SugarGirl

I made the Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler yesterday, and it was fantastic! The ground ginger, brown sugar, and whole wheat rounded out the flavors well... and sure packed it full of flavor! I just made a couple changes -- cinnamon and ground mahleb in the biscuits instead of more ginger and baked it in a pie dish instead of a square pan. I also topped it with Philadelphia-Style Vanilla Ice Cream. The biscuit dough was a little wet (probably b/c it wasn't meant to be made in a small mini-prep food processor ), but it baked up light and delicious. I would probably decrease the ginger a little bit in the filling next time, but I used an organic ginger from a new bottle that seemed abnormally strong, so maybe that had something to do with it.

I've been playing around with confections using egg whites recently, and I can't help wondering how the virtually raw egg whites don't go bad after being knocked full of air and left at room temp for prolonged periods of time. I'm wondering, specifically, about nougat, marshmallows, frappe, baked meringue, and royal icing. I'm assuming that the concentration of sugar and the lack of much free water have a lot to do with it, but is there any kind of guideline for shelf-life or stability? Does the gelatin in marshmallows make an impact by retarding water activity? I've seen salt in some marshmallow recipes -- would that also help preserve it? I haven't seen salt called for in nougat or frappe recipes. Marshmallows made with egg whites don't seem to stay as fresh for as long as nougat... but then again, Valomilks, which are very runny and have a marshmallow/frappe-like filling (w/o gelatin, but w/ distilled water), seem to last for pretty long. Also, I made the Frappe recipe on page 324 in the Greweling book, Chocolates & Confections, using fresh egg whites (instead of dry albumen and cold water) as well as the glucose and invert syrup called for. After a day, it separated a little -- there was a syrup-y substance on the bottom of the container. Does that mean that it went bad, per se, or would mixing it together "fix" it temporarily? I did make the frappe again, with slightly less egg white, and there has been no separation (though it is a little denser than the original). He says to store it tightly covered, at room temperature, but I wonder how long it's meant to last for. Anyway, any thoughts or resources would be appreciated!

I love my Emile Henry pie dish and lasagna dish. Everything bakes nice and even in them... and tastes great. But you may have to adjust for them a bit; ie if a recipe is written for a "pan" rather than a "dish". If so, I decrease the oven temp by 25 degrees and bake for a little longer. They retain heat for a bit longer, too, though, so I usually take things out of the oven when they look just a slight tad underdone and let them cool for a while. They also clean up very easily; debris just about slides right off. Also, my pie dish is deep-dish sized, so I always have to keep that mind/make adjustments when following a recipe for a pie. I've never used their loaf pan, though. It's probably good, but "low and slow" isn't generally what I look for in quickbreads, which is what I would use them for.

Thanks so much for the link to onlinemetals.com, David! I just ordered a few sets of stainless steel bars. Can't wait to get them!

Any old cream siphon should work. I was looking at some gorgeous big ISI units today at the cooking store where I teach, those would allow you to make a nice big batch of the holey chocolate, but I've never bought a new cream siphon, I find all mine at thrift stores for about $5. The one I'm currently using holds 500 ml. I bet if I search this house there is a heat lamp somewhere that I can make use of. ← I made hard candies in culinary school at CIA-Greystone, and we never used a heat lamp for them, so I don't think it's critical for candies -- we only used heat lamps in a box (in conjunction with the microwave) while we were doing sugar sculptures. If our (I'll call it) "sugar slab" got too cold to manipulate while making candies, we put it into a warm oven very briefly until it softened just a little; the oven could be btw 250-350. We just wore layers of gloves... b/c it's hot work any way you do it...

I would talk about it on Friday, and see how you feel about it, and what they want. And in the meantime, think about how you feel about decorated cakes in general and large party desserts. If it's something that you think you'd probably like, go for it. You should be prepared to do it by the end of your program, and the experience will be good. Just make sure you get a fair price if you do it -- after all, it will be well after your graduation, so it's not like you'll be a student or fresh culinary school grad. To put this in context -- I graduated from the CIA Greystone for Baking and Pastry last year, and I know I can do wedding cakes... but I also know that I don't like doing them! So, I wouldn't do it no matter what, but I know people in the program who would jump at any chance to establish their wedding cake business.