tan319

Yes, I agree with lamington, the 'mac book is much easier to translate and once you understand the basics it's all there. "Los Postres..." was much harder because in most (all?) free online translators Catalan Spanish isn't really supported. For me, the flavor profiles and layout in "Macaron" impressed me so much that "PH10" kind of let me down. edited to add... PH's e-gourmandises side of his online presence still has "Macaron", at 29.90 euro to boot!

The books ( livres) page on the Pierre Herme site doesn't have the 'Mac book pictured on it at the moment either. The second printing idea makes sense, I was thinking maybe it might get a softcover release too. That would be pretty happening.

It's the same idea but I don't know about the taste or the stabilization aspect. I can say that a few times I lived in the UK for awhile I had bread & butter pudding that I'm sure was made with Birds and found it kind of eggy tasting. The very nature of the Lion is a kind of cotton candy-ish backnote. Check out the Birds, it's been a long time for me.

If I may add, on the vanilla aspect. You might want to try a custard cream, I use 'Lion" custard powder. You can find it in Asian stores especially ( it's Malaysian) You see "Creme de Poudre" in a lot of French pastry recipes, like in the Robert/Ducasse book. You make a pastry cream, with vanilla bean and .say. to a liter of milk /8 egg recipe you would use about 80 grams of custard powder ( some call it pastry cream stabilizer). It has a bit of xanthan powder in it so it sets it up a bit. Once you add your whipped cream for the bav you're set. It has a really unique taste with the real vanilla bean added, you might like it.

My 2 cents... Demo the whole thing ASAP! See where the screw ups are ( if any) and correct. If you're spraying( which I doubt many see in NM) you don't have to use the glaze do you? If you have the space make the core stuff ( anything frozen) ASAP just to have it made. When you start opening and closing that freezer for 90 pieces alone you need that product frozen! Personally, with all of that mousse and bavarian cream do you need whipped cream? I've always "had discussions" with people who had to plate a dessert of mine with a fair amount of fat already involved with more ( whipped cream) A raspberry in that dimple ( could hold with a dab of glucose) would be nice? Make sure you have back up pins/springs/etc for your Wagner. Had one bite the dust on someone once the day of, it sucked... Sorry if I seem overly nosy/paranoid, just seen a lot of screwed up stuff go down in my day. Good Luck! Hope it goes off with out a hitch!

It appears so. Why not try these folks? Get the LL Kelcogel and the other for less then the texturas? You'll have these around forever!!!

When I have used gellan I found it more natural, in a way, not as tight, For me any of these products ( locust bean gum, agar, etc.) all kind of screw with your minds concept of what it should be like. I can't explain it much better w/o starting a new topic. My point before was make it like the cookbook

The Isaphan is made (the gel) with gellan now but I've seen it used for the Litchi cubes not the raspberry. Here is a recipe for the Isaphan cake with the litchi gel with gellen. As for the 'Mac recipe, I don't think there is a noticable difference. I find it more...natural, for lack of a better word. If you get the gellen, make sure you get the correct acyl

What chianti & alana said. At one place I worked the exec chef only wanted to use an uber natural, nothing added Heavy Cream and sure enough, one late spring I pulled out a 1/2 gallon start whipping and nothing happened. Told my colleague, pulled out more, same thing. Put some in the freezer with all of the bowls, nothing. On investigation found out the dairy's can control the amount of fat ( fat is money) during processing. Not to mention the feed change between the seasons. Still wasn't dependable so we went back with the one with gums and stabilizers.

Great pics, thanks for sharing!

It would be like making your own corn flakes. You could go to say, a Williams Sonoma and if they have those cookie triangles like in a European ice cream shop (crepe dentelles?) you could robo them. Epicurious pastrychefcentral.com should have it on the food site. Good Luck!

He does the Martha Stewart show maybe 2 times a year. I saw JI on the Tony Danza show once, it was quite a show. His "reel" on his website shows him on many cooking shows directed at the home cook, be they men or women

This is an excellent article by Michael Laiskonis, Le Bernardin pastry chef ( and former P&B forum host) on ice cream formulation and the why's and wherefores. Scroll down to "Doing the math". There's also a similar one on sorbet. Also, you can get a Cuisinart ice cream machine with an onboard compressor for around 250.00. Good Luck!

Nice one! Also wanted to tell scout 21 that cassis is in there as well as a strawberry and a couple of vanilla's.

