jumanggy

Thanks Stephanie! I hope one day body does form on my cream. I guess fullfat powdered milk is also fine? Much more common here. I''m just a home baker so all I'd ever want from an assistant is to wash dishes. Especially whisks, beaters, and anything that has touched a mass of butter. I'd make a terrible boss, I'd lose my mind if an assistant wasted my ingredients. I'm planning on making eclairs in the near future so I read the thread on Choux Pastry, and I never realized it had so many pitfalls! I'd only ever watched Gale Gand make them and it looked so easy. I may have an entry here in the future, but I'm crossing my fingers that I won't.

That looks awesome, Klary! It's pretty obvious but I'll say it anyway: I love when people show their baking here! (sorry, it's been awhile... about 24 hours.) I think that's one of the best photos you've taken.

I realize this is a relatively old thread, but it's got me excited. I don't even know why I suddenly felt a hankering for hand-pulled noodle but maybe I'm drawn to the spectacle. What's even more astonishing is that I've seen some youtube videos where young pullers are very nonchalantly doing their work. I'd like to try one day because the ingredients are comparatively cheaper than that other magical feat of culinary multiplication, puff pastry, and if I fail, which would probably be the case, I can always just roll it out and make my lame old noodles. (By the way, how many more dishes use geometric progression?)

Thanks for the explanation, Rona it actually seems appetizing, not an undifferentiated mass. Not the direction FG was planning on going! (although I find avocados are rarely used in savory dishes here, except in guacamole which is not even common outside a Mexican resto. Love them sardines!) Not yet aboard the contempt train! okay, maybe I should see an uglified picture: http://www.candyboots.com/wwcards/hotwrapups.html

Hmmm, I've never experienced a distinctly American "wrap." Nothing too offensive here on the wrap front. Some that spring to mind include a humble cart found in some malls that have tuna salad for example, tomatoes, and lettuce in a pita (I guess not a wrap), and a KFC wrap of chicken fingers, dressing, lettuce, and cheese. Shawarma counted? What fillings are found in these American wraps? Can someone post a non-uglified picture? Also curious as to whether the embracer is closer to stale bread, dough, or tortilla.

If you plan on keeping your assistant for a while and he/she has a sharp mind, you can always adopt this method of instruction: see one, do one, teach one. Well, okay, skip the "teach one," cause he has no one to teach it to. Shalmanese: Thanks for the tip! Although here in the Philippines, I think, all cream is heavy cream (labeled "all purpose cream"), but one brand is labeled "easy whip." If you try to pour it when chilled, it comes out very thick and will hold its shape. I'll have to conduct an experiment.

I've never heard of Pashmak before. If anyone knows how to work it, outside of a candy expert in New Zealand (they'd probably be very happy to teach you how to work the machine and what recipe to use), here would probably be the best place to look! Good luck!

That DOES look yummy-- love the crunchy blackened bits. But if I had to come up with a gross description? Hmmm... A piglet with its head caught in mid-explosion

Are yours the sweet kind when they're fully ripe? The ones here are puckeringly tart. ← Oh, you mean mouth-puckeringly tart? Hee hee. I'm 12. I thought it might have been used as a base for hot and sour soup when picked unripe, but my dad has no idea what I'm talking about, so I guess I'm imagining things. In fact, he has no idea what they could be used for, except eating raw. He says that they are indeed sweet when ripe here.

Tri2Cook - that looks pretty exciting to me! I hope you post some more-- although there's not much to my favorite candy bar, it's just a Nestlé Crunch Doddie - that looks yummy (and a lot-- I hope you have a crowd to share it with!). Why Marlboro Man? I had some leftover cream (from making Chocolate Sauce) so to continue our laminated dessert series (that's the best parallel I could come up with), I made Basil Panna Cotta with Green Tea Gelée. I was afraid the green tea would taste bad because after I'd infused it, it smelled like RUBBER. I wanted to vomit. I smelled the tea bag to check if it was really supposed to be that way, or if I'd burned the tea (with boiling water?) or the green food coloring (can that happen with 200° water?). Thankfully, it had no super-bitter taste. After it cooled down, though, it wasn't clear anymore, that was disappointing. I wanted a clear green jelly. The Panna Cotta overpowered the jelly; the green tea was undetectable. Oh well!

Did you add sugar? I find it's easier to whip it with just a teeny bit of sugar, and even then, the heat here is such that I don't manage to whip it up very well unless I do it in the mixer with a well-chilled bowl. ← I didn't! I now want to strangle the barefoot contessa for putting cream in her KitchenAid and managing to whip it in 5 seconds to perfection. I've been using a whisk (I only have a hand mixer) because it looked like I was turning it into butter really easily with a mixer, but I'll give it a try, thanks. (Agh, it is close to body temperature here today!)

