nightscotsman

I would be first in line for Jean Philippe Maury's book, though I feel like I've been living it for the past two years . There are several books that I would like to see translated into English ASAP: Pierre Herme's "PH10" (or any of his other books that haven't been translated yet), Gerard Mulot, Balaguer's S.21, etc. I don't mind paying a lot for a professional book, but for the price I don't want to have to try to decipher a foreign language. I'll also second all of Jason's list.

For the solo dinner I cannot recommend L'Atelier de Robuchon in MGM Grand highly enough. By far the best meal I've had in Vegas. One of the top 5 I've had in my life. 9 course tasting menu was $105, or you can order small dishes ala carte. Great for the solo diner since most of the seating is at a counter facing the open kitchen. If you really want Japanese, I would go to Shibuya, also in MGM Grand, over Nobu. Super cool interior and fantastic food.

My understanding was the original target was supposed to be November, but I'm now hearing "Spring". Don't know the cause for the delay.

Yep, same quantity. The amount is so small, there shouldn't be any noticable difference in flavor.

My favorite streusel uses almond flour/meal to replace some of the flour. I'm not a big fan of oatmeal in streusel myself. To get a nice nubbly texture, make sure you don't undermix it. In fact, you can take it all the way to a dough, chill it, and use a cooling rack to "grate" it into a crumbles.

Welcome chef Sam! Great stuff so far - thanks for spending your valuable time with us. The cocoa caviar looks very cool. Is that tapioca, or some version of the fruit caviar using alginate? By the way, I don't know if he will have time to stop by himself, but chef Chris Hanmer wanted to say 'hi'.

Here is the fool proof method we use at work: cook arborio rice with the regular amount of liquid (you can use all milk, half milk half water, or even half milk and half coconut milk) until tender, about 25 minutes. We use about 1 part rice to 3 parts liquid by weight. Let cool to room temperature. Stir/fold in creme anglaise until you get the creaminess and consistency you want. Doing it this way lets you have much more control over the final product.

You can also use citric acid, which can be easier to find. Most commercial brands use citric acid.

I think it really depends on if the class is geared more for the professional or home cook. If I were you, I would call Albert Uster and ask them what you should wear and if they will provide aprons. At the French Pastry School they run a number of guest chef classes. Some are at a more professional level and most people bring their own chef jackets. Others are much more beginner/casual and people wear a range of clothes. I think the school provides aprons in either case.

As I noted in my post above, I didn't get any noticeable curds after adding the acid, but it firmed up just fine after draining. I used just regular, ultrapasteurized whipping cream from the supermarket. The final texture and flavor was very similar to the Italian brand we use at work.

Piping the marshmallows works quite well. It helps if you get it off the mixer and start piping while the mixture is still warm, but thick enough to hold its shape. Otherwise the gelatine will start to set while you're piping.

After looking at several methods, I made some mascarpone a couple months ago that worked out well. Like you posted, I just heated the cream (ultrapasteurized, I think) and added the acid, then I covered the pan and let it sit for about 15 minutes. It did seem to get a little thicker, but I can't say I saw any clearly defined "curds". I poured the cream into a strainer lined with a coffee filter, set it over a bowl, covered with plastic, and set the whole thing in the fridge overnight. The next day quite a bit of semi-clear liquid had drained off and the cream was a little thicker than sour cream. After another day it didn't drain much more, but got even thicker.

New review of Daniel Boulud Brasserie in today's Review Journal, the local rag: http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/200...ly/5297698.html

Or 7 grams.

Also the most expensive stage production - ever.

Our cake decorators soak all of their cakes with flavored syrup - usually Grand Marnier. They use squeeze bottles with lids that are perforated so they act like a spray nozzle. Sort of like giving your cake a shower . There's an overpriced one here: http://pastrychef.com/Catalog/punch_bottle_1597106.htm

I really hate to be the one to throw some cold water on the encouragement and well wishes here, but as soon as I saw that you have a small child and can only work 40 hours a week, as well as it being only you and another completely inexperienced person in the kitchen, the red lights and sirens went off in my head. Please go read the Mel's New Bakery thread right away. You won't have to deal with the financing or build out like she did, but the type of work and number of hours she puts in should give you a good idea of what to expect running a small, quality operation. I personally recommend that you get a few years experience at an established bakery in an entry level position before considering this offer. Of course it's very flattering and exciting to be handed the reins of a new place, but from what I've learned in the past couple of years as a career changer, I would have been completely unprepared for a situation like that right out of school. Even now I don't feel like I could really handle it with out a few more years of experience. Besides, by starting out in the top position, you are cheating yourself of the opportunity of learning from other chefs who know the business and can show you things you never even heard of in school.

