teonzo

I'm pretty confused: why did you call it "Mixed Berry" instead of "Merry Berry"? Teo

Thanks! If you listen to other podcasts by Dave Arnold then please share the books he is talking about, thanks (I have no time for podcasts unfortunately). Teo

Never had any troubles with any fish while using the "violent" air release. Teo

I would suggest @EsaK to look for a machine where it's possible to program the vacuum % as end cycle: you set it at 98% (or else), when the machine reaches that % it starts the sealing cycle then the air release. It's much more useful than programming in seconds, especially when you deal with liquids in bags. Teo

A pump that is 2x powerful will take just a bit over 1/2 time to pull the vacuum. This means it wil last more, since after the same number of cycles it will amount much less time of active work. You are saving time too, so this depends on how much you value your personal time (10 seconds here, 10 seconds there, try making an estimate of a year of use). Remember one thing: if you use it properly for home use, then a vacuum chamber machine will last for your lifetime. So it's better to consider everything now and buy something that will suit your use for decades. If you are going to feel the need to change machine, then you are loosing a good amount of money. In these cases I think it's better to spend a bit more and be safe for the rest of the decades. Never felt the need to use this feature. Then you need to learn to cut it with the diagonal indentations to cut away the "eyes", this way you get an even bigger wow effect. This is the first photo that came out after a google search. Uh, there are lots of things you can make, problem is remembering all of them since it's stuff you use rarely. You can reduce a liquid (like a fruit puree) just letting the pump going on for some time. You can use it for a sort of "cold blanching", you put some stuff in a bowl with water, run the machine, this way you can get various results, for example I remember @gfron1 used this method to get rid of the tannins in acorns. Teo

I prefer to not know what happens during the decompression cycle. Teo

I don't have one at home (I cook simple things at home so I have few toys). I used many at work, can't remember the name / models sorry. I never found much difference between different producers, so I wouldn't mind much about that. The two factors are how big the chamber is and how powerful the pump is. You need a powerful pump to make a better vacuum (the stronger the pump, the nearer to 100% vacuum you get), to save on time and electricity, to save money on the long term since a powerful pump will last much more time. You need a big chamber to be versatile and save costs. If you have a small chamber then you are not able to do many things, like compressing a whole (peeled) pineapple, which is a nice showstopper if you have guests for dinner. With a small chamber you can use only small jars, which means that in many cases you will be forced to use 2 or more jars while you could use a single big one with a bigger machine. More jars mean higher costs: two 0.25 liter jars cost more than one 0.5 liter jar; two machine cicles cost more than one cicle. Same with bags. Saving 50 cents here and 50 cents there means that after some time you repay the difference for the bigger machine. I suppose youare an adventurous cook, so there will be many more uses for this machine. You can make the "bubble chocolate": you put tempered chocolate in a big container, put it in the vacuum chamber machine, pull the vacuum at maximum power, than turn off the machine (leaving it closed without decompressing, so the chocolate has time to set while expanded). If you have unwanted bubbles in a batter / whatelse then you can just put it in a open container and then run it in the machine. This is useful for ganaches, for fluid gels, for things that you thickened with xantan gum. For liquids, you want a big step from the chamber floor to the sealing unit. Small machines have a low step, this means you will get mad with the liquid overflowing out of the bag. A big machine costs more than a small machine at the beginning, but after some time (2-3 years at home use I suppose) it costs less. Be careful to read ALL the details in the manual. The oil in the pump must be changed after some time, don't start thinking "I can go on some more", you risk ruining the pump (a new pump costs much much more than an oil change). You need to be careful (or better, to avoid) putting hot liquids or things with fine powders (you risk to clog the pump). Read what button combination you need to follow to avoid the sealing unit going on: if you use jars, stuff in open containers, things that do not need to be sealed, then it's better to avoid the sealing cycle (less costs). Beware to NOT TOUCH the sealing unit when you pick a bag, it's HOT. Teo

