they would add maybe a half sheet to a recipe, probably to obtain more viscousity w/o driving themselves batty reducing/deglazing over & over.they also used it in confits ( I think, it's all in Spanish, not my first or second language). I came back to these thoughts when a chef I was doing a pineapple caramel for kept complaining about the thickness. Fixed that. You also get a bit more "gloss" just like adding booze to an anglaise or sauce. But to thickness again... Yes, if sugar cooks to this temp we get soft ball and then we cook it to this temp we get hard crack but caramel is basically caramel once you hit it, yes? Hi Ted! I think the idea is that both the viscosity and the boiling point of a sucrose solution is a function of sucrose concentration, so you can tell how viscous/thick the syrup will be by measuring the boiling temp. As you know, a sucrose solution boiling at 235F has a sucrose concentration of about 85% and will form a malleable semi-solid at room temp, while a sucrose solution boiling at, say, 300F, is 99% sucrose will form a very firm brittle solid at room temp. Theoretically don't you think that you could also predict the viscosity of the cooled caramel syrup, which is still essentially a sucrose solution in the 40-70% sucrose range (I'm guessing), by the boiling temp? I imagine the ideal for a pourable sauce would be somewhere in the range of 215-222F, which corresponds to sucrose concentrations of 50-70%. I think an experiment is called for! ←

That's great, Daniel. Fantastic to hear how wd50 is raising their game (most) all of the time. Thanks for the report! PS: Any other desserts stand out??? Did you have the Olive Clafoutis?

Yes, it plates better, to me at least. And keep in mind, this is ONLY if you want a side sauce. When I serve creme caramel, as alanamona stated, I use the "sauce" which spills out as you unmold the creme caramel as the sauce. Any more then that would seem slightly redundent but to each their own, no problem. In addition, not sure how a thermometer is going to indicate in anyway how thick a liquid is going to be. If you make a creme anglaise ( which wouldn't be a bad sauce to dribble by the creme caramel), and use a themometer to get an absolute point of pasteurization, be it 80 to 86 c or 181/182 f, you can still end up with a "thin" anglaise unless you "push" it a bit or take it off of the heat and let it sort of "poach", then strain. Not to mention how many yolks you use, etc.

Here we go!!! New York Times: 25$ & Under Sweet!!! Congrats, Will!!!

So, I can be expecting to see one pop in my mail box soon? I agree with you. Wendy. It's a really fine read.

Can I suggest something? If you're you're making the caramel already for the "bottom" ( top) of the creme caramel, keep it clear, no butter. Take, say 2 cups of sugar, put it in a pot, add only enough hot water to make a "slurry", like sandy but all of the sugar is wet. Put it on the fire and cover with a lid or whatever is handy, then you don't have to wash down the sides with the pastry brush. While this is cooking, bring say a cup of water, maybe a cup and a half to a simmer. When you start getting some color, keep going 'till you get a nice amber,deglazing will lighten it. When you get that color, being very careful, add your hot water ( or wine, liquor, whatever.)to your liking. Let come together, whisk a bit. If too then, while still hot, I add a bit of bloomed sheet gelatine. Good Luck!!! PS: Reason I suggest no butter or cream is because you already have that caramel And eggs, etc.

Ditto, very nice! Thanks for sharing.

At least 3 or so days, as long as the temp is not ridiculous.

I DVRed it so I wouldn't have to drag through the whole thing. I though Johnny had a great presence and would be a natural for a show where he could actually have the time to show what the recipe is all about. He held up great. Like I said upthread, TV is not easy, in fact, it's rather tricky.

Onions sweated in butter, past that it's getting a bit dicey. It's an onion puree thickened with gellan, an onion tart, awesome!

(Sound of hand smacking forehead!) DOAH!!!! Googled it and everything! Kept on seeing cheese & onion. Thought cheese Thanks for that correction!!! Any hints of preparation?

I don't think you can cut & paste the page into a translator like Sherlock or something like that, I just tried it, but... You probably already figured out the 12.5 onzas = oz. taza= cup cucharadita= teaspoon ( I think) cuchara = tablespoon and so on. The biggest obstacle would be getting the low acyl and high acyl gellan, as I THINK this is a "gelled" hot cheese tart, kind of like a napoleon but the cheese won't melt out when served hot because of the gellan. This would be like wd50 pastry chef Sam Masons 'Caramelized Apple with Miso Ice Cream"sammasonnyc.com. Click on recipes...

Here's a link to a cheese tart recipe ( in Spanish) that Wylie has an the Spanish Gastronomy site 'Apicius'. Cool stuff! You're going to need some 'Gellan' though... Cebolla Tart recipe

NICE!!!

Yeah, I was kind of biting my arm off towards the end of the segment but thought it was ok. Reminds me of this HUGE article in Food Arts years ago about training chefs to do TV and Emeril was the main point of the story, as he was having extremely hard time. This was pre (just) Food network.

Not nearly: some would even say a non-functional bathroom cost ADNY a fourth star. ← I was alluding to that. He's going to have to do some work on his blogging, there's many out there that are way more talented.

IMOP, Bruni couldn't wait because there was already around 6 or so pages of commentary and reviews on eG alone, let alone other sites, more then likely. Traditional formats are too slow in reacting/reporting, therefore, "the blog". Are the bathrooms a big influence in his star doling ? As long as they're working?

Johnny was cool! Kind of got rushed for time but came out a winner. TV is tough!!! I did a spot one time, taped two recipes, no redos and the studio didn't have a working freezer. My Baileys ice cream turned into an Anglaise on the tube ( St. Patricks Day menu) Nice work, JI!!!