
nightscotsman
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Jean Philippe Maury Patisserie
nightscotsman replied to a topic in Southwest & Western States: Cooking & Baking
Thanks! I'm pretty sure those molds were made in-house by the Bellagio engineering staff. Very handy folks who have made us custom molds, cutters and tuile stencils in the past, as well as being on call to fix our equipment 24 hours a day. -
Hi Neil Are you able to share your black forest recipe or is there a link somewhere? I made one according to the Cake Bible but the supposedly "moist" genoise was quite dense, with the chocolate cooked in water added, I did not like it. ← We made one in school that I really liked, but I also liked the one from Herme's chocolate dessert book, though I would decrease the gelatine and add a bit of sugar to the kirsch-flavored cream component. I also perfer to double the amount of alcohol, but I really like the kirsch flavor stronger than the average person.
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Jean Philippe Maury Patisserie
nightscotsman replied to a topic in Southwest & Western States: Cooking & Baking
I'm sure you're right, but the ones we use aren't from DeMarle. They're cast silicone made for us by Chef Rubber (which happens to be based here in Vegas). The molds never go in the oven. -
Classic French Crème Brulée - The Topic
nightscotsman replied to a topic in France: Cooking & Baking
One thing that can cause your brulee to take longer to bake is using too much water in the bath. Water takes a long time (and a lot of energy) to heat up, so if you use too much, the water will keep the dishes and the custard from reaching the proper temperature. What will happen is the cream will dry out before it bakes. For shallow dishes about 1/8 - 1/4 of an inch is plenty. You may need more like 3/8 of an inch for deeper dishes, but not much more. Half way up the dish is way too much. -
We had some postings - or was it an entire thread? - around here not too long ago about an apple pie recipe that used ketchup. When you look at the label and see that ketchup is mostly sugar and/or high fructose corn syrup with some vinegar, tomato and spices, then it actually doesn't seen so outrageous to think of it in a dessert. I've made tomato pate de fruit from a Michel Bras recipe that was really quite good - and nobody could guess the flavor. ketchup pate de fruit anyone?
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Jean Philippe Maury Patisserie
nightscotsman replied to a topic in Southwest & Western States: Cooking & Baking
I've seen some of those molds around the kitchen, but I've never seen them used. I don't think the chefs like them. For almost everything we use either Flexipan or metal ring molds. However, we have been using these new (custom made, I assume) molds that are more like forms for the JPM desserts. They are sort of like two sheetpan sized sheets of plexiglass with 2 or 2-1/2 inch round holes cut out, separated by removeable plastic pillars that keep them about two inches apart. The circlular holes line up so they can hold acetate strips rolled into tubes that actually form the molds. To unmold, you just pull off the top sheet of plexi and remove the individual cakes. -
Is this the same recipe? I'd love to have a good reliable chocolate chiffon cake recipe. I like the one from the Cake Bible, but it's a lttle too fragile to work as a layer cake.
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You might want to also check out this earlier thread on toffee for more advice and recipes: here.
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Another vote for blackforest cake - one of my favorites and it so hard to find a good version in US bakeries. They also make a nice addition baked into financiers.
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Jean Philippe Maury Patisserie
nightscotsman replied to a topic in Southwest & Western States: Cooking & Baking
Oh, I think I see where the confusion is. The cakes aren't baked in the rings. We bake sheets of carrot cake and cut rounds with a circle cutter. Then the individual cakes are assembled in rings with the cream cheese filling just like a mousse cake, so when they are unmolded, the outside is covered with frosting with a smooth finish. -
Jean Philippe Maury Patisserie
nightscotsman replied to a topic in Southwest & Western States: Cooking & Baking
They tried to do the logos in chocolate, but could never get satifying (ie: perfect) results. The custom molds are just one piece. The balls are frozen very hard before unmolding. The hazelnuts are on top to indicate the hazelnut cremeux filling inside the vanilla cream. The leaves (like all of our chocolate deco) are done in house by our chocolate team, but PCB might have something like that. The smooth surface comes from using the ring mold rather than frosting each cake by hand. They come out of the mold smooth and clean just like a mousse cake. We spray them frozen to get a velvet finish. -
Jean Philippe Maury Patisserie
nightscotsman replied to a topic in Southwest & Western States: Cooking & Baking
They are various flavors of cremeux (passion fruit, vanilla, and chocolate), which is sort of a stove-top creme brulee with a bit of gelatine to set. They get the perfectly round ball shape by using custom silicon molds. The light chocolate flower-like shape on top of the Imperial is also produced with a custom mold. By the way, the Exotic and the Imperial were both developed for last year's World Pastry Competition and helped the US team win the gold medal. So if you've ever wanted to taste what the judges are tasting, this is your chance. The green shapes are white chocolate and are sort of stylized bamboo leaves. Caramelized hazelnuts. The carrot cake is assembled in a ring mold, frozen, unmolded, and sprayed with orange cocoa butter. The sides are decorated with white chocolate squares, and the top has a white chocolate fan, marzipan carrot, three dots of clear glaze each with a touch of gold leaf, and a little round plastic JP logo. -
Yep - since I now go to bed at 3:00 pm and get up at Midnight so I can start work at 2:00 am. And starting this week, the restaurant dessert team will be working six day weeks with one day off for a "weekend". The overtime pay is great, but we REALLY need some help. Ted! dude! Vegas is calling! Actually the weird hours haven't been a big hardship for me. I've always been a bit of a loner, so the lack of social life is not unfamiliar. And I haven't hung out in bars since I was in my 20s.