I can assure that the Bormioli jars work fine, used them many times with no troubles. Can't compare with the two-piece lids, never tried since I never saw them here (Bormioli is almost a monopoly). Closing jars with the vacuum chamber is useful for lots of things: dry cookies; coffee beans; tea; rice. The only cost is the electricity, if you used bags then you spent much more money. Using jars is best when you risk damaging the things you are sealing after the compression (many dry cookies would break and crumble, for example). One thing on the vacuum chamber sealer: better spending a little more and be safe, than saving money and be sorry after a bit. When you have one you will find much more uses for it than what you are thinking now. If you buy a cheap / small one then you are going to regret it. Teo

If that's the kind of bugs we will have to eat in the future, well, it will be a sacrifice for sure. Teo

Try adding a bit of lecythin too. Teo

I fell into a dangerous rabbit hole. Who knew that Nostradamus wrote a confectionery book? I just added these titles to the first post: Dumas Alexandre - Le grand dictionnaire de cuisine 1873 https://archive.org/details/legranddictionn00dumagoog Gill Thompson - The complete practical pastry cook 1889 https://archive.org/details/completepractica00gill/page/n4 Kidder Edward - Receipts of Pastry & Cookery For the Use of His Scholars 1720 https://www.loc.gov/item/44028152/ Lamb Patrick - Royal cookery The complete court-cook 1710 https://www.loc.gov/item/44025907/ Marinetti Filippo Tommaso - La cucina futurista 1932 https://www.mori.bz.it/gastronomia/Marinetti - Cucina futurista.pdf Nostradamus - Traite des Fardements et Confitures 1556 https://www.oldcook.com/doc/livre_nostradamus_confitures.pdf Teo

We are talking about two slightly different methods. What you (Jim and Kerry) are suggesting is the partial melt and mix, which requires manual work and is feasible for small quantities. The other method consists in just leaving the chocolate undisturbed in a place at constant temperature. After the due time you will find it melted and tempered, ready for use. This is what was used decades ago before tempering machines were affordable for artisans. Pastry chefs put big amounts of chocolate in a proofer set at the correct temperature (30-32°C for dark, 28-30°C for milk and white), went to sleep, the morning after they found big quantities of chocolate ready to use. This was the main method used during Easter season time ago, still used nowadays by a bunch of people who can't afford a tempering machine. If some amateur has a proofing chamber for bread, then he/she can use this method to get melted tempered chocolate with no effort. Teo

Most probably I will sound cynical and harsh, but I prefer to be direct. To me it sounds like to usual case where the owner is all talk. No small signs of him/her being open to changes. All things you reported are the usual stuff that happens when someone producing big numbers ("big" as relative to artisan production) had a quarrel with the chef and needs a replacement as soon as possible. The owner starts promising every good things possible to lead the prospect to accept his offer, in reality he/she is just searching for an experienced and reliable workhorse who is capable to be in charge of the production. So you would end up just repeating what they are doing at this moment, which seems really far from your aims. Some words on consultants. Most of them are there only for the money, really can't blame them. A good consultant knows how to deal with the various kinds of owners. Lots of them pay for consulting jobs only to satisfy their ego: they call someone hoping to be said "you are doing it great, go on". A smart consultant is able to spot this kind of people immediately and accepts the job just for the easy money. Personally I can't count the times I saw these dynamics. If people really cared about listening to top consultants then now the vast majority of pastry shops would be top class quality, which is far from reality. Most importantly, follow what @Kerry Beal wrote: ask the owner to write on paper every small detail of the offer. Teo

When dealing with wild berries it's important to remember that the sugars / solids content can vary quite a lot depending on the season. During some hot and dry summers I had to add water to wild mulberries and blackberries to be able to get a granita. Didn't try to make a sorbet, but I suspect I could go without adding sugars. It depends on the machine people are using too: a Pacojet will render smooth even a stone (I'm exaggerating, please don't put stones in a Pacojet). Teo