Even simpler and nice way to highlight the freshness of the berries - how about a meyer lemon sabayon poured over and gratineed (torched) just before serving. Whenever I have really good fresh fruit I feel obligated to do things with it that I couldn't with frozen or otherwise preserved.

Oh, and they always had the sponge cake roll filled with whipped cream and fruit, and the light, fluffy cheese cake. Always. I think they use pretty much the same chestnut products as in Europe. I've never been a fan of chestnuts in desserts anyway. They just taste super sweet and pasty without much flavor. Plain, fresh roasted chestnuts are another story.

I think you're partly right about this. Just to clarify - though some of the desserts didn't greatly impress me with their flavor, none of them I would call "bad" desserts. However, at the high level that they were presenting themselves, I frankly expected more than just beautiful decoration from everything I tasted. Of course I'm well known to be super critical, and there's always the factor of personal taste. In fact, there are a few desserts we make that I think could actually taste better or be easier to eat. As far as Japanese pastry being more for the eyes, there are two major styles of sweets I saw there: traditional Japanese desserts and western, mostly French pastry (and often created by French, not Japanese chefs). For me, the Japanese stuff is all about being pretty over taste. I've just never warmed to the pasty, gelatinous textures and overly sweet, bland flavors. The western stuff, though, could easily go up against the best in the World in flavor and presentation, though some flavors and textures are tweaked to cater to Japanese tastes, which is why you see lots of chestnuts, very light mousses and whipped cream, green tea, less chocolate, and cheese cakes that are light and fluffy.

Yep. I loved the dramatic look of the finish, which is mainly why I bought it. It was very surprising to find the flavors were so tradtional, though well done. They also did a mousse cake that was a perfect cube sprayed the same red. They aren't fully egg shaped, actually. The backs are flat where they were piped on the parchment and just placed so they look like eggs. Yes, that is correct. I thought the Mitsukoshi ones were a nice, inexpensive yet "finished" looking, solution to doing layered dessert that would otherwise be done in a glass. By the way, the other items that look like they are in glasses are actually in plastic containers - except for the Herme layered desset which is in a real glass that you can keep. Yes, almost all of the shops were using plastic logos on their desserts. You would never see that here, because of the choking liability. I know, we started out using plastic logos at our shop, but we've long ago switched to chocolate versions. I think Japan and other countries aren't as litigation-happy as the US and expect a higher level of personal responsibility from citizens. You can see this in Japan in the gardens and historic sites as well, where there are far fewer rope barriers and off-limit areas, as well as virtually no graffiti or trash. And the garnish on the orange cake is just as you thought, kumquats on isomalt.

It may not be how long the mushrooms are baked that's the issue. Merinque, having so much sugar, absorbs moisture like crazy, so if you place it on a cake with ganache or butter cream they will get soft after a few hours no matter what you do, especially if they are in a moist environment like the fridge. We use marzipan mushroom and logs that will not be served immediately.