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Jean Philippe Maury Patisserie
nightscotsman replied to a topic in Southwest & Western States: Cooking & Baking
The dessert display does have glass in front and a short glass shelf on top, but otherwise the pastries are uncovered and sit directly on the chilled granite counter (except for small cardboard rounds, of course). Everything is made fresh every day - nothing is kept for a second day. Leftovers, which have been rare so far, go to the employee dining room). Although you have to realize that many items are made up partially in bulk and kept frozen, then we just pull what we need each morning and do the finishing. But stuff like the napoleans, fruit tarts and eclairs are certainly made from scratch daily. -
We use two types of heavy cream. When we want whipped cream that will whip very stiff and hold up for a least a day, we use Challenge brand ultrapasturized cream. I believe it has some stabilizers added to make up for the extra processing. For other stuff like creme brulee we use a standard local supermarket brand that's just regular pasturized. I don't think there's any fat percentage difference between the two.
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What/where is Craftwich? Is this related to Craft/Craftsteak? Last time I was in LV I had the best piece of meat of my life, a Kobe beef skirt steak from Craftsteak. I'd be interested to try their sandwich! ← Actually, it's 'wichcraft and it is related to Craft/Craftsteak - a Tom Colicchio venture. It's in the MGM Grand very near Craftsteak. Too bad they opened too late for you, Chezhoff. Great breakfast sandwiches. I like the fried egg, bacon, gorgonzola and frisee on ciabatta roll.
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Jean Philippe Maury Patisserie
nightscotsman replied to a topic in Southwest & Western States: Cooking & Baking
I believe they got samples from several different companies, so I'm not sure who has the final contract. They are insanely elaborate and detailed - the boxes all have hidden magnetic closures (even the tiny two-truffle box), and some are actually made of wood with cherry veneer and little drawers that pull out. Very expensive stuff. Oh, by the way - not sure if you noticed, but the dessert pastries are not displayed in a traditional enclosed display case. The counter itself was custom designed and built so that cool, moisture controlled air comes from slots around the pastry and "pools" within an area contained by a low stainless steel barrier. Really tricky considering how dry the air is here. -
Jean Philippe Maury Patisserie
nightscotsman replied to a topic in Southwest & Western States: Cooking & Baking
Being a lowly baker (otherwise known as a pastry cook) I'm not privy to any profit and loss statements, but even if I were I'm afraid we're not allowed to talk about the business aspects of the shop or hotel in general. Sorry. -
Jean Philippe Maury Patisserie
nightscotsman replied to a topic in Southwest & Western States: Cooking & Baking
Thanks everyone I'll try to answer all the questions I can, though I haven't tasted everything so I don't know full details on some items (and don't ask me which is my favorite). We use maltitol in the sugar free items. It doesn't have a nasty aftertaste like artificial sweeteners do, and though it can affect the "digestive process" if eaten in large quantities, the amount we use is quite small and we haven't had any complaints. It's been used in the sugar free desserts in the buffet for years. I don't think anything is available on-line, or if they plan to do so in the future. I would doubt it since we just aren't set up for than kind of quantity. Guess you'll just have to take a field trip to Vegas, Wendy. So far we've been making 15 of each of the dessert pastries every day, but I'm sure that will change once they see which items sell better than others. I've been spending most of my time constructing the fruit and raspberry tarts, as well as finishing the charlottes and a few other items. Our team of 5 people (plus 2 chef-supervisors and 2 afternoon production people) also has to still produce desserts for 5 restaurants and room service, as well as several other retail outlets in the hotel. Of we also get a lot of help from the danish, chocolate and production teams who produce the doughs, choux, and puff that we use. If you include the banquet and buffet teams, it's a huge kitchen. I will get a photo of the waterfall as soon as they get it working. I don't think Chihuly did the glass installation - not really his style. I'm guessing it was the interior design team. I'll try to find out who designed the space. Don't know about the Sacher spelling. Maybe it's "French"? -
Photos of the new Jean Philippe Patisserie in Bellagio are now here.
