nightscotsman

Sorry I couldn't be of more help. I'm still pretty inexperienced with this stuff. However, we did use regular clover honey in school and the flavor came through fine. In my opinion lavender honey isn't worth the extra cost if you're using it to flavor a dessert - I would actually rather use a cheaper honey and infuse with a little bit of dried lavender.

Actually, when recipes for macarons refer to "old" egg whites, they mean whites that have been left to sit uncovered (very important) at room temperature for about 24 hours. This causes some of the water to evaporate so you basically get "concentrated" egg whites - something that will never happen if they are covered in the fridge. This will give you a much more stable foam when you whip them. And yes, it is completely safe to leave them at room temp as long as they are not covered. If you left then uncovered in the fridge they would pick up nasty odors and tastes. You can also add pure egg white powder (not meringue power, which contains sugar and other stuff) to help strengthen the whites. I think Herme actually recommends a mixture of fresh whites, old whites, and powder in his professional recipe.

Another option to add some more intense fruit flavor economically is to use layers of gelee made from puree, a little sugar, and gellatine. You only need a very thin layer to get a nice, refreshing fruit hit and you can make the mousse with contrasting (and less expensive) flavors like white chocolate, dark chocolate, coconut, lemon, etc. One of my favorite cakes from class was a nougat mousse cake that used pistachio dacquoise with the bottom later spread with apricot-passion fruit gelee, honey mousse, more dacquoise, more mousse and chopped pecans, pistachios, dried apricots and cherries. You could also soak cake layers with fruit syrups or juice to add flavor.

How about "scum"?

Well, if they are staying at either the Bellagio (Circo) or Mandalay Bay (Aureole), the concierge might be able to help them out. Other than that, they could try playing in the high-stakes area and see if they get comped.

One more thing about Palio - Before noon the pastry selection is more breakfast stuff like croissants, danish, and strudel. After noon they bring out the good stuff like mousse cakes, fruit tarts and cheesecake. My favorites are the raspberry pistachio tarts and the coconut mousse cakes.

I believe NH pectin is the one that doesn't need acid or as much sugar to activate. I think it will also remelt when heated after setting. I think.

Exactly. "Special Machines" and all that, you know.

Although the sign on the door says Lenotre, I've been told that the pastries are actually made by the Paris's in-house kitchen. You will find some very nice stuff, but last time I checked, no macarons. I'm just a little bit biased, but if you want the best pastries in Las Vegas, you have to go across the street to the Bellagio. There is a lunch/coffee place called "Palio" (not to be confused with "Palio Pronto" at the NE entrance) through the casino on the way to the Art Gallery. It has a case where you can purchase a small range of pastries and desserts. You can also sample some amazing ice creams at the gelato shop, and most of the restaurants in the hotel (except Le Cirque and Picasso) serve desserts from the Bellagio pastry kitchen. However, when the new tower opens in December (supposedly), there will be a larger, dedicated pastry shop called "Jean Philippe Patisserie" showcasing the full range of Jean Philippe Maury's (MOF) skills as executive pastry chef, including pastry, ice cream and chocolates.

I know there are several types of pectin that have different properties depending on how you want to use them. Some require more sugar and acid in order to jell properly, and some melt easily when heated while others resist re-melting. I wish I knew more on the subject, but I believe apple pectin is the type that does not re-melt when heated after it has set. We pretty much used it as our standard pectin in class, including for pate de fruit, which may be why the pate we made was so stable and never wept.

The cutting plates are mainly intended for making plaquettes from tempered chocolate for use as decoration and such. Spread chocolate very thinly on acetate, let set slightly, place cutting plate on top and slice chocolate throuch the openings, rotate plate 90 degrees and cut again, flip acetate upside down and weight with a sheet pan to prevent edges from curling. If you get the guitar you can also make plaquettes by pressing the chocolate covered acetate against the wires of one of the frames. You could use the plates to cut ganache, which would give you evenly sized squares, but you would still have the problem of raised edges making the dipped chocolates less clean looking.

We made a very similar recipe in school and all the students remarked about the greasyness when they were done, but after sitting for a few hours or overnight, they were fine. We used shards of chocolate tuiles with sliced almonds to top chocolate tarts, and plain rounds with pecans as a layer in a mousse cake. They are a nice way of introducing a crunchy component to many desserts and the pectin helps keep them crisp, even in the middle of a cake, and even freezing and defrosting. Sort of like a built-in dessicant.

Just wanted to say - don't be too quick to dismiss the guitars with plastic bases based on durability. The one we used in school (which looks like all the photos I've seen on-line) had a plastic base and it was very heavy and sturdy. You can bet that students aren't known for babying equipment, and that guitar has held up great for years.

