Edward J

I use a roler-cutter- a series of s/s discs bolted on a rod with 1" spacers. Pop this baby in the oven for a minute or two so the discs are warm-ish, and cut away. I use the same method to cut slabbed ganache as well.

I've been noticing a film buildup on my dishwashing racks, you know, tose 19" x 19" plastic racks that go into the commercial dishwashers, and I can't seem to get rid of the film. Operating temperatures, soap and rinse-aid dispensors are all fine. I run a small cafe/chocolate shop and only run maybe 20 racks total per day through the machine. I can wipe off the film with a rag, but to get in every tooth and crack an dcrevice of the rack is virtually impossible. Anyone know of a way to get rid of the film?

The post Lisa Shock wrote about not putting molds in the d/washer. Uh...Um, well, I do do it, on occasion, and in a high temp commercial d/w as well. Hasn't affected the performance of the mold at all. Then again, I only washed them maybe 4 or 5 times in the last 3 years......

What about pouring it on silplat or the like, and when cold simply brushing on couverture on both sides?

If the resellers ever find out, your hack is gonna wish he was dead........

Kinda/sorta.... The butchers use an aluminum form with screws to make "pullman" hams and such. But it's big, I think around 4" x 4" x 12". Probably hard to scare one up, but the usual place to look would be a butcher's supply house

When baking sponge, I don't grease at all, Usually I bake in open cake rings, which are laid on a flat tray with a parchment underliner. After baking the cake is cut from the ring with a small spatula or knife. I do notice a glazed or "fried" surface texture on the cakes if the form is buttered/ greased out. With Angelfood cakes I have been specifically "warned" NEVER to grease the pan or the batter fall and collapse.

Well, yes. Assuming you are getting 40 hr weeks. Assuming one gets stolen every month, I'd say the victim is buying every one in the Brigade a new knife. Then again, no one ever said "brand X" isn't sharp either. The devil is in the maintainence.

Ahhh, knives I've stuck with one brand throughout my career, starting as an apprentice in a lowly 4 star hotel in Luzern, and working my way across Switzerland in 4 and 5 star houses, then S.E. Asia, and finally Canada. What knives? Let's call them "Brand "X" It doesn't matter. A knife is just a hunk of steel with a sharp edge. With anything in life, there are trade-offs, "good edge rentention" usually means a harder steel, which is good, but also brittle--not so good, chipped edges and such. Softer steel means poorer edge rentention BUT (silver lining) much easier to keep sharp, usually a few swipes with a butcher's steel, and then when neccesary, sharpening. Everyone's hands are different, everyone stands different, and there are a variety of grips everyone is comfortable with, and every kitchen is diffferent. There is no "Best" knife for every category Most cooks I've seen in my career give an attempt at learning sharpening, then quickly give up, and either let a dul knife sit in a drawer, or take it to a "local sharpener" who proceeds to shrink it down with a 250 grit abrasive. Sharpening is not for everyone and if you don't like it, no shame or harm done, but if you don't like to sharpen, don't go out and buy an expensive knife and let the local lawnmower guy take a chance on it. As an employer, I get nervous when employees bring in knives that cost more than $100.00 a pop. Why? Would you feel nervous if an employee brought in a Rolex or Gucci Bag and put it into an unlocked locker? I repeat, a knife is just a hunk of steel with a sharp edge, the magic is in the user's hands..........

Again, there are a few things you should realize: There is a HUGE difference between the Chef, and the HR manager/Owner/ Manager and what they look for in prosepective applicants. The Chef tends to look at work experience on a resume. The others tend to look at paper qualifications. In many places it is the HR who does the actual hiring, or has final say in who is hired and at what pay rate. In this scenerio you peddle your paper qualifications. In Canada we have the "Red Seal" which is a qualification for cooks, I repeat, COOKS, not CHefs. Most Chefs see this for what it is: A sit-down test comprised of 200-odd multiple choice questions. When schmoozing with the Chef DO NOT mention the "Red Seal" Or endure the guffaws and smart-azz remarks. Personally, I think it an oxymoron to have a "degree" in any hand-trade, such as cooking or plumbing, or electrical work. Then again, I don't manage a culianry school......

How thin are you rolling out inbetween tours? Admittedly, I haven't done puff by hand since culinary school, but I do it by machine (dough sheeter) about once a week. If you roll out thinner than 10 mm (aprox 3/8") you tend to squish the layers and fat does ooze out when baked, and the rise isn't as high as normal. There are a series of photos on th Richemont Baking school books, "Perfect bakery and confectionary" explaining this.

