Tri2Cook

yes. but i didn't grow the berries. ← What? You had to make sixteen cakes for one event and you couldn't be bothered to grow the berries yourself? Those are really nice and I've never grown a berry in my entire life.

I've never tried to concentrate asian pear but maybe try running some through a juicer and reducing the juice to a syrup then adding that to your puree? Or, if you don't want to mess with a juicer, you could try just reducing some puree and combining that with fresh puree. I'm thinking a slow reduction (not too much heat) would be best. With such a delicate flavor, developing caramel notes from overheating the sugars might take over the whole show.

I like bacon cooked in the oven. I always do it that way when we have to cater breakfasts for large groups. I don't use a rack on the pans, I think bacon is better cooked in it's own fat.

I don't think you needed to consult with anyone. It looks like you had a vision and made it reality. The green chile nori is going straight to my blatant-rip-off file. That sage-agave ice cream sounds interesting too. What was the flavor balance for the pixie stix? Did it lean towards the apple with a chile/wasabi kick or was it more chile with some apple sweetness and a wasabi kick? And tuna tempura with the fruit instead of the fish! Brilliant. I followed the link about your dessert from the Iron Baker Challenge which led me to search up and read all of the rounds from that challenge. Makes me wish I'd been around the forums when that was going on so I could've followed along as the ideas were being developed. Still a fun read after the fact though. Anyway, very cool stuff. Thanks for sharing. Edit: That macaron looks great to me. I rarely (very rarely) make macarons and I'm far from being good at it but I'm actually working on an idea right now for them. It's a bit odd and I have no idea if it will work but if it does I'll post about it.

That's awesome Rob. I've been wanting to do something like this for a long time, I even have several fully developed menus filed away, but I never seem to get around to it. Time at the restaurant, catering jobs, keeping up with my cycling, mountain biking and running (more like walking right now, dealing with a nasty bout of plantar fasciitist), conflicting schedules of potential guests, etc... cop-outs, excuses and justifications, oh my. Anyway, everything looks great and I don't doubt it tasted at least as great as it looks. That roasted corn dish is a work of art and the many creative ways you used the chile is really cool. This is inspiring, maybe I'll get off my arse and do something one of these days.

Cool Rob! Now when do we get to hear about the entire menu?

This won't help with your question but, for me, it's nothing at all. When I'm sick (really sick, not *cough* *cough* "Ummm, I won't be in today because I'm sick. Huh? I know, but I'm still talking to the boss. Errr, so yeah... I'm sick." *cough* *cough* I love getting those calls. ) I want a dark quiet room, a warm bed, a big bottle of ginger ale and leave me the %$*# alone... I'll be out when I feel better.

Custard oozing out of the center, chocolate dripping down the sides. What more could you ask for? Nothing's fancy 'til it passes the taste-test... I bet that did.

I don't know, I would have missed out on a lot of good things in life if I followed that one. I'd modify it to: if you have any doubts, talk about them. Don't not say things because you're afraid it will offend.

I'm thinking if it's going in a cookie, cake, etc. with chocolate chips along for the party that there will be plenty of sweet going on for that not to be a worry. Then again, I don't like sugar in my coffee so I could be wrong.

Come on now, Heston Blumenthal would be proud. Especially if you research the beans and exactly how long to optimally cook each one. And no, I'm not being a smartass... I'm a fan of Chef Blumenthal and his approach to food.

I would think it would be fine. I sometimes grab a coffee bean or three from the bin and chew on them while shopping. The only difference I notice is that there was none of that nasty waxy chocolate usually found on the coated beans to deal with. That and I can choose which type of bean/roast I want to chew on.

I wear the same Saucony Trigon Rides at work that I wear for running. Not the same pair, but the same shoes. Cool, light and cushy. Yes, I do realize what would happen if I spill hot liquid on them and I don't particularly recommend it to anybody else. I realize if I ever work in somebody else's kitchen that I will probably have to give them up but until that day comes I'll take my chances. I can't see how they would be any less safe than crocs though.

