nightscotsman

This rang a bell with me. I was also one of those people who could do well without much effort. Even when I went to pastry school, most of the stuff we did came quite easily. But when you start baking on the job it's a very different story. Some of the items we make are quite difficult and were frustrating and first, but the main challenge is to PRODUCE quickly and cleanly. I feel like I'm always the slowest one (though lately I've noticed that I'm getting faster than the other new guy). I was just getting to the point were I was feeling more comfortable with the work load when last week one of our team went on vacation. So not only did I have my usual stuff to make, but part of somebody else's as well! I was in a complete panic every day and felt so terrible that I couldn't keep up with everyone else. I really felt like I had let my boss down. I also contemplated coming in early and working off the clock to get a head start. What kills me is that before they hired me and one other guy, they used to crank out the same work load with 3 people every day. I don't know how in the hell they did it.

very nice, foodie3. You might like to check out this extensive older thread on cannele if you haven't seen it already: Click. Lots of discussion of recipes and molds.

FWED - your original post has been edited to fix the typo.

Aha! maybe what i'm looking for. neil - soak whole stalks of mint, or the trimmed tops? I think it will stay in better shape if you keep the mint as intact as possible, but probably not a big difference as long as you don't chop it first.

Here's how we were taught to wash and store mint to keep it fresh longer. Worked for us: Soak mint for 5 minutes in bath of 5000 g water with 1g of bleach added. Rinse, then soak 10 minutes in 5000 g water with 1 gram white vinegar added. Drain well, but do not rinse. Store in cooler in an airtight container with paper towel in bottom.

You certainly can make marshmallows with a hand mixer. The issue isn't power, but whether you have the stamina to hold the mixer while you beat for up to 10 minutes. Your arm may feel like it's going to fall off.

Ted - you might be interested to know we use several different types of spayers in the kitchen. A couple different power sprayers that heat the glaze fruit tarts and such (love those things), Wagner power sprayers (of course), hand trigger spray bottles, and those pump-type canister sprayers normally used for bug spray and such (most likely purchased at Home Depot). They spray everything they can: clear glaze, sugar glaze, egg wash, chocolate, cocoa butter, etc. MUCH faster and you get a thinner, more even coating. And Wendy - LOVE the handbad cakes! They're so cute!

I totally agree - rhubarb should stand alone. Cooking strawberries is criminal in my book. I prefer flour to thicken both apple and rhubarb pies. I like the heartiness that flour brings to those fruits. All other fruit pies get corn starch. I personally don't like tapioca as a thickener - the texture just does seem right to me. You might also be interested it a couple past threads we've had on rhubarb: here and here.

Thanks so much for sharing some of your background and the great tips (the cake makers where I work use the big piping tip to cover cakes like you do). Those Cranium cakes are amazing - perfect characters and very clean. What is the actual cake covered with? Fondant, I assume?

Just off the top of my head, I'm wondering if you've thought of doing a custard-type pie with fruit baked in it? Like a claufouti? Many different types of fruit - fresh, frozen and canned - can work well in this type of filling. Oh, and welcome to eGullet!

I assume you mean the frozen yolks? The stuff we get comes already blended with a small percentage of sugar, so when it's defrosted it's nice and smooth - almost like a gel. Never had a problem with graininess.

In school we let the batter rest in the cooler over night, usually in disposable piping bags so the next day we can just cut the tip and go. However, we were also told that if you're in a hurry you can let it rest at room temp for a couple hours and get close to same benefits.

I see big buckets of frozen whites in one of our coolers, but the restraurant team doesn't use them, so I'm not sure what they do get used for in the kitchen. However, we use TONS of frozen egg yolks. You would too if your creme brulee recipe called for 7200 grams of yolks! We learned the hard way how wonderful it is to have this stuff around when we didn't get our regular delivery and we had to separate fresh eggs for everything.

The flip side of the showpiece thing is, of course, if you actually WANT people to eat them they treat the stuff like poison. During school we had some displays at Chicago charity events giving away chocolates made by students. When the chocolates ran out we invited, encouraged, even begged attendees to break off chunks of the chocolate showpieces and either take them home or eat them. Very few people were bold enough to go for it.

