tan319

I was re-reading 'The Making of a Pastry Chef' this morning and I was on the chapter where evryone is talking about things they've screwed up. I had one of those days yesterday at work. First, I had a pan of tuiles burn, even though everything was done exactly the same. Oven was just too hot, maybe the thermostat is wacked. I didn't let them go too long. If fact, as I'm sure a lot of youu have developed this sense also, I'm usually ahead of my timer, just by smell and 6th sense. Secondly, I was doing this spiced hazelnut cookie I use as a garnish for a flan I just started selling, it uses 12 oz. of butter, and I was doing my thing, the hazelnut/sugar mixture has been ground, it's going around now in the KA with the paddle, I'm thinking, this doesn't look right. Proceed anyway, add the eggs, flour and it comes togedther in a weird way. I'm thing 'WTF', what did I leave out, when, out of the corner of my eye I see the mised, cubed butter. DOH!!! Luckily, it incorporated fine and my cookie was cool. How about you?

Clay, Where would you recommend I try out here in the SW, New Mexico specifically, to try to get Cluizel chocolate? And does it come in pistoles, etc.? I know a lot of people here love it and I'm dying to get my hands on some. Any info will be greatly appreciated. PS: Is it really expensive, as Valrhona is?

A pretty fine menu there, Clay! What Chocolates did you use in your courses? I dig what you mean about pastry crossing over to savory. I think people who had a savory background first would have much more success with a savory meets sweet dish. I know my savory background helps me get more out of my desserts, with an eye toward seasoning. I mean, I use salt in just about everything, and did way before the whole Fleming thing hit the streets. I think Conticini's background in savory helps him push his stuff up over the edge. Most French guys ( and girls) probably have that too. Perhaps Bau's biggest drawback ( if indeed he has any!!!) is that he's so married to Valrhona! Not that it's bad, it's one of the worlds premier products. It's just that he's locked up in it. Also, from what you described about the dinner, it seems he perhaps simply didn't have the time to devote to really perfecting the dishes. That's a shame. Thanks again for your insights ,etc.

Went to your site and read the report, great stuff, Clay! Also, love the site, too. I was just reading about the chocolate and fancy food shows. Nice work.

Wish I could have been there... Thanks for posting about it, clay. I'm going to read your article over the weekend. Cheers!

I understand how you feel about Coston, but those 'top'10,20' lists a lot of time have a lot of publicity power( as in PR machines) behind them. It's like a 'Rolling Stone' magazine poll having a lot of emphasis on newer people in their lists. This, of course, is not said to take anything away from Patricks work. He's one of my fave chefs and I'm sure his chocolate work is top notch also. Just an aside, I remember going to Aurole, in NYC, around 95 or so, and whoever was doing their chocolates and petit fours, was doing some damn good work! They came in a beautiful polished wood box after dinner. You could purchase them to take home for 45 bucks. Wonderful.

You LUCKY DARN PERSON!!! I hope you dig it. Yet another book to soak my bucks up. But with the way I'm selling ice cream and sorbets now, it could be a great investment , eh? Thanks for posting about it,'K P.S. Crayfish Ice cream with some kind of a grits cake? with some egg whites folded into to the grits, to get it to souffle? That could be boss! Sorry, I just finished 11 hours, I'm kind of wired

Awww, please don't refrain from posting, that's kind of bummy. We usually are pretty respectful in here. Sorry if you felt dissed..

No offense taken, beans. My intention wasn't to burn anybody up, god knows, I post and read everything I can on this site, period. This kind of bugged me though "Walk into any of the 'pro-kitchens' in New York restaurants, patisseries and bakeries and you will find both couverture and baking chocolate - as well as cocao powder - not to mention glazes and compounds. Do the top ten pastry chefs (named in PA&D each year) then work in kitchens that are not considered professional? I know quite a few that would never use couverture for a brownie recipe - it is simply a waste of money. If your rule of not cooking with any chocolate that you would not eat applies - then you would never use 100% -unless you enjoy the taste." Seems to me an awful lot of the PA& D chefs talk about some pretty well regarded, high end coverture chocolates, almost exclusively. And I know sometimes these people are reps for co. like Valrhona or Cocoa Barry, but I'm pretty sure they like the product alot. Otherwise, they would be pulling a Bayless and endorsing Bakers or something. all of the pro-kitchens I've walked into in the years I've been doing this use the "good stuff".-

marthapook, Welcome and all that. but, I think the tone of your 'chocolate tutorials' presumes that tchorst and I have never worked with chocolate before. Most everyone who is in here works with coverture pretty exclusively, be it for cooking ,enrobing, etc. Including the moderators of this forum. And sometimes a new product acts a bit differently and we talk about it. I'm no Robert Linxe but maybe you could turn it down a few notches? Just a thought...

I'm not using it to temper or enrobe, etc. I'm cooking with it. All of these chocolates have different characters that make them different to work with. Thanks for the info about conching, I've always been under the impression that a longer conching time helped determine mouthfeel.

awesome post, bcnchef!!! Thanks for the pics and keep 'em coming! Looking forward to the report too.

