tan319

Or, instead of melting and refreezing everyday, you can threaten certain death if people keep screwing your stuff up

There's two ways to go, or at least there was for me. If you want to stay with the water, syrup, juice/puree route, get one of these. http://pastrychef.com/Catalog/syrup_densit...ter_2121441.htm Measuring Baume is how you're going to get a creamy texture(18 to 20degrees) that has less chances of going rock hard on you. Getting the balance right is very important and this will help greatly, at least it did for me. If you want to go the other route for sorbes, using atomized glucose, stabilizers, etc., which I'm in no way "pooh pooing", then you should try the Cremoden sorbet stabilizer, it's either #30 or #64, and on the back of the can there's charts that serve as a guideline for either sweet or acidic fruits. It's quite helpful. Most of the time I make my sorbets "straight", mainly because I find it works for me and also because making the sorbet "base" is more efficient in large quanities, so you have it on hand and just use either the sweet fruit base or the acidic fruit base. But if not used within two weeks or so the base will go kind of murky on you. Try the link and maybe get a hydrometer, go that way at first. I think you'll be satisfied with the results. Good Luck! Edited to add: VERY IMPORTANT!!!! If you are going to be dragging your sorbets in and out of freezers, in very hot kitchens, or cooks or servers are going to be using these and leaving them out for long periods of time before remembering to put them back, you should absolutely be using a stabilizer. Nothing will prevent crystals under those conditions. Also: Y.M.B.B. is also right on about watery fruits, even soda. They're very difficult to get right, even though I never have too much trouble with lemon. I used sorbet base( sweet) to make root beer sorbet and that was VERY tricky. Wanted to leech like crazy!!!

Thanks for your replies, for some reason notices aren't getting emailed to me even though I'm tracking the subject. Anyways, what do you think are the chances of me finding it in the US? Just for jollys? Is there a shop in NYC for French food like, say. Myers of Kiswick is for UK foods? Thanks for any info. T

Especially the new Esquire with her on the front!

Patrick, you are cracking me up!!! Now that I have the CDPH book, comparing the pix, your stuff almost looks like outtakes from the photo shoot!!! Good stuff as usual

You guys know that once Ramsey left soccer for cooking and did his appenticeship he worked as a patissiere, right? I've eyeballed the book and dug it, he's a great guy, chef, period, IMO.

Those neutral glazes or 'glacages's with chocolate that use neutral glaze as a base are usually made with pectin NH. Here's a link for those of you who might want to try some. http://www.chefswarehouse.com/Search/Searc...ing=pectin%20NH Good luck and don't be nervous! Books like 'La Pattisserie..' are so solid that as long as you have a basic grasp, a thermometer and a scale, you can't really screw up too bad.

Are you talking about the Grand Livre book or the Spoon Cook Book? The Spoon book kind of leaves it up to you in the presentation points, which I don't have a problem with. Intially I might have been a bit disappointed, maybe, but, I don't know, from what I've seen of the plates at ADNY (Getting ready for "incoming"), and from what I've seen of the SPOON desserts in the 'Grand Livre de Desserts...' ,while being very clean and nice, it's not real edgy. Which is fine. I've only done dessert stuff so far from the book, which have been great.

claire797. Neils recipe is very good, I tried a few at the time of that thread and his stood out(of course ) I just mixed some lemon zest(microplaned right over the bowl) and some blue berries. I wonder if what would put it over the top, concerning chefpeons observations, would be some Plugra. Of course she may have already gone down that road... In 'Bouchon', Thomas Keller says that a great financier shoud practically drip butter down your chin

I just got a copy today for 20 bucks!!!!! Very happy. Looking forward to some gooooodddddd cooking!

Sorry to hear this! When you consider your next move, and for the record, I have a 7 and a half year old daughter I can BARELY tear myself away from to go to work, maybe a dessert place of your own is something to ponder? You know I'm a food geek, dessert geek for sure, and thru numerous googles, etc., I know you're kind of a lightning rod for controversy. I'm sure it plays with ones psyche at times but, what I'm trying to say is, ( I want to say screw 'em but that's not exacly cool) get your own place and follow your instincts, etc.

One time I got all excited about Financiers, made a lemon/blueberry one. The sous chef tasted it and said "WOW! GREAT muffin!" So, there you go.

