cookin4acravin

I'm about to buy some supplies from L'Epicerie and I decided to buy some molecular gastronomy supplies for my pleasure. So far I'm thinking sodium alginate, calcium lactate and sodium citrate. I'm excluding calcium chloride because I've been hearing that it leaves a bitter taste, can I just subsitute this with calcium lactate? Also should I purchase calcium lactate gluconate as well? What exactly does this do? I understand for molecular gastronomy you need sodium alginate base with a calcium lactate (or calcium chloride) solution normally while a calcium lactate base with a sodium alginate solution for the reverse spherification but how does the calcium lactate gluconate fit in?

I'm planning on making a small dessert for a wedding. The theme color is a purple/violet and I was thinking about a macaron maybe. Anyone have any ideas or recipes? I'm trying to find a reliable Pierre Herme recipe that I can use but for now I'm heading towards http://www.mytartelette.com/2009/03/recipe-violet-macarons-with-violet-and.html

I just made my charlotte and it turned out fine but I need to work on my piping jobs haha. It tastes more eggy than storebought but the texture is alot better. Ill post a picture later.

I am planning on making ladyfingers for a charlotte and I'm using this recipe: 5 eggs, separated 150g caster sugar, plus one extra tbsp 150 flour 1. Mix the yolks with the extra tablesspon of sugar until fluffy. 2. Whip the whites to soft peaks, add sugar and continue whisking until firm. 3. Fold yolks into meringue. 4. Gently incorporate the flour. 5. Pipe. And bake for 10 minutes at 180C. are there any certain things I need to watch for to make sure that it doesnt become hollow inside with a shell on the outside? What other things do I need to watch for?

That matcha madeleine recipe is the only one i;ve found and I'm not good at experimenting since balancing components isn't a skill of mine.... His eclair recipe and opera are very interesting (matcha) and I don't know how to make them

If I wanted to get the pure essence and flavor of the fruit what would I do? Would I strain puree then boil the juice down as much as possible and add it to a regular marshmallow recipe or would I replace the sugar and water with the juice

Thanks I will try that but is there a specific amount on how much water you add for powdered gelatin? A rough guideline or formula?

I am trying to convert from silver strength to powdered Knoxx. I read somewhere that each packet is not always the same weight so I'm not so sure about using that conversion. I looked at the forumns but was so confused with all the contradicting views.

I was trying to convert gelatin sheets to an amount of Knox gelatin grams or teaspoons. In Johnny Iuzinni's book "Desserts Fourplay" he says that all gelatin sheets are equal by weight but this contradicts what Claire Clark says in Indulge where shes says they are equal by sheets but not by weight. If I understand bloom correctly (which I probably don't), her statement is more true than Iuzinni's. I did some math of how I thought bloom worked. If 2.5 grams x 160 bloom (silver sheet) = 400 and 2 grams x 200 bloom (gold sheet) = 400 meaning that they are the same strength if calculated by sheets. I read that Knox powdered gelatin is 225 bloom so I took 400 (the bloom for a sheet according to my theory) and divided it by 225 and got 1.77 meaning 1.7 grams of powdered should equal one sheet. I then took this and divided it by 2.33 which i found to be the amount of grams of gelatin powder in a teaspon and got .76 which means that 3/4 a teaspoon of powder is equal to a sheet and 1.5 teaspoons is equal to 2 sheets which I found many places throughout the internet. Is my calculation right or do I need to use some other conversion factor to get amount of sheets of gelatin. I've seen many different but I don't want to use too much gelatin and make my mousse rubbery.

Hi I've been looking around the internet for any cookbooks by Sadaharu Aoki because his desserts are mind blowing but it seems that he doesn't have any cookbooks. Does anyone have a recipe for a matcha eclair or matcha opera cake like his? I am also interested in any other of his recipes you might have. His desserts are stunning. http://chocolateandzucchini.com/archives/images/sadaharu/opera.jpghttp://chocolateandzucchini.com/archives/images/sadaharu/opera.jpg

I am making macarons later this week I was wondering why when I beat my egg whites with the dried ones they never mix in. I always end up with clumps of dampened egg white powder that doesn't mix into the whipped egg whites. Does the speed you whip your egg whites matter in making macarons? Also is drying with a blow dryer like a poster before going to make my piped macarons spread everywhere? Lastly is the macaronage in this video the proper way to make macarons? I was thinking it is only "beatable" that hard in certain recipes that make a thicker/firmer batter. BTW I'm using the french macaron method via http://cannelle-vanille.blogspot.com/2009/03/pistachio-and-grapefruit-macarons-and.html

I was trying to get this book and I'm thinking about getting it via Amazon Fr. because Amazon Ca. has it at 117 Canadian dollars. Is there are any other way to get this? How much does shipping cost from France to US?

I was also thinking of setting out a tray of macarons, but my oven has convection and regular, my macarons burn on the bottom when I use reg bake but when I use convection they brown too much top and bottom. I have been thinking to place my pan on the top shelf when baking regular and keeping the oven ajar when its convection. I have also been checking recipes with convection at a low temperature where I have found temperatures around 135-150 degrees Celsuis and 280-285 degrees regular. Do you think this will help? Last time I just followed the recipe directly I had no shell or foot but I think this is due to the oil from the almonds I grind on my own. I'm thinking of baking the almond powder and confectioners sugar in an oven to dry it out. Any tips or suggestions?

I like the idea of a panna cotta with a fruit compote, I'll think about doing that.

I having a party for the birthday for a relative and theres going to be 60 people and we are ordering a cake which will feed about 24 people so I will be making a dessert. I usually make individual fruit brioche bread puddings in ramekins from http://www.latartinegourmande.com/2007/04/08/berry-brioche-puddings-puddings-de-brioche-perdue-aux-fruits-rouges/ which have been popular many times I make them. I am thinking of making something different this time. These desserts will not be plated with the exception of ramekins, verrine dishes etc. Does anyone have some ideas otherwise a sauce that might go well with the bread puddings for a more sophisticated dish. Thank you