Tri2Cook

So basically, in addition to the extensive information on the science and theory of frozen desserts, the book also includes a large collection of recipes covering various types of frozen desserts. Each recipe has a plating example with the recipes for all of the components that accompany it. As I mentioned in my first post, I have no intention of doing them all at this time. So here are the next two I did. Just the base recipes without a plating or other components. I'll probably do several this way in the interest of laziness. burnt milk gelato - black mission fig gelato Both of these are really good. One of my tasters called the fig gelato "addictive". As for the burnt milk gelato, "burnt" is not a description I'm usually happy to see in a food context but I think this may be my new favorite flavor. An amazing, multi-layered depth of flavor that I intend to capture in other types of desserts as well.

I like using the Duby's recipe for warm creme brulee sometimes. It's a stovetop version and it does contain all of the traditional elements but has been adjusted to allow for the addition of a little white chocolate plus a bit of agar and gelatin so it will set and hold at room temp or slightly warmer. It's open to flavor variations just as the traditional version is. It's not a replacement for the original but it's a good addition to the team.

Agar has to be heated for a short time to hydrate properly but you can do that with a small percentage of the booze then add the rest to minimize alcohol loss. It's powerful stuff though, doesn't take much to end up with a short textured gummy instead of a soft gel. You could blitz it in a high speed blender to end up with a thick fluid gel ala Alinea.

I have a recipe from my mom that involves whipping butter and sugar, whipping in egg yolks, mixing in melted chocolate and folding in whipped cream. It makes a dense, rich mousse with a great mouthfeel. I played with it for a while in an attempt to remove the yolks thinking I could improve the flavor without messing with the texture. I still do it her way. I'm sure it could be done but I couldn't do it with what I have to work with and what little I know about formulating recipes with various hydrocolloids. I'm looking forward to seeing what information shows up here, maybe I'll revisit that project.

I've never worked with mycryo. I've heard it works well for that application but can't speak from experience. I don't even know if my suggestion is a good one because I'm not exactly sure what you're doing. Are you basically doing a mousse with a custard base and want to get that same silky richness without the yolks?

The combo of carrageenan and locust bean gum ala Sam Mason's "soft chocolate" provides that thick, silky mouthfeel that egg yolks give to some things. Of course that's straight from the "measure by the milligram" end of the spectrum.

Next up... popcorn sherbet - caramel popcorn - salted caramel sauce roasted mcintosh apple sherbet - candied pecans - caramel sauce

Upload them to your imagegullet page, hit the "view actual URL" link next to the uploaded image when you view it on your imagegullet page, copy that URL and paste it into the text box that comes up when you hit the "IMG" button on the post page. Or you can host it on any photo host site and just add a link to it using the "http://" button. It won't show up here but it will open in a new window when anyone clicks the link.

You could cook them down with a little salt, pepper, vinegar and some sugar to make a caramelized shallot marmalade. Put that at the bottom of small glasses and top it with a roasted shallot infused savory panna cotta. You could even include some type of creamy cheese in the panna cotta base if you wanted. You might even want to set the panna cotta with agar or an agar-gelatin mix so they could be gently warmed for service.

One way around it is to not charge for the meal. Instead encourage donations. "A suggested donation of $x would certainly be appreciated but is not a requirement of attendance." You can't collect if they decide not to pay but you can remove them from the mailing list for future events. Ummm... not that I would know anything about that.

Looks great Rob. Yeah, handmade fondant can be a workout if you did a large batch. You can speed it up next time by saving a bit of the batch you already made as a seed. Toss it on top of the hot syrup after you pour it and work it in when you start working the syrup. It'll cut the work time at least in half. Small batches can be done in a processor as long as you have a strong processor. I've done it in a basic Kitchenaid processor and the Kitchenaid wasn't very happy about it.

Hmmm. Dark chocolate is supposed to pair well with smoked salmon. Cucumber works perfectly well with salmon. I can't quite put cucumber and chocolate together in my head though. Dammit, thought I was going to find a way to make this one work.

