teonzo

The bonbon is called "pistachio homage", it's on page 370 of my "Chocolates and Confections" book (first edition, the one with the black cover). It should be even on the second edition (the one with the red cover). No need for emulsifiers in the pistachio marzipan recipe. Greweling has clear instructions on how to avoid to break the emulsion in marzipans, and even how to fix it in case it happens. Teo

If you look on French sites you can find some small tempering machines for home use, like this one. Time ago I saw a model for around 200 euro, but can't remember where, sorry. Teo

You can take advantage of your equipment and use a "simplified" method: - melt the milk chocolate at 45°C - cool it to 29°C (just set the machine temperature at 29°C and wait) - agitate the melted chocolate with the paddle attachment (totally avoid the whisk attachment) at minimum speed for around 20 seconds (or by hand, using a silicone spatula or similar) - keep the temperature at 29°C and test if the chocolate is tempered - if it's not tempered, then agitate more The wild crystallization method needs some agitation to form the good crystals, if you just cool the melted milk chocolate to 25°C and reheat to 29°C without agitation then it's difficult to get it in temper. The cooling + reheating was meant mainly for practical reasons: this method was used by tabling the chocolate with a spatula, in that way you need time to agitate the chocolate for enough time to form the good crystals, during that time the temperature lowers and reaches the zone where bad crystals start to form too, so it was needed to reheat the chocolate to melt the bad crystals and keep the good ones. Since your machine is able to keep a constant temperature of 29°C, then better use that feature and simplify the operations. Teo

If the temperature of your bedroom went over 33°C for even only one day (which is quite probable) during these years then the chocolate went out of temper. When it goes out of temper it develops some surface bloom (you see some white streaks, it is not shiny anymore) and changes texture (when you break it it is soft and does not make the correct "snap"). Most people here, me included, consider "Chocolates and Confections" by Peter Greweling to be the best book on the subject. Maybe you can find it in your library. Another good source is "Fine Chocolates: Great Experience" by Jean-Pierre Wybauw, it should be free to read on google books. Teo

I would be a bit skeptical that "ancient milk chocolate" could be still in temper and act as seed... Better if Jo waits for your package. Teo

You can try pistachio marzipan. There is a hand dipped bonbon with it in the Greweling's book. Teo

I'm looking for a quick way to peel chestnuts keeping them whole. Peeling them by hand is too time consuming, it takes me around 1 hour to peel 1 kg. I've looked for a chestnut peeling machine here in Italy, but I can only find high production ones, too big and too expensive. I found some options on AliBaba: https://www.alibaba.com/trade/search?fsb=y&IndexArea=product_en&CatId=&SearchText=chestnut+peeling+machine they are cheap, which is good, but I'm skeptical about their results: can they really peel the chestnuts (both hard shell and skin) and keep them whole? Is there anyone with experience that can suggest me a cheap chestnut peeling machine? Thanks. Teo

Another couple of fall releases by professional chefs: Peter Gilmore - From the Earth: World's Great, Rare and Almost Forgotten Vegetables new book by the chef of Quay restaurant Daniel Clifford - Out of my Tree: Midsummer House (link points to Amazon UK, this book is still not on sale on the .com) UK chef with 2 michelin stars, never heard about him, photos look nice Teo

Kaffir lime ganache + pumpkin ganache Kaffir lime ganache + coffee ganache Kaffir lime ganache + carrot pate de fruit Kaffir lime ganache + Campari ganache Kaffir lime ganache + thyme ganache Kaffir lime ganache + turmeric ganache lime pate de fruit + jalapeno ganache lime pate de fruit + chamomile ganache lime pate de fruit + cumin ganache lime pate de fruit + elderflower ganache lime pate de fruit + poppyseeds ganache lime pate de fruit + wasabi ganache Teo

I would choose any of them over pizza with Nutella, which became one of the most sold pizzas here in Italy. Teo

Many people will be happy to know that this book will get an English translation: Cédric Grolet - "Fruit" Teo