I would love to see the recipe. Thank you.

I cooked with the 55 and 58% today, Tchorst, and found the same sludge factor, as you described. It melted nicely and when it started to cool it got very thick, it was kind of weird. But I just kept it slightly warm and everything was fine. It wasn't as taxing to work with as El Rey, let's put it that way.

No more PA&D either???!!! Tell me it's not true. I just received a copy of the August 2001 back issue from them that they sent me gratis, because it was the last one, very cool! Michael, please don't go away, please keep something out there for us. I've been going thru some back issues recently and was surprised to see a lot of issues addressed that come up here on our board often. Always a good read, even if sometimes it concentrate's more on the "show" aspects of our world. I realize you can't keep all the people happy all of the time. I hope I read this wrong and that PA&D will stay with us. My condolences on Chocolatier.

Albert Adria has done a black olive caramel with a white chocolate granizado and mango puree. His brother has done a cepe crocant as part of an appetizer also so I would think shitakes would work too. I also have seen a mushroom mousse cake in a Spanish pastry book I have called 'S-21', a collection of recipes by a whos who of Spanish pastry chefs. Sam Mason and Grant Achatz have worked with white chocolate and olives too, I believe.

Chef Achatz is here in Barcelona at Alimentaria 2004, the huge food and beverage fair that runs all week. So is Tom Collichio of Craft. I am hoping to catch them both tomorrow morning at demos they are putting on, and will try to post a picture or two afterwards. So I don't think Chef Achatz will be able to respond to this post until he returns to Trio... J. Very exciting, bcnchef! I hope you will post the pics and if you can, let us in on who is there from the pastry world. Thanks for the info and link.

Wendy, The first place I read about 'flavored papers' was probably in an interview with Grant Achatz (chefG on the 'Gullet), the chef at Trio, and the second time was in the Fader article with everyones favorite tatted up 'Bad Boyeee' of pastry chefs, Sam Mason of WD-50 fame. Naturally, my curiousity has the better of me. I think it's just a flat piece of vegetable paper or as chefseanbrock posted above. Hopefully he'll come back and elaborate.

I can't believe Keller is getting screwed over like this, in terms of luck. Damned shame!

Wendy, I went on the Guittard site last night to read their philosophy, so to speak, and mouth feel was one of the things they were going for, it seems. I'm not sure what people are adding to their chocolate that keeps the melting point high. Tchorst, even Valrhona, which is hardly a low end product, i think you would agree, doesn't just dissolve over your tongue like the Guittard. Maybe the Valrhona faves (their pistoles) would, but even a small piece of the Valrhona high percentages don't have that feel. Re: white chocolate. Yes, the Guittard white was pretty neutral, not real attractive in taste to me. My fave whites are El Rey, which I find awesome tasting but too finicky to work with, and Cocoa Noel, which seems to get the job done. I like Cocoa Barry white also. The Valrhona White is good but the 'Noel comes right up on it to me, for the price.

Can you divulge the recipe? Thanks!

Was Mohan formerly the Chef de Cuisine at Chicama? This would have been the 1 year or so it was open? Thanks for the info.

Thanks for the info, Neil, et al. Sorry for the delay in replying.

Ok, I take it all back, kind of. I had originally spoken to a Guittard rep before Xmas, who said he would be sending me some samples of the E.Guittard 'Collection Etienne' line. Which I never received. However, a few weeks ago, I spoke to the owner of the small, more commercial oriented (supermarket cakes supply,etc.) company, who I think had called me, doing a follow up call. I told her what had happened, she said she would take care of it. This morning she called me to tell me my samples were in. Six 1.1lb. boxes of 'em! I just picked them up from her. I have the whole line up, I think. 31% White 38% Milk 55% Semi (?) 58% Bitter 61% Bitter 72% Bitter I just tasted the 72% and it kicks butt! Beautiful mouth feel, extraordinary taste, very nuanced but not real wine-ish, like a Valrhona Grand Cru Guanaja 70% I'm knocked out. And the 72% is going for around $37 for 11 lb. I'm not crazy about the white. The milk choc is nice, different. Very 'dairy-ish', not as much caramel as you would usually taste in a milk. The 55% is pretty assertive. Nice and bold. The 58% is a little less bold, I kind of like the 55% better. The 61% is great, really broad, truly bitter and sweet. I have to say other then the taste, what's really impressing me is the way it melts in your mouth. I haven't had chocolate do that for me in a long time. From Cocoa Noel to Cocoa Barry all the way to Valrhona, this Guittard stuff just melts in your mouth in a really wonderful way. I'm going to cook with it this week, I'll let you know how it goes.

Now that is a helluva cool site! Awesome. I thought for a minute the 'whipped yolks cake' was in the banana confit raviolis recipe but I think it's something else. The CD-Rom is something else. The book is expensive enough, let alone the 'Rom, not that they wouldn't be worth it. Thanks for the link, Michael.