Depends on what you mean. I'm protective of my book but I don't mind sharing recipes/ideas. If someone likes something I did well enough to want the recipe they can just ask, no need to try to sneak off with my notebook.

Spam, Cool Whip, Hamburger Helper. Edit: Why do I have this nasty feeling someone is going to tell me Sandra Lee already did this one?

I wouldn't use it at work but, if it passed the sniff test and didn't taste funky, I'd probably still use it for myself at home. Sometimes I'll take small risks on myself, I just don't take risks at other's expense. If it was brought to a boil and cooked at 225 f for 12 hours, it was cooked before the oven shut off. It probably took a few of those hours for that amount of mass to cool down below "food safe" temps in a hot oven. To make a long story longer, nobody can say "no, it won't make you sick" but the odds would be good enough for me to risk it for myself.

rice milk sherbet - arroz con leche - cinnamon anglaise This is not the plating from the book. For this one, once again he plated three pieces per portion. The difference between this one and the port ice cream dessert is that three pieces of this one is not too much. It's light, the flavors are really clean... I could have filled the plate and eaten it all. That's something for me. I don't eat a lot of dessert, I just like to make them.

olive oil sorbet - tomato gelee - red onion marmalade - black olive powder - feta - cracked black pepper - olive oil The olive oil sorbet is a great team player. On it's own, I wouldn't eat much of it but with the other components it was perfect. I think it would be nice with a dark chocolate component and some sea salt too. I'll give that a try. In the book, the feta is actually goat cheese. I didn't have any on hand when I put this together so I used feta instead.

Rob, there's no reason you can't supplement the calcium in the base if necessary. I know the recipe doesn't call for it but it won't hurt anything. I don't advise using calcium chloride as the supplement but boosting the calcium with something that doesn't alter the taste should be fine. Edit: I wonder if replacing the water with milk, maybe even one of the calcium supplemented milks available, would work?

If that refers to me saying "a shallow bowl", it would work just as well on a plate. The flavors sound really nice so you can't really go wrong. Take any suggestion you like, take bits and pieces from them all, suddenly become inspired and do your own thing... it'll be good regardless.

If you don't want to alter the components too much, you could dice the quince, center a small island of it in a shallow bowl, cut the cake with a round cutter and center a piece on top of the quince, whip the mascarpone with a bit of cream to lighten it and place a quenelle on the cake and pour a little sauce in the bowl around the quince. Then you can sprinkle your pistachio over the mascarpone for a little color and crunch. If I were doing it, I'd probably thicken the sauce a bit. I would probably do an ice cream with the mascarpone and make a pistachio brittle or neutral caramel tuile topped with chopped pistachios. But most of that is just for textural and temperature contrasts.

Yeah, it comes through nicely. It's added to the base after cooking and chilling so it doesn't get messed with too much.

Did another one today... port ice cream - chocolate and brown butter pave - port glaze This one was tasty but a bit rich. In the book he plates three of these per portion. Each piece, if made to his specs, is a comfy two bites (one if you're an experienced sushi-eater ). Three of them would be overload for me, one was nice.

I've been reading and absorbing this book for a while now. It's an excellent resource for understanding the science behind frozen desserts but it also contains some really nice recipes so I've decided to do some of them. I'm not doing the entire book, I doubt I'll ever do that with any book, but I plan to add more from time to time and I hope others will join in as well. So to start off, tonight I did... jalapeno sorbet - yellowfin sashimi - ponzu - toasted jalapeno seeds lime granite - mint gelee - lime zest powder - fresh mint Apologies for the bad picture quality. My new camera is actually a pretty decent camera but I'm not having an easy time getting the same quality pics with it that I did with my old camera for some reason.

You can get a stable foam by thickening the base just a bit with xanthan, shearing in some methycellulose (I use SGA16) and whipping until you get a thick foam. I haven't actually tried this with a hollandaise but it wouldn't be difficult to test.

I don't do anything based on guilt including deciding how to spend my money. Guilt-based morals and political correctness are pet peeves of mine. Both cause many more problems than they solve.