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This past weekend, after a month of construction delays and intense kitchen preparation, the new Jean Philippe Patisserie opened in Bellagio, Las Vegas. When I started in the pastry kitchen about 10 months ago, all we could see was a freshly designed logo and rough sketches of the interior. Now we're all working our asses off pulling lots of overtime to fill the cases with beautiful pastries (please, come and help us!). Congratulations to Chef Maury, Chef Claude Escamilla (who designed all of the dessert pastries), and my boss Chef Chris Hanmer (who keeps the team on track and works harder and longer hours and any of us). The Man and his new baby. The front of the shop is on the hallway leading from the Conservatory to the new tower. This will be the "chocolate waterfall". It's not quite finished yet, but it should be running by next week. A variety of packaged goodies - cookies and candies - ready for takeaway. The ice cream is made in-house, of course. The made to order crepes have been extremely popular. Both savory and sweet fillings are available. The full line of chocolates. The packaging is all custom and very elaborate. Yes, that's a chocolate showpiece on top of the case. Sandwiches. Croissants, danish, and other breakfast pastries. Of course, the highlight is the dessert pastries. All items in this display are $5.50 each. From left to right: Chocobana - chocolate mousse, caramelized bananas, dark chocolate cremeux, hazelnut dough Exotic - candied pineapple, kalamansi coulis, lime dacquoise, crispy coconut Saccher - raspberry ganache, chocolate sponge, raspberry syrup, chocolate glaze Fruit Tart - vanilla cream, seasonal fruits, almond dough Imperial - creme brulee, crispy nuts, dark chocolate mousse, chocolate biscuit Eclair - vanilla cream, praline cremeux, pate a choux, vanilla icing Carrot - spicy carrot cake, coconut, pineapple, cream cheese Key Lime - key lime emulsion, candied mangoes, almond dough, whipped cream Opera - chocolate ganache, coffee butter cream, almond biscuit, espresso syrup Rose Macaron - raspberry macarons, rose infused cream, fresh raspberries Lemon Pie - lemon curd, candied strawberry, lemon meringue, almond dough Peanut - chocolate cream, caramel, peanuts, almond dough Raspberry - raspberry cremeux, pistachio cream, sable bretton, fresh raspberry Intense - dark chocolate mousse, chocolate cremeux, chocolate macaron, chocolate glaze Napoleon - vanilla cream, puff dough layers, marble icing Charlotte - vanilla bavaroise, raspberry cremeux, biscuit cuillere, fresh fruits Pecan Tart - pecan caramel, espresso cream, pecan buttercream, hazelnut dough Strawberry - mousseline cream, almond macaron, almond biscuit, fresh strawberry Cheesecake - cream cheese, graham cracker, white chocolate shell Eclair - chocolate cream, vanilla cremeux, pate a choux, chocolate icing Sugar Free Fruit tart - vanilla cream, almond dough, fresh fruit Sugar Free Chocolate Napoleon - chocolate cream, chocolate puff dough, marble chocolate Sugar Free Raspberry Napoleon - mixed berry cream, puff dough, fresh raspberry Assorted Brownies
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I finally checked to see what we use, and it looks like it's Hero. However, my boss hates to use it for non-baked fillings, so he's gone so far as to have the cake decorators steal from room service bunches of those tiny jars of jam they serve with toast and scones. Imagine having to open and empty out enough of those things to fill several layers of a wedding cake!
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I'm bumping this thread up yet again since we are desperately in need of pastry cooks. The new pastry shop opened this weekend and is a huge hit. Unfortunately this means that we just can't handle the work load with the current staff level. We're doing world-class, competition level stuff that you rarely see anywhere, and working here is not only a great learning experience, but the pay and benefits are excellent and employees are treated fairly and with respect. On the restaurant dessert team (where I work) we don't do the huge volumes of product that buffet and banquets does, but you will need to be able to work quickly and cleanly and have a good eye for finishing techniques. If interested either call Bellagio directly between 10:00 am and 5:00 pm PST and ask to be connected to the pastry kitchen office to inquire about job openings, or PM me and I can get you an email address.
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Excellent! Thanks so much for the details on the book, patty. I will definitely have to pick it up soon. My boss said he bought the book at the Chef Rubber retail outlet here in Vegas.
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I've also found potato starch in asian markets next to the rice flour and tapioca starch.