Cocoa grue are also known as 'nibs'. Cocoa barry/Cocoa Noel all make them. Tonka bean is widely used in Europe but there was a big stink in NYC a few years ago when someone used them.

A question for any of you ph10-ers. The cake au voyage, like "carrement" or Isaphan, the ones that almost look like they're baked in a "pain de mie" loaf pan with lid. Are they? I can't find anything in the recipe specifying it. I did read him talking about silicone loaf pans. When I was in France last year (very southwest, Angouleme) many pastry shops were doing the same look. I wish I would have asked Any info appreciated PS: I have an extra of ph10 if anyone is interested. PM me?

Susur Lee seems to be living here now, and he closed Susur to open Shang. I'm not sure that matters, but if anything he has followed the path that earns love for out-of-town chefs. None of which is enough to compensate for a weak restaurant. Cena's failure was surely a business issue unrelated to the restaurant's quality or reception. The food was superb, as were the reviews. I think they got customers. I bet they had an untenable financing arrangement or something like that, because all the ingredients for success were there. There have always been amazing restaurants -- not just in New York, but in New York Lespinasse and Cello are good examples, as was Ducasse at the Essex House -- that have up and closed for behind-the-scenes reasons having nothing to do with how good they were. ← I don't mean to drag off of topic but, I lived across from Cena during it's time and never saw what I would term a "great" evening there. I had apps and drinks there and dessert numerous times and never saw a crowd there. I loved the food, vibe, I used to walk by just to gawk at the menu. It seemed that location was a bit cursed anyways. During my nine years in NYC I never saw anything really go except maybe Commune right before I left . I never ate there. FWIW, I hate to see a new restaurant like Shang take a blow like that,

Why is that bad? I know it's not like doing it yourself but are RLB's conversions of flour vs. oil, etc. totally accurate when a cup of flour could weigh more in wash.D.C or Miami then it does in Arizona or New Mexico? I think there would be a bit of difference, don't you? Gourmetsleuth.com is used by cookbook authors to convert. With the advent of cooks getting more into high end chefs advocating scaling, more books using volume and metric ( which I see more & more) will get out there. But if a cookbook is by someone who is pitched to LCD audiences it's always going to be by volume. My beef? Testing, books need to be tested better. Best of luck

I saw FMFDs yesterday at a B&N, it's an impressive package. Amazon is offering it at a substantial discount. I'm going to nab it when I get busy again, I bought too many books at the end of '08

The basic wrong assumption is that an accurate volume/weight conversion is possible for loose solids. It doesn't matter who does the conversion, it is at best approximate. Because any volume measure of a loose solid is an approximate measure. Maybe I should create a website that uses the power of a modern computer to convert precisely (to at least four decimal places) those techie foreign grams into an easy and traditional measure that everyone has access to -- 'handfuls'. ← Yes, I know what you mean but I guess I've been extremely lucky. The recipes that I've had to convert in a pinch have turned out pretty much as well. I know other chefs, well known people who think it does the stuff too but if you have the blueprint for your computer idea I would surely welcome it! but no handsfuls please, QS is good enough

The recipes in Sweet Seasons must have been tested by a master , I've never had one of those screw up on me. I often use gourmetsleuth.com when I have a digi scale break down on me, converting grams into cups, etc. It's extremely useful, click on conversions.

Great English translation of the Albert Adria interview about leaving el Bulli. Essential read for el Bulli/ Albert/ Natura appreciators!

I think that people are scared off by what some call a "European Bake" , an almost caramelized color which I love and go for. But a lot of people get used to that pale underbaked look. I've been around people who had never egg washed a croissant, that's frightening!.

This LATimes article from yesterday doesn't make things feel real great. As a pastry chef, desserts are the first thing to hit the wall in this kind of economy so working in a place that just opened last April came to a close about three weeks ago for me. Last November I thought when everybody sees the fourth quarter statements they would start slashing with a vengeance but when January rolled around the empty seats were staggering! Xmas parties were very slow and unfortunately I think after todays numbers are counted places are going to stop betting on the next holiday. I'm going to lay low for awhile and see if a few things that were in the works pan out but I have to admit that I'm starting to think about other careers. You know things aren't very good when you start looking at locations like Dubai for work and a day later read an article the economy there starting to crumble...

I'm pretty sure it's out of print now. I'm not sure if prices are going to go up even more for used copies now since Albert Adria has announced he is leaving El Bulli. If it's recipes you're looking for I would believe they could be found in "El Bulli '94/97" and a few are in '98/02" Good Luck