I like IQF stuff too. Red currants, any fruit as long as I'm not using it for fresh(ie. toppings for tarts, etc.) I've never tried IQF apples. Don't like IQF mangos. Cherries are hit and miss. Sometimes they're incredible, you can really undersand what the fuss is all about. Usually I use griotte, loved them in Kirsch. The thing about berries, Sraw or others, is that crossover period when they kind of suck no matter where they're from. Interesting(?) thing I've noticed: Both in El Bulli's and The Ducasse/Roberts book(SPOON also) they prefer IQF fruits for some items.

Are we to take this post to mean that Will is no longer pastry chef at CRU? If so, my condolences, chef.

I can surely see where Mels coming from, but does Neil have a point? If it's in season somewhere, is it ok to use it? Strawberries...they were driving me crazy! I was getting fruits and stuff for the bakery and sometimes the strawberries suck and I just want to scream"CAN YOU USE SOMETHING ELSE FOR CHRISSAKES????!!!!!!!! And I'm sure they would say "But , ze AMERICANS, zey want nothing else, zey are so spoiled", to which I would say, "FUCK ZE AMERICANS< WE'RE FUCKING STUPID!!!! REally, ridiculous length to have the same thing everyday. However, if price is no object, like a Neils place, and the clientele demands it, well then... RE: Pecans, Thru the roof, 160 a case the moment. Timesaving ingredients: I hate fake chocolate, fake whipped cream, margerine, shortening (in most cases) Cake mixes, bleeeeeaaahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have a new French pastry book where this product is all over the place. A French friend of mine says " it's KIND of like brown sugar... Can anybody elaborate? Any info sincerely appreciated! Thank you.

cg, It was just some of the text that sounded French, or rather the way the phrasing was. It was this post. http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...ndpost&p=819002

Wendy is right about all that stuff. Countless recipes that just aren't good, (I'm not including Bourdains Les Halles one, haven't used it) Cooking times are almost always wrong. You HAVE to have 9-10 yolks per quart of Heavy cream. I never use anything but heavy cream in mine, never had a complaint. Don't whisk too much. After combining yolk sugar cream I cook like an anglaise to 85c/181f. Strain and bake. There's another thread about brulee here and someone(suzanneF? KarenS?) who was taught a method for brulee where you "break" it (scramble it) then immersion/stick blend it, strain and let it set up. Use a blow torch to get rid of bubbles before you cook. Good Luck!

I don't know if Italco is out there, I got mine from them, special order though, I think. Although it isn't, 'Made In France' should carry it, perhaps? I was really satisfied with that product too. Good Luck!

cg, I wondered if you were French because your phrasing in an earlier post read a bit that way + you wrote( I think) about being in the biz from an early age. Re: Relationships and the biz. It works for me as a chef, etc. but it has to be ultra hard for people who own and operate and the S.O. isn't involved. Hats off to all of you O.O.'s, especially from the bakery division.

Just so no one gets the wrong idea, I'm not endorsing partying, etc.. It can be a rite of passage for many. chiantiglace, are you French? I agree that the feeling you get from knowledge, experience, when you look at your day and don't have to freak because you can practically see it all unfolding by the hour in advance. The craft requires dedication, patience and love for it. For many, the hours, etc., get to them. As you saw, bakery hours, work is damned hard.

Heads up on something I noticed today about the recipes in Spoon, at least dessert wise. The chocolate pizza is also in the Grand Livre/Desserts book and I noticed in the French side of the recipes in the Spoon Cook Book it calls for 'sucre molasse', while on the English side it calls for molasses, which made me think of syrup. So I checked out the Grand Livre recipe, which is all in French, and there's a notation about sucre molasse, saying you could use pilancillo,muscavado, basically any variation on brown sugar. So I would double check recipes in English against the French so nothing gets screwed up. The French version may be a bit more accurate. Also, to any of you who may have had the chocolate pizza at MIX, did it have a bit of a crunch to it? From the brown sugar? I'm going to make it this weekend.

You would be doing the chef a favor by writing him. Really! We've been following this thread for way too long, FOH has been the problem most cited by diners who write here, (was it mentioned in the NYT demotion?) and it's time they remedied the situation. For an owner operator on this level to allow his place to get constant criticism for FOH matters is beyond me but it's not the first time I've seen it. In your letter mention this thread to him too?

That's what I'm talking about. In your 20's (I was in my 30's but I was a musician AKA 'Kidult') that's what it's about. Generally. Man! 3:00 PM, huh? I dig that you're one of those people who like to be up for an hour or two before work. I am too, most of the time. Like to watch some news, catch some internet, etc. BTW, Vegas is very interesting to me, currently not to my family( the missus), unfortunately. I do like the restaurant scene a little more than the bakery scene, although your situation seems pretty darned boss!!!

Thanks for the info on the translation, F.G.!