nightscotsman

You want the soft ball stage. Let's see, that would be... 235-240 F. Or you could freak out everyone else in the kitchen and test with your bare hands. Get a bowl of very cold water and soak your fingers until they are chilled. Holding the bowl close to the pot of boiling sugar, quickly (but not too quickly) reach in and grab some syrup and plunge it into the cold water. It should set quickly and you will be able to tell what stage your sugar's at. You will feel the heat, but if done properly your fingers wont burn. This is the way we learned to do it in school, and the normal way we test in the pastry kitchen.

Thanks for the new link. That's a strange looking device. Please let us know how it works for you.

thanks very much for posting the recipe, vogelap. Sounds good. Maybe when you have the time you could also post it in RecipeGullet - if you haven't already. I have a couple questions: two pounds of sugar seems like a lot for that volume of cream - is this correct? Also, what is your technique for torching the cream without burning the top edges of the pastry?

I'm afraid this link doesn't work for me. I get something about "TravelZoo top travel deals"?

I prefer the model without the handle for the feeling of control, but if I'm doing more than a couple limes - like in a commercial kitchen where I might do 10 or more - the handle of the 35002 is much nicer on my hands. And I can still move the grater over the fruit rather than the traditional way with the grater on the table.

I keep meaning to take my digital camera to work, but I should have some photos later this week (my weekend starts tomorrow). The pistachio pastry cream is just regular pastry cream mixed with pistachio paste and lightened with whipped cream. The proportions we use are: 1000 g cold pastry cream 40 g pistachio paste 200 g whipped cream (whipped very stiff) In cooking, a brunoise is a very tiny dice - the mango we do is less than 1/8" cubes.

Here in Las Vegas we seem to be completely seasonless. At the Bellagio we make several types of fresh fruit tarts for the hotel restaurants: - A mixed fruit tart (about 10-15 different kinds depending on who's making them that day), with Grand Marnier pastry cream on a breton sable base. - A sugar free tart with mixed fruit in a puff pastry shell with berry mousse. - A raspberry "tower" tart with pistachio pastry cream on breton sable. These were really tricky to learn, but I'm getting much better at making them. They feature about a half pint of beautiful raspberries on a 2 to 2-1/2 in base. The berries are piled into a high cone filled with cream and sprinkled with chopped pistachios. One of my favorite things to eat that we make. - For the Petrossian afternoon tea we make these little strawberry tarts than are increadibly fussy. We slice a single stawberry paper thin vertically, fan out the slices and wrap them around a pistachio pastry cream filling. Then we carefully bring in the narrow tops to form cone around the cream on top of a 1-1/2 inch sponge cake base. sprinkle with chopped pistachios, place two white chocolate squiggles coming out of the top, and a single dot of gold leaf. - The other tart we to for Petrossian is on a flat 1-1/2 square of coconut cake. Over a layer of coconut pastry cream, they each get 1/4 a strawberry, a cantalope ball, three tiny wedges of kiwi, half a raspberry, a blueberry dusted with powdered sugar, and a small mound of mango brunoise. Garnish with toasted coconut and a tiny white chocolate triangle colored green.

I say there are lies, damn lies, and marketing. I mean, the only thing easier than chocolate fondue to make for dessert is to dish a scoop of ice cream. Melt some chocolate, Maybe add some liquid to thin and flavor it a bit, chop fruit, serve. Sheesh.

I think that would be Rose Levy Berenbaum's white chocolate whisper cake from the "Cake Bible". I haven't made many white cakes, but I really like that recipe. You don't really taste the white chocolate, but it adds a wonderful richness of flavor. If there weren't so many nominated recipes already, I would post Rose's.