I don't do real well with bitter. I think I may be among that group that gets slapped over the head hard by certain bitter tastes. I seem to recall it being briefly talked about by Ferran Adria in the "Decoding" show and by Heston Blumenthal in one of his "Perfection" episodes. Acceptable or even pleasant (to others) levels of certain types of bitterness don't work for me. Alginate spheres that haven't been very well rinsed or reverse spheres done with calcium chloride renders the ingredients inedible for me. Even when others around me are raving about how good it is, all I get is a nasty, overpowering, medicinal bitterness. When I did Sam Mason's grapefruit tart with edamame ice cream recipe it called for leaving a small amount of pith on the grapefruit peel for the marmalade. It gets several blanchings and then the cooking in sugar syrup. After all of that, it was much too bitter for me to enjoy. I did it over without the pith. Ironically, your basic aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) is not overly bitter to me. I can chew them without water and it's just a hair away from being pleasant... and of course everybody else is making their "bleh, bitter" face. I guess I am weird. I know this isn't much use to your topic, I just thought I'd mention that you may not want to take it personally if you accentuate the bitter and somebody looks like they just got a mouthfull of green persimmon concentrate. There are a few of us weirdos out there that have been genetically deprived of the ability to enjoy certain types of bitterness.

I find myself at times wanting to use flavor combinations from desserts I like in different settings than originally intended. For example, I once made sundaes with the flavors of Pierre Herme's Ispahan. Rose petal ice cream, almond anglaise, raspberry-litchi coulis. I also did his Faubourg Pave differently for a crowd at a casual occasion. I put the syrup soaked cake in a large glass pan, added a layer of the ganache, topped with a layer of the apricots, added a layer of chocolate mousse (made by adding a small amount of gelatin and some whipped cream to some of the ganache, yes I realize that wasn't part of the original), another layer of the soaked cake and a smooth shiny layer of the ganache on top. I labled it as "A Parfait in the style of Pierre Herme's Faubourg Pave". It went over very well. We have a contract for a catered dinner for 20 every thursday night that is casual and not priced to do "fancy" desserts but I like to inject the idea of those desserts into their culinary experience while staying within the realm of casual. My question is: am I evil for doing things like this?

I'm not a pro but I'm going to have to go with Annie on this one. I never adjust the leavening for the pan. I tried the RLB formulas and was happy with the results... but I've been just as happy without doing it. For a one-off cake it may be worth playing with but for baking lots of cakes on a regular basis it's just one more thing to do that doesn't seem (to me) to make enough difference to be worth it. There probably is a sound reason for doing it but the difference is for people well above what I do to recognize because I just don't see the difference in the end product. I mix my batter and put it in the pans I need it in regardless of size, I don't adjust the temp, I do adjust the time. Keeps it nice and simple which is good for me because cakes are not my favorite thing to do. I only do them because people want them.

Steaming eggs works, they aren't much different than poached other than appearance. Coffee will infuse any liquid you want to use, hot (or cold if you're patient) milk included, I infuse cream with coffee beans fairly often. I can't claim I've ever dumped it in a cup and drank it though.

I checked every source I use for silicon molds with no luck. I found 40mm widths and 40mm depths but not the two combined in one mold. Maybe order some mold silicon and make your own?

