nightscotsman

The key is to never create the bubbles in the first place. Stiring with a spatula or spoon is gauranteed to create bubbles. We use a small burr mixer (otherwise known as a hand blender) and make sure the blender head stays under the surface of the glaze while blending. No bubbles.

The shop is in Bellagio, which is at about the center of the Las Vegas Strip. There isn't a web site for the pastry shop, but you can check out Bellagio here: http://www.bellagio.com/

I think using an enrober is like using a sheeter for croissants rather than a rolling pin. At serious commercial quantities there is simply no way to do everything by hand and make money. If a machine is going to give me better quality faster, then I'm all ears. I also vote for perfect finishes whether decorated to death or naked chocolate.

All of the Bellagio employees wear the name of their home town on their name tags (mine says Seattle, though I was born in Portland). The counter staff aren't pastry chefs, though several of them are trained to make the crepes. The crepes are good and very popular. The exotic version has a filling of pineapple, mango, and papaya with mango and passion puree and malibu rum. The center of the exotic (which is my favorite as well) has mango/passion fruit cremeux (the same as the ball on top), semi-candied spiced pineapple, calamansi gelee, and coconut dacquoise. It was originally developed for the last World Pastry Competition and helped win the US team a gold medal. There ARE job openings in our kitchen! The restaurant dessert team (where I work), which makes the dessert pastries for the shop as well as several restaurants, room service and other retail outlets, will probably be fully staffed in the next few weeks (I hope). However, some of the other teams - banquets, buffet, chocolate, production and danish - are looking for people. There are also several restaurants in Bellagio that have their own pastry staff which may be looking for people as well. Working here is great. Quality is very high in all parts of the operation - 90-95% of our product is made in-house from scratch using the best ingredients. The chefs expect a lot from the staff, but everyone is treated fairly and with respect. Working hours are very reasonable (normally 8 hour days with 2 day weekends) though most shifts start very early (our team is starting at 3:00 am now), pay is very good and benefits are excellent (full medical, 401k, pension, job security). The hotel is fully unionized and MGM Mirage, the parent company, has a good relationship with the union. To apply for a job, go the MGMMirage.com web site here. Fill out the application on-line, then call the hotel between 10:00 am and 5:00 pm and ask to be connected to the pastry kitchen office (don't wait for them to call you) to arrange an interview.

Sensi has their own pastry chef and staff, so we don't make their desserts. By the way, their pastry chef will be competing in the National Pastry Team Championship in Scotsdale this July. We all wish him the best of luck.

Sensi is also one of the few fine dining places on the strip open for lunch.

Welcome Sam! My boss Chris Hanmer (who's probably reading this, but too chicken to post ) said to say 'hi'. A few comments on the site: - Love the photos and recipes, but it would be great to be able to read a more detailed description of some of the items beyond the menu blurb. - The most prominent name/logo on all of the pages past the home page is this d.d.pesh person who apparently did the music. In fact, your name isn't on the sub-pages at all. Is there some reason for this other than an inexerienced web designer? - In the "latest news" pop-up, the newest item should probably be at the top.

Congratulations - I hope you have a great time in your new job Currently I'm getting up at midnight to start work at 2:00 am. I can get by on 7 hours of sleep and occasionally 6, but I do best with a full 8 hours. This means I go to bed by about 3:00 pm. I always read for a bit to wind down and get sleepy. One thing that helps me when I might have trouble getting to sleep is melatonin. From the melatonin.com web site: It's cheap, available in the vitamin/suppliment aisle in any drug store, and doesn't make you feel "drugged" like some sleeping pills can. It's action if very mild and it doesn't always work for everyone, but I love the stuff. The new hours will be hard at first, but you'll most likely get used to it. What will be more difficult to get used to is the huge dent it will make in your social or family life. You have to be dedicated to work the early morning shift, though 5:00 isn't really that bad.

Wandered through Wynn yesterday, doing the tourist thing. I just have to say... $5 for a plain chocolate cupcake? Are they KIDDING!

It kind of bothers me that I can't find an ingredient list anywhere on the site. Anybody know what's in this stuff?

I'm afraid that I don't have a recipe for making your own invert sugar, but I do know that corn syrup/glucose does not work as a substitue. For one thing corn syrup is about half as sweet as sucrose while invert sugar is about 50% sweeter. Also, invert sugar works as emulsifier in the ganache recipe while glucose would not. When it comes to something as finely ballanced as a ganache recipe, even corn syrup and glucose aren't interchangeable since corn syrup contains significantly more water. As Akwa posted above, honey will work since it is an invert sugar, but even with the lightest clover honey, it will alter the flavor of your product. Which might not be a bad thing.