A couple months ago I went to Japan for a week on vacation. Yep, just for fun. Of course I had to check out as much pastry stuff as possible so it actually ended up being more like some pretty temples and gardens squeezed in between stuffing myself with dessert. I swear there are more pastry shops in Tokyo than Paris. They are all over the place, in every train and subway station, from small cream puff stands to ultra-high-end French patisseries. Unfortunately none of the shops would allow me to take photos inside, but here's some of what I saw: There are shops that specialized in just cream puffs all over the place. I don't know what they do to these things, but they are the best puffs I've ever had. Very addicting. This one had a panda theme with the little puffs decorated to look like panda heads - cute! These are a couple of the many crepe shops frequented mostly by teenagers. You can see the cases of plastic versions of all the flavors they offer. These are actually right across the alley from each other in Harajuku. A couple shots of Pierre Herme's place in Aoyama. Like most of the other high-end shops I visited, it's ultra modern and the pastries are displayed like exquisite jewels. Prices were in the $5-$8 range for individual desserts. The stairs lead to a chocolate salon/cafe on the second floor. The mounds in the display cases in front are actually piles of ginger root painted gold with one dessert balanced on top. This another shop in Aoyama specializing in fruit tarts and pies. Back at my hotel, here's what I bought at Herme. You're going to hate me, but I forgot what was in the one with raspberries on the back left, but I made notes on the rest. The long chocolate pastry is a version of his Plaisir Sucre which is basically various dark and milk chocolate elements with hazelnuts and praline. Nice, but it's a common combo. The dome is pistachio dacquoise, pistachio cream, praline and roasted corn kernels. This one mostly seemed sweet without much flavor interest. In the glass is light lychee gelee and thick mango gelee separated by coconut dacquoise with caramel mousse and coconut marshmallows. This one was a real winner - rich yet refreshing with a creative balance of flavors. Here's what I picked up at Patisserie Sadaharu Aoki. The cream puff in the back has pastry cream, green tea cream, whipped cream and sweet beans. OK, but I was dissapointed that you couldn't taste the green tea. Same goes for the green tea napoleon next to it. The components are well done, but the flavor just wasn't there. The orange one the middle was very nice - very light orange mousse on top of dark chocolate cake, milk chocolate mousse, and a pastry base. The one in front casis and chocolate combo which had a nice balance of fruity acid, creamy richness and and dark chocolate. Some of the carnage, in case you were wondering if I actually ate all of this stuff. Notice the stainless spork I picked up at Muji - very cool. This is a machine making little bean paste filled cakes. It squirts batter into a mold, drops in the chunk of paste, tops it with a little more batter, then closes the mold and cooks it over a gas flame. This is a guy making the same little cakes by hand. These are photos of the window displays at the Shiseido Cosmetics building in Ginza. The exterior of the ground floor consists of two stories tall windows, most of which have been painted all red with a small one foot square left open at eye level opening onto these charming pasty scenes. Inside looks like a jewelry store with a round counter in the center selling pastries. You have to go the second floor if you're looking for lipstick. Here is the Pierre Marcolini building (yes, he has an entire building) in Ginza. The door on the right is for the chocolate shop and on the left is the ice cream shop with stairs to the cafe. There are charming young ladies stationed in the doorways to greet and open the door for customers. Here's what I got at Henri Charpentier. The chocolate cup on the right is a basic tiramisu with chestnut cream - nice flavor balance, but a bit on the sweet side. You see a LOT of chestnut items in Japanese pastry shops. I think there must be a law that requires all of them to offer a mont blanc. The one with the red top is actually a very traditional, but nicely done combo of pear mousse, poached pear and almond dacquoise. The rectangle is very light earl grey mousse with bisquit and chocolate mousse. The flavor was OK, but the cake was too dry. Here are a couple things I got at the Mitsukoshi department store in Ginza. The flavors were just OK and predictable, but I thought the presentation and packaging was nice. Mitsukoshi, like most of the other large department stores, has an extensive food offering. However, they had two food floors with one whole floor devoted just to pastry - half western (mostly French) and half traditional Japanese. Definitely worth a trip. A couple more items I bought at Mitsukoshi. The glasses in front are three flavors of barely set pana cotta - macha, sencha and black tea - each with a different textural component at the more liquid bottom, such as sweet beans. These were just lovely, complex, and not too rich. Very sophisticated. The pastry in back, presented in a little bamboo basket and real banana leaves, is a kobocha pumpkin cake with chunks of pumpkin and a light cheesecake-like mousse filling (mascarpone?). This was actually my favorite dessert of the trip - light and moist, not too sweet, with perfectly balanced flavor. The cake wasn't spiced like a western-style pumpkin cake would be, so could really taste the delicate pumpkin flavor. A couple desserts I picked up at a shop called Tamagoya (basically "egg shop") in another department store. The one on the left is chiboust, sponge cake, chestnut paste, and crisp meringue eggs. The chestnut was very sweet, but the rest of the dessert was nice, light and eggy. I got it mostly for the irresistably cute presentation. The one on the right is panacotta over a rich egg custard with a barely sweet caramel sauce in a separate packet. Very good. Of course I had to make a trip to the "pastry theme park" called Sweets Forest in Jyugaoka. It's small and painfully cute, obviously designed to apeal to young girls, with about 10 variouse pastry and ice cream shops. I'm glad I took the short train trip to see it, and the neighborhood is charming, but there is definitely better pastry to be had in the city. I also spent most of a day poking around the restaurant supply shops on Kappabashi Dori. I found about eight shops specializing in pastry equiment with mostly great prices, so I picked up some small stuff like ring molds ($1.50 each!), cutters and cannele molds. You can also buy those plastic food displays you see all over in front of restaurants. They have ready made basic items, or they will custom make any "dish" you bring them, though they can be very expensive.

I made this cake last night (this time mixing the butter with the other wet ingredients), and found it a little dry as well. I think I may have overbaked it, though - I kept doing the toothpick test, and getting crumbs on the tester. It was springing back fine, though. How do y'all gauge done-ness for this one? ← It does sound to me like you overbaked your cake. A few crumbs on the toothpick are fine as long as there's no actual raw batter and it springs back from a soft poke.

For a genoise-type sponge cake like you're talking about (although in the classical recipe the eggs are warmed a bit before whipping to create a more stable foam), I actually prefer a whisk to fold in the flour. You use the same folding action just as if you were using a spatula - don't just stir. The multiple wires tend to break up loose clumps of flour and incorporate the ingredients faster with less deflation. RLB describes and endorses the technique in the Cake Bible. Also, before adding the flour, try whisking a little of the whipped egg mixture into the melted butter in a separate bowl. This will make it much easier to fold in the butter more evenly and quickly.