The logo won't be too large. The logo can't cover the entire cake because they want some "thank you" type text as well. During my discussion with the customer they made it clear that they wanted to err on the side of not having leftovers. I showed them some pans and combinations so they could visualize it. They decided two 18"x12" together was what they want. I'm not as confident as they are that it will be sufficient since they're cutting it themselves and I can't control portion size. Since I'm already doing the cake at cost as a thank you (They hired us to do passed apps as well, even though an out-of-town caterer is doing the main meal. Catering is a fairly recent addition to what we do and we're not equipped at this time to do a served meal for 200 but they wanted to keep some of it local.), I'm going to have a smaller satellite cake available in case they need it at my own expense. If they don't need it I'll donate it to the local women's shelter, if they do need it I'm a hero. This job is more about advertising than profit anyway, most of the apps are going to be based on things we do at the restaurant. Chocolate is an option but they were quite clear on the logo being an important thing, including color. Making chocolate true black and true red sounds like a difficult task (although I've never actually tried). I've played around with buttercream transfer before but it honestly hadn't occured to me as an option for this, that just might work.

I've been asked to do a cake for 200 people for a customer appreciation thing a local company is doing. Easy enough (wedding cake type servings, so not too huge) but they want the company logo on the cake which (lucky me) is black and red on a white background. They're giving me free reign with how I go about it but I could tell during my talk with them that they're hoping for something more unique than the logo printed on an icing sheet (I really don't like using those anyway so I'm fine with that). I'm leaning towards something with a little dimension and the words "piping" and "skills" shouldn't be used in the same sentence without including "lack of" if we're talking about me. I was thinking if I made a mold I could fill the black areas with a chocolate agar gel blackened with a bit of coloring and the red areas with a red gel then flood the background with a vanilla milk agar gel whitened up with ye good ol' titanium dioxide. It's a simple logo so making a mold shouldn't be too bad. Does this sound as ridiculous to everyone else as it's beginning to sound to me the more I think about it? What other ideas would you cake artists suggest? I've considered pastillage as well. I don't know, I keep telling people celebration cakes aren't my thing but they keep asking for them anyway. Maybe a printed sheet isn't all that bad after all. Edit: I've already decided on my own that this probably isn't a good plan but I'll still leave the post open to other suggestions. Thanks.

No apology necessary even if you had been addressing me. It's a discussion. I don't have to be agreed with or "right" to enjoy a discussion. I was just making sure I was on the right page with what the original poster was looking for. As for the food, I'm not entirely sure what I would do for something like this since it (presumably) doesn't necessarily involve couples and is probably more about promoting sexy than putting people in the mood. I did an 8 course dessert tasting for a group of couples on Valentine's Day. There were no body part representations, no subliminal sexually-positioned foods, not even hearts or the other usual suspects for Valentine's and it was voted very sexy by those who took part. Some should probably have been shown to a room before it was over. Atmosphere was part of the story. Describing what was served would be a bit useless for this discussion as it was all desserts but the main focus (other than taste, of course) involved textures and surprises. Finding an unexpected raspberry in the middle of a mousse, a little flood of sauce in the middle of an ice cream, etc. adds mystery... which is sexy. I don't get the feeling that this is the sort of sexy you have in mind though, I'm thinking it's more of a "feeling sexy is sexy" type of thing that will encourage the purchase of assorted fun things. I think you've already had a lot of good suggestions for that sort of party but savory sorbets and savory warm custards are fun to play with. Savory-based lollipops might be fun as well. Peeled grape tomatoes marinated in vodka, clam juice, lime juice, hot sauce and worcestershire then seasoned with salt, pepper and celery leaves have a sexy texture (for even more fun, charge them in a soda siphon so they fizz). An edible bloody caesar. You could work some unflavored pop rocks into savory bites to add a little surprise. Anyway, I'll stop babbling. I don't really have any tangible suggestions, just vague ideas.

I understand that but she said "I want sexy, sensual, aphrodisiac". Apologies if I misunderstood.

I personally think what brings the sexy to food is texture and unexpected surprises. Making it look like body parts is kinda bachelorette-party to me. Silky, smooth textures with unexpected contrasts. A little heat in unexpected places (like a bit of chile and/or ginger in the chocolate ice cream or mousse or whatever). This sounds like a fun topic, I'm going to have to think about it a bit.

That sounds pretty cool. I'll have to give it a try. Thanks.

I understood that, my answer remains the same.