Does this mean that I can use glucose in place of corn syrup in your marshmallow recipe? As far as I am aware, corn syrup is used in recipes to hinder crystalization as corn syrup does not crystalize. Is this correct? Sorry to digress .... Definitely you can use glucose. The main difference between the two is corn syrup has a little more water in it so it's more pourable and easy to work with for home cooks. Also, I think commercial glucose is made from wheat rather than corn.

the invert sugar adds moistness to the finished product, as well as helping to emulsify the batter when mixing. Glucose, which is basically the same as corn syrup, may not work as a substitute. Like a said above, I haven't tried it, but it might be worth a shot. I think a light flavored honey would be a better substitute, or you might even try an orange flower honey which might be nice with the almonds.

We made our own almond paste in school, but we used high powered professional Robot Coups, so you may not get the same results using a home food processor. The recipe you link to seems to me like it has too much water. Here's what we used: 125 g blanched almonds 100 g powedered sugar 9 g sorbitol (optional - helps maintain freshness) 80 g (about) simple syrup Grind almonds and sugar together until you get a smooth paste - add simple syrup only if needed. Don't over mix to keep the oil from separating from the nuts.

Ah yes - faster, faster, faster. That was one of the demoralizing things when I started my job. It seemed like I was working in a complete panic and literally running all over the kitchen to get my stuff done, while people who had been there for several years worked at a calm pace, walking sloooowly to get this or that tool or ingredient, but getting more done in less time than me. GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY WAY, I'M ON A SCHEDULE! I'm getting much better (and my back has stopped hurting, thanks very much), but I'm still not as fast as I should be. A little better every day. And I sooo miss our school uniforms! We had vinyl bib aprons that you could just wipe off with a damp cloth. Even during chocolate classes I could go for 2 or 3 days without changing my jacket. The traditional cloth aprons that basically just cover your pants seem kind of pointless to me. And our jackets were short sleeve - none of that silly rolling up the sleeves thing - with snaps instead of cloth "buttons" that don't stay buttoned. Thank God I can just dump my dirty jacket off at Uniform Services at the end of the day and pick up a clean and pressed one the next morning.

I don't think that corn syrup will give you the same results as a replacement. You might try it anyway and see what happens. I haven't tried baking it in a sheet pan, but I suppose that will work. I would keep the temp at 375. I also haven't tried adding any flavorings since for me the point to a financier is the rich nut flavor, though I have used hazelnut flour with good results. We used pastry flour, which is inbetween cake and AP flour in strength. I would just go with AP.

This recipe is really good, but it calls for Trimoline (invert sugar) which can be difficult for home cooks to buy. The amount is small so you could substitute honey with a slight difference in flavor. Financiers 110 g powdered sugar (sifted) 40 g almond flour 40 g flour 1 g baking powder 10 g Trimoline 110 g egg whites 60 g butter Vanilla extract to taste Brown butter and strain. Mix all dry ingredients together. Whisk in Trimoline, half of egg whites and hot browned butter. Add rest of egg whites. Let rest overnight in the cooler. Pipe into molds and bake at 375 F. If you are making small petit four size finianciers it's very nice to put a raspberry, morello cherry (even better soaked in brandy), or caramelized hazelnut in the middle of each before baking.

Any chance you could let us in on why you have to use milk chocolate to make your brownies? Seems like it would just produce a "brownie" weak in flavor.

According to this site: http://www.longgroveonline.com/chocolate.html, the Long Grove Chocolate Festival seems to have been a couple weeks ago. Sorry Wendy

Here is Maury Rubin's tart dough recipe. I think it's primarily designed to be used with tart rings, but I'm sure tartlet molds would work as well. Jeffrey Steingarten is a big fan of this recipe.

There's also these two books from L'Ecole Lenotre: Volume One Volume Two I don't own them, so I can't say if they are any good, but they are certainly aimed at the professional.

In school we were told to NOT let the flour and liquid mixture cool at all before adding the eggs. If it isn't hot the eggs will cool it too much and you won't get the proper emulsion. We also froze the piped raw dough and they puffed up fine when baked. My notes say we used a 325 F deck oven for 335-40 minutes for small puffs.