tan319

11 to 13 hours a day. You'll all yell at me, but i get there about 12 - 12:30 and don't clock in on the Squirrel until 2:30, because i know they are nervous about paying overtime. So i get paid for about an 8 hour day and one hour of overtime. Ypu'll get tired of that soon enough...

All me, except on my day off, the other pantry people plate my desserts, but i try to make sure they don't have to produce anything, just plate stuff. No help to speak of (except the odd "hey, your cream is boiling!") and certainly no assistant. Out of 190, according to records, only about 60 people would normally order desserts, but last Saturday that 190 included a wedding rehearsal dinner of 50 that all had dessert, plus about 45 others from the general diners, i think. How do you pronounce "pistole", anyway? "Piss-Tole' or 'Piece-Tole'? How many hours a day? 12, 13? you're not on salary, are you? Just curious

Zilla, Cocoa Noel also makes a pistole that will cost you maybe a bit less? Italco carrie's the brand. The savings in Labour ( not to mention all the stuff that get's lost on the cutting board) will make it worth it. BTW, are you doing all this stuff solo? No Assistant? No help? Cause 192 on a Satuday night is a hellavu lot of covers ! Glad you're rocking it up!

Re: Vomit looking creme brulee. That's sounds like something the kids would like. I had a suggestion to make it "booger-ish". I like the idea of spinkling it with the 'rocks though. Thank's for all the input.

GREAT info, Fat Guy!!! Thermo activated pectin, too much. Big Valrhona user, can't argue with those grand cru's too much. Thanks again for the followup!

Just wondering about the feasibility, this is for a halloween party my daughter has been invited to. Guess who's doing dessert for it?

Re: The Bayless letter/ statement: I think he made a case for what he did. It seems like an honest statement. That's my final 2 cents on the subject.

or maybe pectin? Mixed with a wee bit of sugar?

Michael, What an awesome post!!! Loved reading about how it all began, and it's really interesting how it ties in with Marsha's position at her new digs. Marsha: It's so cool to read how you're jumping into it, getting to work before clock in time, doing stuff for you, developing your menu ideas, etc. I used to stay after I finished my stuff, when I was an assistant, just to soak up information, help out on some stuff my chef would be doing, like a dessert course for a Beard house event our restaurant. would be doing And I think chefs LOVE to see that people who work for them are interested enough in cooking to ask them questions. So many people cook to pay bills, it's not a bad living, etc. Some of these books Michael mention, like the Andrew MacLauclan book (I think maybe he's talking about 'New Classic Dessert's) are great for idea's. Soaking up some of that stuff and trying them out can't hurt. Also, if I can throw one out there, 'Sweet Season's', by Richard Leach, has some really good recipes for basic flavours, solid jumping off point's for various cream's, etc. It's a presentation heavy book, which any of us who are doing our own menu's and doing all of the production for it probably wouldn't have time for, but the individual component's still impress me. it's worth a look into. Best of luck and I hope you enjoy being a "sweet-sider"!

True, that!

I have access to the spanish version and us a translator program on my computer... but many of the words do not translate since they are in catalna (sic) and not proper spanish.. But don't you think with a certain amount of knowledge of cooking theory, technique it is sort of clear?

And I thought that that only happened to me! (drum roll,cymbal crash) No, seriously folks, F.G., this sounds amazing! I've gotta google this to see if I can find out anything.

I'm ready to cave in and buy the Spanish one. Theobroma: just use your translator, it will come out close enough.

Damn!!! I knew this couldn't have gone unnoticed here. Thanks for merging me. Steve Klc brought up a good point about fashion and Target , Issac (and Todd) but... Fashion always get's copped by store's,etc. I don't hold anything against Bayless, anymore then I do against Bowie or the Who or Led Zep for selling out to their various entities, corps. car ads. Money Talks, Bullshit Walks, 'thas all.

Schocked was I when I saw Rick Bayless doing a Burger King commercial for the 'Santa Fe' sandwich or whatever it was. Why do this? Except for the bucks.

Knowing that I possibly risk someones ire, I wrote chipbooks.com the other day about a FIRM release date and I received an e-mail back stating that they will have it late this month and that they are receiving an initial shipment of 250 and I believe they have back orders of + 200 and that they are the sole distributor, as stated somewhere on this thread. Maybe Amazon bailed out because of the price? Or, maybe the whole thing is getting pushed back Either way, I don't think anyone could make money selling it for 75 f /170 usd.

More, please!!! If you could, elaborate more on the layout of the shops you visited. I don't know how I missed this! Thanks in advance!

All things created by the chef/owner (in this case anyway) giving the Stagiaire ample cause to think of the proprieter a a "git". You just don't get it, do you? There's a significant difference between calling one's mentor a 'git' in public and in private. Ginger-Chef is at present doing a stage at M.B. It's not beyond the realm of possibilty that someone pick up the telephone and inform M.B. that the British Roux Scholarship stagiare is slagging him off on a public discussion forum. Or do you think this is okay for either party? That would kind of suck, wouldn't it? Hopefully, the thought to do that would never cross anyone's mind here.

Sometimes thing's aren't quite what they seem. I've worked at some pretty notable place's that turned out a bit disappointing. I've also not read any particularly disparaging remarks by ginger chef. A git doesn't = say, c-nt, right?

Yes. We have a large number of members who speak that weird and somewhat insular dialect of English called "British." I've spent a considerable amount of time in England, I just wanted a breakdown of the phrase in context to the chef. I could understand him being thought of as a jerk for yelling, whatever, but, am suprised that he seems a bit underwhelming as a chef. That's kind of sad, isn't it? Cheers

Does 'git' = jerk?

Clay (chocophile) Nice to hear from you. If you get a chance, perhaps you could start a thread about your attendence at the WPF , specifically, the Adria talk you mentioned. I'm sure a lot of us here would be psyched to read about it! This would be extremely interesting. I'm curious as to what he meant by that? Was he talking about being inspired by, say, Bras, to create a dessert? Or borrowing a technique of his? I would love to hear about this! Thanks in advance

I'm bumping this up just because you all are the 'shit'!!! Inventolux, thanks for the info too. I've been trying to get around to this! Thanks again!

Your ideas suck! You're an idiot! Grant Achatz too! Is that better?

Steve, Can you explain more in depth on the consultant issue? I'm curious because I'm wondering how you handle it. Do you create your menus and hand them over to an in house team that is solely responsible for the pastry department? And you can have the confidence that everything is going to be as you need it to be? Or are you jumping around, so to speak, to make sure your quality is staying up to your (high) standards? And , even though it would maybe be more of a topic for the pastry and baking forum, can you elaborate further on the second quote here? Especially here, on this thread? Are you noticing a downward trend in your places??? Thanks in advance