Adding veg oil is the way to go. If you add just a bit, it will thin the melted chocolate considerably and make it pourable, but it will still set firm. Not quite as hard as pure chocolate, but harder than a glaze. If you still want a shiny surface, you can then attach a thin chocolate square to the top while it's still soft. We did a lot of glazes in school, but the ones that stay glossy no matter what, also stay soft to the touch, I don't know if that's what you're looking for. The procedure for making nice glossy squares is to use an acetate sheet and a piece of plexiglass. Dampen the plexi slightly and lay the acetate on top. Use a squeegee or plastic bowl scraper to press out the water from between the two plastics and adhere the acetate to the plexi. Make sure all of the water is wiped off of the surface. Pour a some tempered chocolate along one edge of the acetate, and using an offset spatula spread it into a very thin layer covering the sheet. Let set slightly until the surface is no longer tacky, but the chocolate is still soft. Using a ruler, a piece of slotted sheet metal (can't remember what this tool is called) or cutter from a guitar, cut squares in the chocolate, not cutting through the acetate. Immediately peel the acetate off of the plexi (before the chocoalte sets completely) and flip it over chocolate side down back on the plexi sheet. Put a sheet pan on top to weight the acetate and keep the edges of the chocolate squares from curling. Let set completely before peeling off the acetate from the chocolate - this is very important. The longer you let it set (while the cocoa butter crystals are forming their matrix), the glossier the chocolate will be. You can also make colored squares by using various methods for spreading, spraying or painting colored cocoa butter and/or white chocolate on the acetate before spreading with chocolate.

IMBC? OK, in a side by side tasting with Rose Levy Berenbaum's chocolate fudge cake against Wendy's fudge brownie cake, it's Wendy's on every count: taste, texture, and moistness. I will try the "All American Chocolate Butter Cake" from the Cake Bible sometime in the next week, but I'll be very surprised if it's better than this recipe. I've got a new favorite chocolate cake - thanks Wendy!

I haven't heard of Sea Island Cotton, but I love Brooks Brothers. They have an outlet store near here - I'll have to go check them out. I have a couple odd pair of socks that I got at REI a few years ago that are PERFECT, but I just went back to the store and they didn't seem to carry them anymore, and I don't know the brand. I'm thinking they might be WigWam, so that's what I'm going to start searching for next.

No problem. And of course you are right that a thermometer is a useful tool. I didn't mean to throw the baby out with the bathwater. As Steve pointed out, they can be a crutch that can let you down if you rely on them exclusively. That's why we were basically forbidden to use thermometers in school when we started out tempering - and though we felt like we were working blind at first, I'm glad they forced us to learn that way. Once you get experience and have a feel for the chocolate, use whatever works for you.

Acording to the "Cake Bible", you will need .41 times the amount of dry yeast to equal the fresh yeast called for in a recipe. So if the recipe calls for 10 grams of fresh yeast, you would use 4.1 grams of dry. Obviously this will be a bit trickier if you have to use fractions of an ounce, but maybe you can convert to grams?

That's the model I have and I like them a lot. However, I have a high arch and I actually wish I had gotten the ones with the elastic panels on either side of the top - I think it's called the Carter. I strongly recommend finding someplace to try them on before you purchase, and make sure you get the right size and model for your foot. If you can't find the @Work line at a local store, I think the Sport models are similar enough that you can try them on for size and then special order from the other line.

