Tri2Cook

Le Sanctuaire is awesome but the high acyl gellan has been listed as on backorder for a long time now (I'm not saying it's their fault, they may just be having a tough time getting it in) so I'm wondering if anyone knows another place to get it?

I have no idea if that would work, never tried anything remotely similar, but you might be better off trying calcium lactate-gluconate in the mix and spritzing with the alginate. Alginate in a calcium bath keeps gelling once it starts and I'm assuming you'd need to set these up well ahead of time, calcium in an alginate bath just gels where it makes contact. Plus, spritzing with calcium chloride means you wouldn't be rinsing it off and that stuff tastes really bad. If the structure did hold, once you released it all into the bowl I'm thinking you'd have little gel skins floating in you soup. I'm not trying to sound negative, just thinking it through the way I would if I were considering doing it myself. I'm interested in seeing what you discover.

I haven't personally played with that one (I've only done agar/xanthan based fluid gels) but in his christmas special Chef Blumenthal served it in cups and they were drinking it, no spoons or straws included.

I can't remember who's post got me started but the gelatin syneresis filtering technique is something I use more than anything else I've picked up here. I've also latched on to dejaq's mirror glazing technique. There are a huge number of things I've picked up here but those are the two I seem to use the most.

Yep, he solved it by using gellan fluid gels.

I suppose if it didn't have to be hot you could make a mousse-like base that doesn't need to be baked, add a soft-gelling agent or foam stabilizer, pull a vacuum on it and chill it to set. That wouldn't be a traditional souffle though and I've never actually tried it (note to self: try it). Is there a specific reason you don't want to serve them in individual dishes? I'm just wondering because getting a hot traditional-style souffle out of the mold and on to a plate without deflating it doesn't sound fun to me... much less doing it for several plates.

If all else fails you could get some gellan (or use agar) and do fluid gels. Those would layer easily. Not that a fluid gel is a last resort type thing but I realize it's not exactly what you have in mind.

Why am I picturing some wide-open watery eyes and furiously draining sinuses after reading this?

I got my copy of Frozen Desserts yesterday. Well worth the wait, I was up way later than I should have been reading through it.

Nope, not a good smell. It smells like ammonia. Not an overpowering, burn the hair out of your nose ammonia but definitely ammonia. By the time they're done the smell is gone and I've never tasted it in my cookies (or I wouldn't use it) but you can't help worrying a little the first time or two you use it.

Very nice Rob. I still maintain my refusal to do cakes that require piped icing decoration. I'm not good at it, I don't enjoy it, I'd rather not get people in the habit of asking for it. So I don't do it. I wish I shared your dedication to learn to do it well... but I don't. Would you mind elaborating a bit on how you did the marbeling? I like it.

Crisis averted. I told the boss that if we try it and I'm not happy with the results I won't use it... even if she is happy with the results. I also told the sales rep that if I wasn't happy with the way it compared to butter in taste, mouthfeel, etc. I would be sending it back. He suggested we stay with butter.

l'epicerie has it. I'm fairly certain Chef Rubber and Le Sanctuaire have it as well.

That shouldn't be hard to arrange ← There is that. Thanks everybody. We don't actually sell pastries off the shelf. It's all for catering jobs and the restaurant (which is not upscale, just your basic "family restaurant" type place except that I also have a pizza oven and do pizzas for which I make my own white and whole wheat doughs and my own sauce... they actually have begun to comprise a large part of our business so I'm glad I started doing them). I'm feeling more calm now, I think I'm going to take the "my way or I just won't do them" approach but with a less challenging way of wording it so it doesn't turn from a discussion to an argument.

Chris, I considered that side of it too but you have to understand the personality I'm dealing with. Once it's in the door, unless it just absolutely makes her say "yuck", I'll be stuck with it. She's a great person to work for in general but she's very difficult to argue with once she decides on something. Very difficult.