We make big batches of banana caramel that we use as a filling in cakes, bread pudding, and donuts, among other things: 2265 g sugar 425 g glucose 1130 g butter 4535 g banana puree make a caramel with sugar and glucose. Turn off heat and add butter in chunks. Stir together as the butter melts. When all the butter is incorporated, whisk in banana puree. When the mixture is cool, we fill disposable pastry bags, tie off the ends and freeze for future use.

These days I'm mostly interested in narrow-focus niche books rather than ones that try to cover every type of pastry possible (which is usually impossible to do really well). There are mainly three reasons I will consider purchasing: Technical reference books, such as Jean-Pierre Wybauw Fine Chocolates book. These may have great and useful recipes, but the technical information is either unavailable published elsewhere or is in a more useful form than other sources. Modern, updated recipes and techniques that are well tested and versatile. I'm not necessarily looking for cutting edge experimental stuff here, but more base recipes that I can build my own stuff on. Pure inspiration. These are the wildly creative books, such as Oriol Balaguer and Albert Adria, that may or may not be practically useful to me now or in the near future, but that help push my thinking into new areas, especially with flavors and presentation ideas. Again, I don't expect to use a lot of recipes directly from this type of book, but they should certainly have lots of photos. Beyond these categories there are also a few authors/chefs, such as Dorie Greenspan and Pierre Herme, that I will buy new books from sight-unseen.

I agree about not wearing jeans, but every pastry chef and cook I've met has worn a chef's uniform. The hat may be different, but same jacket and pants.

We did mini financiers - chocolate and regular - in flexipans in school, as well as various flavors now at work, and haven't had the problem you're describing. As jackal10 said above, no butter or spray coating. Are you piping or spooning to fill the molds? We always pipe, which might elimiate bubbles. The only other thing I can think of is to look at the recipe you're using.

I've heard that chef Keegan Gerhard has left as second in command of the pastry at Wynn. Anybody have confirmation?

I'm guessing that's probably Isla in Treasure Island. http://www.treasureisland.com/pages/dining_isla.asp

I don't have any photos, but I just wanted to say that our cake decorators also use that very same tool to smooth buttercream. Seems to work like a charm. To get an ultimately smooth and glossy finish, it can also help to dip the tool in warm water for the final pass.

I've made praline paste at home and we make huge vats of it at work to flavor many items. It is very easy to do in a food processor, though the finished product will be a little on the grainy side and you will never get the completely smooth texture of commercial brands (they use special equipment). I don't have a recipe at hand at the moment, but the basic process is to toast the hazelnuts and rub to remove the skins. Spread the nuts out on a foil lined sheet pan, then make a caramel and pour it over the nuts. When the whole thing is cool, break up the caramel and grind it in the food processor (you may need to do this in batches) until you get a smooth (or as smooth as possible) paste like a nut butter.

I wouldn't recommend using untempered chocolate - you'll have problems setting (unless you put in the cooler right away, which will bring on it's own problems with condensation), dull surfaces and streaking.

We use Plugra for everything from buttercream to croissants to coating cheesecake pans. We go through quite a few 40 lb blocks a day.

I agree that you should insist on charging per piece. The cost of chocolate should be quite low, so it will be your labor and overhead that you will mostly be charging for - things that just don't come by the pound. We do anywhere from a few hundred to several thousand strawberries a day, and while most are given away as amenities to VIPs and high rollers, as well as platters for banquets and the buffet, we also sell them for I think $3-$4 each.

We use our torches so much at work we often have to hide them so the other teams don't come and take them. Some of the things we use them for: - brown meringue on lemon tarts - heat the bottoms of tart molds and cheesecake pans to help unmolding - heat knives to cut cleanly through brownies, cakes and cheesecakes - heat up a sheet pan to use as a surface to partially melt choclotate decorations to attach to pastries - briefly torch frozen mousse domes to remove condensation before glazing - melt chocolate spills on the stainless counter and tile floors to ease cleanup - wave torch flame quickly over just poured creme brulees to pop surface bubbles before baking

It looks like this: They built it like they would a regular showpiece - mostly basic molded pieces like cylinders, spheres, eggs, etc. The finished piece is very impressive, but I have to say in the early stages it looked mighty creepy. Oh, and the car and bunny to the left are all chocolate as well.

Easter - oh, man. You wouldn't think Easter and Vegas would go together, but apparently in many people's minds they do. We're already seeing orders from restaurants spiking, and we've turned one of the chocolate desserts for the shop into cute little bunnies. The local press has been running stories about the shop, so I'm sure that'll drive numbers up as well. They seem especially impressed by the six foot tall, 190 pound chocolate Easter Bunny that the chefs built. I was trying to remember what business was like last year for Easter, but then I remembered we didn't have ANY business - that was the weekend that the power went out at Bellagio for three days! Goodbye Easter brunch.