MMMmmmm. Well maybe in the state of Maine the labour board is useless. Here, in La-la -land (B.C. Canada) the Labour Board is a venom-dripping monster, not only does it have the power to garnishee employer's bank accounts, it does so regularily and quickly. The employee gets his salary, quickly, AND all of it, the Labour Board doesn't take a cut. I believe the state of Calif. is similiar. Matter of fact, both the Labour Board and "Worksafe" (Workers comp) in B.C. are VERY skewed towards favouring the employee. It's a poorly kept secret that many complaints lodged against employers are fraudulent, and the system works so that the Employer must prove his innocence at HIS cost, and in the case of "absolution", has no recourse to recover any lost time or money, no to extract any acknowledgement from the complaintant that the allegation was false. Time cards and video camereas are not recognized by the Labour Board here, an employee's record of hours kept trumps the Employer's record. With all this in mind, the current trend in B.C. is to pay higher than average, but to treat the employee as a contractor. And then there's the little issue of employee theft.........

"Best" School?...... Not any easy question. Culinary schools are like a piggy-bank: You can only get out of them what you put into them....... VCC in Vancouver has some pretty fine instructors and like SAIT and NAIT, the culinary dept is well connected. Apprenticeships are probably your best option--when you're finished, you have both solid work experience AND no student loans........

You need to understand two things: 1) It is the mandate of every restaurant to make money. They may or may not teach you the right way of doing things (making "ommelettes" on the flat-top, marking off steaks and tossing them into the oven to order, deepfrying instead of sauteing meat, etc), or you could work with some really excellent, knowledgeable people who may or may not have time for you. One thing for sure, you learn to work quickly and cleanly or you get asked to leave. 2) It is the mandate of culinary schools to teach the curriculum. You may or may not learn how to work quickly, work clean, think ahead, or do mundane things like clean out a fryer, a flat top, asssemble a meat grinder. One thing for sure, if you do not learn the curriculum, you get asked to leave. There is no perfect solution, at least not in N. America. In Europe the perfect solution is an apprenticeship where you work in good houses with knowledgeable staff and go to school one day a week. Don't get hung up on the name of the school, extract what you can from the experience, and don't expect the fact of any schooling to make any impression on the hiring Chef, s/he is only interested in how you work.

The others have given you some very good advice. Regarding the venting, I have only one question: Who are your neighbors? That is to say, who is in the vicinity of the exhaust fan? No matter how elaborate or expensive a well designed venting system is, if the wind is blowing the wrong way, your neighbors will smell whatever it is you're cooking. If your neighbors are residential, your life will be "Bleep", if they are commercial, they may be more forgiving. The funny thing is, the most greasiest spoon can have the worst venting system, and a new condo tower can go up and complain all they want about smells, but the greasy spoon was there first, so the complaints won't go very far. A new, well designed system will get complaints as well, and becasue the neighbors were there first, the complaints get listened too......

I have had some moderate success with a concoction of gum arabic, sugar, water, and glucose for panned items (hazlenuts, cofee beans. CAVEAT: This only seems to work with couvertures with a low fat content, ie milk couvertures and el-cheapo "chocolate" Which I can't stand to use....

Thanks. Will be doing some experimenting. Been "fooling around" with clarified butter in butter ganches for a while. So far I seem to cap out at around 4 mths--the flavour just fades, but otherwise OK. What's the name of Wybauw's book? Might be a interesting read....

Supposing I were to make a ganache with only two ingredients: Couverture and Alcohol. Would it work? What proportions would I use? Could I get a decent shelf life of , say 4-6 mths? Or possibly adding in clarified butter?

Interesting topic I usually soak my lemons in hot water for a few minutes, as tis also wrms up the fruit and SHOULD give me more juice. Yet, when I take the fruit out and let it dry, I still get white spots. I've tried changing eh water, and using a bar towel to wipe off the stuff, but it's not 100%. What IS that stuff anyway? Paraffin and/or mineral oil? On some fruit, like grape fruit, it almost seems to be a varnish or shellac. You see fine crumbs of the stuff in the bag or box and it wears off. On a side note, which do you find more bothersome: The little stickers on each and every piece of fruit, or the ink stanps?

Flexible molds MAY be O.K. for solid chocoaltes, but they sure don't work for filled confections, nor do they work for large molds (Bunnys, Santas, etc.) where you want to do "make-up" with differnt colours and coat the mold with multiple layers in order to stop latent heat build up. OTOH, I love the slicone molds for Pate de Fruits and small baked things like Finaciers....

Pam, I appreciate your honesty and first hand experience, but I have just one "Yeah-butt" Yeah-butt.... Has anyone actually done a pictorial step-by-step insctructional on how to actually use a scale? Many people don't like to use weight measurements becasue they've never been shown how to actually do it. There's pictorials on how to sharpen knives, how to make certain doughs or tricky confectionary items, but to the best of my knowledge, nothing about how to use a scale and the merits of using one.

Schneich, I remember reading somewhere that adding Trimoline (invert Sugar) in liquids over 100 C would make the Invert sugar loose it's properties. For the life of me, I can't remember WHERE I read this. Is this a myth?