True that! But the goal is to know how the owner treats the other chefs / cooks, not how the dishwasher is treated. If you ask directly to one of the chefs / cooks then the risk of getting a misleading answer is pretty high (most people feel under-appreciated, there are internal wars, so on). Besides that talking immediately to the dishwasher means showing him/her respect, which is crucial if you go to work there, the best strategy is becoming friend with the dishwasher as soon as possible. Besides this, I would be a bit skeptical on various things about this offer. @Desiderio, you say you want to get back facing challenges, experimenting and learning, those are great things. Are you sure you will be satisfied if you accept that offer? If they are using a top French chef as consultant, then it means they are paying him good money for that (much more than you). If you accept the offer and you propose a new idea, what's more likely to happen? The owner will accept it, or will it be scrutinized by the French chef? Most probably the second, I would say. Ok, you can learn a lot from this consultant, but you will have your hands tied, leading to personal unsatisfaction. Being satisfied is a value, being unsatisfied is a cost, both things can be equated to money. Owners say lots of good things when offering a job: "you'll get this, you'll get that", just because they need a new worker. Always be skeptical about every good word/promise is said to you. If people kept their words then I would be the Sultan of Brunei. Teo

It works if you start from perfectly tempered chocolate. But I would say 35°C is a bit too high, better using 32°C as a reference for dark chocolate, 30°C for milk and white chocolate. If you go above them you start risking. Teo

Best way to know how things work inside a kitchen / pastry shop / restaurant is talking with the dishwasher, they always speak the truth. Teo

That's because he used parsley as secret ingredient. Teo

Thanks for sharing! A minor correction: you wrote "This is why there’s no table sugar; it’s too sweet (although there’s plenty of it naturally present in all those strawberries).", there's almost no sucrose in strawberries (as written in a table down in your post). Teo

A similar technique is used by Carlo Cracco, one of the best chefs in Italy. If you google "cracco marinated yolk" you'll get various links with recipes and explanations. He uses a mix of salt, sugar and bean puree for the curing. The resulting yolks can be treated like fresh "pasta", making spaghetti or other kinds (no cooking needed). Teo

33.1% is stated as a minimum, this means that the real content must be 33.1% or above. They state the real content as 34.6%, which is above 33.1%, so there is nothing wrong with that. It's like for marmalade / jam: you can state the minimum % of fruit (in all labels), then write the real content batch after batch. Regarding "cocoa solids", it depends on each country: Italy is in the EU, yet we do not have any equivalent to "cocoa solids" in our labels / language. There's no clear consensus on that definition. Teo

That's one of the many interesting things that we can find in those old books. Lots of things that we think to be recent inventions are much older. In one of those books I found a recipe for "mushroom ice cream", such a thing is still considered weird nowadays, so go figure way back then. Spherification was not invented by Ferran Adrià, it was documented in the 1950's, I've been told it was used by Russian astronauts as a way to drink liquids at 0 gravity (never checked this source though). In the book by Daniel Patterson and Mandy Aftel (this was written in this century) they talk about dishes in the Indian courts in the XVII and XVIII century, stuff that would be considered avantgarde if done today. Lots of interesting things in those books, problem is getting to know which titles to search. Teo

Understood, thanks. Well, sooner or later it will be put available on the web, it's just a matter of patience. Teo

Years ago I saw a whisk with the wires covered in silicone, I thought "cool, so I can use it with teflon non-stick pans". Few seconds after paying for it I realized that standard whisks have round wires so damaging teflon is pretty hard. Oh well, that silicone whisk still does its job as a standard one. What I find really useful are the flexible beaters for small stand mixers (Kenwood and Kitchen Aid), they can scratch all the bowl surface so there's no need to stop them and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula. Teo

Added, thanks! Do you have a working link for this, please? I searched a bit with google (not that much I must say, a couple minutes) and found nothing. Thanks! Teo