We did an amazing cream - sort of like a curd - that used mango, passion fruit and lychee purees for flavor. I expected the combination to sort of blend together into a general "tropical fruit" flavor, but you could clearly taste the layering of the three different fruits. Made a killer macaron filling.

So this brings up another question: do most of you strain after cooking to remove the zest and, particularly with your technique nightscotsman, does the immersion blender puree enough so that straining is unnecessary? Which makes me wonder, is there a taste benefit from leaving the zest in after cooking or have all the oils/flavors been cooked out at this point? I know some people like bits of zest in their curd although I prefer it satiny smooth. Joni: you're right about frozen curd! In class we were taught to strain out the zest. It doesn't add any more flavor if you leave it in, so if you want perfect smoothness, go ahead and remove it. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. The emersion blender doesn't chop the zest any more finely, especially if you use a microplane, so you'll still need to strain. We also made a somewhat different recipe for a "lemon cream" that had a much higher percentage of butter. Still very tart, but ultra thick and creamy. Lemon curd needs a short bake in a tart crust if you want it to hold a slice - the chilled lemon cream is thick enough without baking.

I love my copy of "A Piece Of Cake" and was so happy to hear they had updated and reissued it. For classic american style cakes I think it's only rival is "The Cake Bible". I also have the other two books, and they're OK for low-fat desserts. None of the recipes I tried would fool anyone into thinking any of the recipes are anything but low-fat, though some were better than others. Alice Medrich's book is better.

I'm sorry, but just can't help picturing you holding little squirming rodents by the tail as you carefully drown them in tempered chocolate...

There probably won't be a noticable difference between adding the butter at the beginning of cooking and adding at the end right off the heat. In both methods the curd is hot enough to simply melt the butter. However, there is a big difference if you let the curd cool to about 65 C before adding softened butter - preferable with a stick blender - because the butter will retain some of it's emulsion. The curd will be lighter in color and much creamier in taste/mouth feel. It may also tend to be a bit thicker when chilled.

OK, I'll go out on a limb - I think that Lychee will be the new mango. However, I have nothing objective to support my theory.

I think they are so expensive because: 1) they are basically individually hand made since there isn't a big enough market to build an automated factory for them, and 2) they are built to last, very strong, heavy construction, and as someone above said, able to be sanitized. They also usually come with 4 or 5 frames with different wire spacing, and the slots in the base are spaced to accomodate all of the sizes. Personally, if I were using it to start a business, I would bite the bullet and buy one. You will make the money back in speed and effiency.

The lowest price I've seen on a guitar cutter is $1742.40 at CulinaryCookware.com. I'm sure there have got to be used guitars out there, but other than eBay, I'm not sure where to look. They are expensive, but nothing can match them for efficiency and precision. You can use a knife, though it would be hard to match the consistency, and almost impossible to cut ganache without a slightly raised edge which will make dipping cleanly difficult. Maybe someone out there with more experience has another method or some pointers?

I'm afraid the whipped cream will separate. You can prevent this by adding a bit of gelatine or other whipped cream stabilizer, though. Any chance you could whip the cream at the last minute before serving?

Those are some nice lookin' cookies ya got there, chezcherie. The "feet" (which is what the frilly bottom edges are called) look especially good. If you want to do a lemon variation, you should know that most patisseries don't actually flavor the cookie part with lemon. They just use a bit of yellow color and the lemon curd filling is so powerful that is makes the whole cookie tast like lemon. Same for many other fruit flavors like raspberry.

Here's a recipe for Twice Baked Olive Cookie with Lemon Custard that I've been wanting to try for a long time. It's from Jules Verne Restaurant in the Eiffel Tower.

I don't know if this is what you have in mind, but you can make paper-like "chips" from just about any puree. For example: Banana Chips: 125 g banana juice of 1/2 lemon 12 g sugar puree together and spread very thinly on a silpat. dry in the oven at 250 for 10 to 15 minutes - you just want to dry, not bake it. When done it will still be flexible, so you need to test it by tearing off a piece and letting it cool. If it's completely dry and crisp when cool, then it's done. you can tear or cut the sheet into shapes and bend it while it's still warm just like a tuile. You can make a similar thing with just about any fruit puree by adding sugar to taste and a bit of egg white (maybe 1/5 to 1/4 of the weight of puree) to bind it. Rice Paper: 100 g long grain rice 400 g water 100 g milk 1/2 vanilla bean 30 g sugar wash and rinse rice. cook rice in water with milk, vanilla and sugar until all of the liquid is absorbed. puree until a very thick paste is formed. Spread on silpat and bake at 300 for 10-15 minutes until dry. Test for doneness by tearing off a piece like above. This makes a very neutral flavored "paper", but you can add just about anything to bring in more flavors - cinnamon, lemon grass, orange zest, ginger, cardamom, etc.