Maybe giving her some overnight reading would help? The Simple Art of Perfect Baking? I haven't seen Foundations of Food Preparation in a long time (since I was a kid), maybe that's a good read too Haven't had any major mishaps recently, but I'm still not able to whip cream. I thought the ice bath trick would work but it still hasn't progressed over slightly thickened (and I could've sworn it looks exactly the same as when it came out of the fridge), but the last resort is to crank up the air conditioning and try it one last time, with frozen utensils, plastic bowl, and ice bath.

I'm not a professional food photographer, but I think the answer to your question is the same answer to what's the point of being a food photographer!

To a food photographer, a raspberry does have an integral role, wink wink I've never tasted raw nutmeg before, though. Thanks for your kind words, GTO! Cutting strawberries was okay, just some meditation before studying cases (I must have spaced out while doing it.) I couldn't taste if everything was okay before I served it, so I made chocolate sauce on the side in case it wasn't sweet enough. It was a hit, so yay!

Ooh, I've never had peach ice cream before. Would love to try it (we don't have that flavor here). Maybe I ought to invest in the ice cream maker already... Tart aux Fraises. (I called it tart aux coeurs des fraises, but I don't know if that makes any sense..) I couldn't stop thinking of it since I saw it on Chocolate and Zucchini (the flickr page, not the blog). My goal was to have none of the pastry cream showing, so I failed! Also, I forgot how un-sweet pastry cream was. I hope the berries are sweet enough to offset this. The more I look at it, the more I think "Pac-Man" than hearts..

I've never baked a double-crust before, but would more vents help? How about laying a cooling rack or baking sheet on top in the middle of baking?

Nice! What did you use to mold (mould?) it? It's beautifully random. Was it a brioche mold (mould)? ( just teasing you on the spelling there, ha ha) So that's where the raspberries went! The cream was bitter? What else was in it? Tri2cook: please keep the pictures coming! It's nice to keep getting ideas from this thread.

Congratulations, Patrick! This thread isn't nearly getting enough posts-- I'm beginning to wonder if there is a dessert moratorium!

Clement came up with an interesting experiment on his blog. You might want to try it! http://www.alacuisine.org/alacuisine/2005/...late_sous_.html

Your wife's very sweet I too thought of buying over eBay, but factoring in the cost of shipping, I decided to wait until a relative visits from the States. Till then, my dreams of frozen yoghurt, homemade ice cream, frozen fruit salad, and endless sorbets will remain unrealized.. Happy ice-cream-making!

Hi pimptenshi (welcome to the eGullet forums!) The Kitchen Consumer topic can be found here: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=37816 Good luck! I envy that you have so many options! I saw one today being sold at a deli for about $800 (then again, it had its own compressor, but still...)

Looking good, guys! (Especially those taunting me with their fresh strawberries, grrr!) GTO, yes, even here the rarely-heard word flapjacks refers to the American version. The English one looks more wholesome! Kim, thanks for the kind words. I think I'll tackle harder sponge cakes next. I'm getting more and more comfortable with butter cakes. Also, if the cake is refrigerated, it cuts the sweetness a bit, which I prefer. French Lemon Cream Tart (from Dorie Greenspan's Baking book). I made it for a friend's birthday, since she doesn't like cake much, but keeps begging me to make a nice crust! I licked the lemon cream from the blender like a madman.

John, those are BEAUTiful! I know the answer must be "practice" but how in the world did you cut that so evenly? (Looking at all the google images, they all seem to be scored perfectly. These people are machines!) I love how Jacques Torres wrote his recipe. There's even a story to it! And he even gives us a mental image of him skating around town with a frozen pastry in his backpack! Too cute.

Yikes, maybe I ought to follow Wendy's advice and bake at 325, then hope for the best. Or, make contraction my primary criteria for taking a cake out of the oven. Thanks, Sugarella. I enjoyed doing something I learned from Sherry Yard's book: that is, to spin the pan like a frisbee to allow the sides to come up. Anyway, what I got was a slight dome with the sides coming up abruptly just before the end. It made the rim crunchy and good in its own way but not at all what I wanted (not to mention ugly to frost... ugh, I should have sliced the rim off).

GTO: BWAHAHAHA!!! I served this to a bunch of friends from med school, and sure enough I called it intestine cake (actually I had more than that, but I'm editing to protect the sensitive reader!). Thank heavens they were easily impressed and not at all the eGullet forum poster type (hmmmm). Something for the "Dessert II: The horror! The horror!" thread. Rob: Friend, schmriend! I'm sure they would understand if it had a slice cut out of it. "aaah.... must've been for the eGullet forums" I had to look up hummingbird cake. Now I feel like spreading cream cheese frosting on a banana loaf someone gave us. ... I ought to start jogging or something.