OK, I baked up Wendy's recipe yesterday morning. Actually, I baked two half batches as I wanted to test a different mixing method. Here are the notes: First batch made following the recipe and directions as closely as possible: - cocoa: Hershie's non-dutched - butter: Plugra - hot water instead of coffee - measured using cups and spoons - the finished batter was creamy, but liquid enough to pour - used 1 8"x2" round aluminum pan, no spray or butter, just round of parchment on bottom - baked at 300 F (though I lost my oven thermometer, so I can't verify, and this is the first thing I've baked in the unfamiliar oven in my new apartment) - took 55 minutes to fully bake, so I think my oven runs a bit cool - the cake actualy rose quite a bit (about 1/3 the height of batter) and was almost too much batter for the pan - top was domed a bit and cracked, but leveled some as is cooled. - let cool exactly 5 minutes before unmolding and wrapping in plastic - when cool, I cut the cake in two and froze half Second batch exactly the same as the first, but using mixing method similar to Rose Levy Berenbaum's in "The Cake Bible" - mix cocoa with boiling water and let cool - mix 1/4 cocoa mixture with eggs and vanilla - put all dry ingredients in bowl of mixer and add butter, oil, and buttermilk - mix for a couple minutes to develop structure - add egg mixture - This batter was a bit thicker than the first batch - didn't rise and much in the oven and the finished cake texture was much more dense and fudgy - greatly preferred first cake following recipe - I baked a little bit of this batter in some silicone mini savarin molds that I was using previously to test chocolate cake recipes (I was looking for one that was moist and would hold the shape of the pan well). This recipe came out the prettier by far than the ones I tried before. Tasting notes: Very moist with soft, fine, but still open crumb. Lighter and "spongier" than fudgy. Good dark chocolate flavor and not too sweet (most likely even better with a higher grade of cocoa and a little bit of espresso powder). Far superior to any mix cake I've had. Tends to crumb a bit when cut, but would perform better frosted, I'm sure. Like I said, half of the cake was frozen overnight. After defrosting this morning I honestly could detect no difference in texture or flavor from the half that sat at room temp. Overall I'd give this cake a 4.5, since I still think there might be room for improvement in the texture - I would like a cake with slightly more structure and less crumby. I just baked up a test of my previous favorite recipe - the chocolate fudge cake from the "Cake Bible" - so when that cools I'll be able to say if this recipe is superior.

Welcome gibfalc! I was wondering how the technical/scientific info is in the new CIA book? Is it as good or better than McGee's "On Food and Cooking"? That was actually one of our textbooks in school and I found it very helpful, though the I wish there was more pastry specific content, especially on chocolate and tempering. Oh, and how are the ice cream and sorbet recipes? Do they use stablizers, emulsifiers, and powdered glucose with scientifically based formulas, or are they more traditional?

Fatburger beats In-n-Out in my book. Especially since you can add cheese, bacon, chili or a fried egg to any sandwich. Haven't had the fries at FB, though. But then Sonic does have that "Pancake on a Stick"...

I'm a Dansko man, too. I recommend the Dansko@Work line. They are similar to the Dansko Sport with superior non-slip traction, but have slighly more cushion in the sole. And don't take socks for granted - they are almost as important as the shoes. I've been wearing Thorlos for years, but I find that they are a little too abrasive on the inside and don't have enough padding on top of my foot, so I'm looking for a replacement brand. Can't wear wool - even SmartWool - or cotton as they're just too scratchy and coarse. Damn my sensitive skin.

NSM, Still the case? I'll be in town with family soon and wondering about your "best of" suggestions now that you've had some time there... Thanks! Yep, those are still my favorites. The tiramisu cup and opera cake are good too, if you like coffee. Another option for trying some pastry at Bellagio is to have afternoon tea (served 2-5 pm) at Petrossian, located just off the hotel lobby. We do some insanely fussy little items for the tea cart that might be fun to sample.

The thing is, if the chocolate is blooming it is out of temper regardless of temperature. I'll say it again - chocolate is tempered when it's tempered and the correct temperature can vary from brand to brand. Do not rely on imprecise and fickle thermometers. Making test strips is the only way to know for sure if you have temper.

My weekend starts tomorrow, so I'll give it a try in the morning. After I get up at 3:00 am. Which for me is sleeping in. Can't wait to see how this cake turns out. I've got bananas ripening too, so I'll be making the other cake soon.

When I did my short trial at Charlie Trotter's, I got to talking to the dessert crew about the strange requests that come in from guests. All the usual like no gluten, vegetarain, vegan, no sugar (diabetic), etc. The topper was one table that demanded NO WHITE FOOD! White flour, white sugar, milk, or cream were fine as ingredients but the FINISHED DISH COULD NOT BE WHITE! We concluded that there was a mental health issue involved.

I love Monsoon. I miss Seattle.

I'm afraid I don't know what "vegetable whipping cream" is. Are you sure you don't any any other information or details? Where is this request coming from?