My experience with it in rolled in doughs, and any other product using any appreciable amount of butter, is that it still leaves the mouthfeel (read: lingering coating effect) of other non-saturated fats. It will melt better at body temp than margarine, but there is still that coating effect. So, in fudgy brownies, you might be able to get away with it ... but you wouldn't want to be using really good chocolate in that mix, either - or so it seems to me. And French or mousseline buttercream? Fiyek! Forget it. Patisserie, to me, is and should always be a fine, ethereal, joyous treat. It is, undeniably, a calorie-bomb. But its exquisiteness relies so very much in the quality of ingredients used ... the really good stuff is like a catsuit - there is no place to hide bad fat, poor quality flour, and low-grade chocolate. So cut the portions, be clever about the ratio of butter-dependent items on the plate, rejig your plates and their costs, or find other ways to produce fine quality pastry (search for pastries from non-butterfat consuming cultures), but once you begin cutting corners with the very cornerstones of the art, you find yourself producing palate-assaulting knockoffs. Just my opinion. Regards, Theabroma ← Thanks for that. That's exactly how I feel about it, that it's kinda like sneaking some imitation crab into the crabcakes along with the real stuff. I would refuse to use it in buttercreams and things of that nature regardless but I don't even want to use it in my baked items. I'm unhappy enough with the idea that I'm considering absorbing part of the cost difference out of my own pocket if it comes down to a choice. I'm not famous around here or anything crazy like that but what reputation my desserts/pastries do have is based largely on the fact that I do everything with the best ingredients I can get.

The boss, at the urging of a sales rep, is pushing for me to at least be willing to try a "euro style butter blend" (butter/margarine blend, unsalted, fat 83%) for baking. Butter is up to $4.64 lb.individuals/ $4.18 lb bulk for unsalted ($5.19 lb at the grocery store) here and the blend is $1.75 lb. I'm not happy with the idea. I'm not completely unwilling to negotiate some things but I'm a stubborn b#$%#*d when it comes to my baking/desserts and real butter. Anyone have any experience with this stuff? Right now my only defense is that we'd have to commit to a 36 lb. box to try it... but she's pushing the rep for samples.

Thanks Nick! That's cool news. I've been restocking the toy box in anticipation of the books arrival but it's good to know that there will be an easy way to find anything I don't already have.

Are you just trying to remove the particulates or clarify? If the former, Chris already hooked you up with the information you need. Sieve, cheesecloth, coffee filter in that order (unless you have progressively finer sieves on hand, then just use those) works great. If you're going for clarification and have the time I personally recommend gelatin syneresis filtration over a raft. I find it easier, more efficient and I just plain like the results better. But that's just my opinion (and it does require a day or two headstart to get through the process).

Yep, baking powder will work but it's not exactly the same. I have a cookie that I use ammonium carbonate in and there's definitely a textural difference when using baking powder instead. It's not a cookie destroying difference but it's enough that I keep ammonium carbonate on hand. Plus, it's kinda fun to see people's faces when they ask "What's that smell?" and I say it's the cookies baking.

~60ml of additional liquid per 250ml of agave replaced with sucrose works as a good starting point. You may want to play with the leavening as well. Reduce or eliminate baking soda, increase or sub in baking powder. The soda/acidity interaction won't be there with sucrose unless there's something else in the recipe to provide it (sour cream, buttermilk, etc.). I'm usually going the opposite direction with this substitution but it's the same idea, just reversed. Of course you could just eliminate the hassle of adjustments and use honey as Rob suggested.

I thought access to the site came with the book? Is that just if you ordered it through the Alinea Book site (which I did) or is my access going to end at some point unless I pay to keep it?

Thanks Kerry. I'm going to check this out as soon as I get my next l'epicerie order sent off. I don't have apple pectin right now, just G-pectin. Was the pear version just a direct replacement of pear puree for apricot?

Mine hasn't arrived yet. I'm going to be patient a little longer then give the place I ordered from a friendly reminder that I already paid for my copy a few months ago. Seems kinda silly to have preordered it now, it didn't give me a headstart on receiving it.

I'm definitely looking forward to it. I fully intend to work from the book. I'm sure I won't work through the entire book, I've never done that with any book, but I'll definitely do some of the dishes and probably make use of a lot of the components and techniques in other settings.