Add the gelatin to the simple syrup + eggs, just after heating them and before starting whipping. In this way the gelatin will be fully dispersed in the mixture and you won't risk to get lumps. Most probably your lumps are due to adding the gelatin together with the whipped cream: whipped cream is cold, so when gelatin comes in contact with it then it gels quickly. Some other suggestions: - whip the cream before whipping the eggs and reserve it in the fridge; - melt the chocolate before whipping the eggs, it must be added around 35° C - 40° C, so check the temperature before folding it in the whipped eggs, if necessary heat it briefly; - after whipping the eggs work QUICKLY, you need to add the melted chocolate and the whipped cream as fast as you can, to avoid deflating the eggs. If you are using dark chocolate then I would suggest to check the recipe, usually you don't need gelatin, the cocoa butter in the dark chocolate should be enough for setting the semifreddo. Teo

I would need more specifications... Do you have access to a car, or are you relying on public transportation? There is a great pizzeria in a small village near Mestre, but you need a car to get there. The easiest place to get with public trasportation is Mestre (tram, bus or train). It's a place for stores and offices, so there is not much going on after the working hours (for example a couple of years ago a good cocktail bar opened and it's already closed). Within walking distance from the main tram stop (called Piazzale Cialdini) I can suggest these ones: Pizzeria da Pino (Piazzale Candiani 17/19) - surprisingly good for being a chain Gelateria Chocolat (Via Gino Allegri 27) - this is the best ice-cream shop in Mestre, they have 2 locations, this is the one near the tram stop On the other side Mestre can offer some really good pastry shops, but they close before dinner: Pasticceria Bido (Piazza Erminio Ferretto 3) - overall this is my favourite of them Pasticceria Pettenò (Via Mestrina 25) - they have 2 locations, this is the one near the tram stop Hora Biasetto (Riviera XX Settembre 14) - this is owned by Hora, they sell pastries made by Luigi Biasetto (a pastry chef who won the Coupe du Monde in 1997 and has the main shop in Padua), but they have a small choice and service is subpar Teo

I would suggest substituting a part of sugar with chestnut honey, it pairs well with figs and being bitter it cuts the sweetness. Also I would suggest using rosemary, I love the combo figs + chestnut honey + rosemary. Teo

Beware that most clingfilms (almost all) release toxic compounds when subjected to high temperatures. It's not a wise choice to put clingfilm on direct contact to some food that is going to be baked. Teo

I live 25 km from Venice but I'm ashamed I can't be a great help. Everything is overpriced in Venice, so when I go there I tend to avoid going to restaurants. As @liuzhou wrote, first rule is to keep far from the tourist roads, 99.9% of restaurants placed on the turist roads are going to screw you. If you have kids, then the best suggestion is to look for "bacari". Bacari are the equivalent of the tapas bars in Spain: informal pubs/restaurants where you can eat a series (how many as you want, of course) of small plates, most of them have vegetarian options. No problem with kids there. Can't give you direct suggestions, sorry. Bacari have a strange story. Up to to the advent of Tripadvisor and similars, they were the best kept secret in Venice. All of them were placed far from the tourist roads, so only people living here knew them. When you visited almost all customers were speaking Venetian dialect, they were local restaurants for the locals. You could find the authentic Venetian cuisine for cheap prices. There was the tradition of "giro dei bacari": you spent the evening/night going to a bacaro, eating a small plate with a glass of wine, then going to another, until you were able to stand on your feet, and without spending a fortune. After the advent of the reviewing sites bacari became known outside of the locals, so a lot of tourists started to flood them. Almost all of the historical names went to hell (raised prices and became hip spots). This phenomenon caught the attention of people who open new places in Venice, so there are a good amount of new bacari that open each year. The usual story goes this way: first few months you find good quality for correct prices. As the restaurant starts to get customers, then prices rise and quality lowers. I'm not up to date on current names, my best suggestion is to search "best bacari Venice" with google and read only the comments that were written in 2018. As far as gelato, I stopped trying. Every time someone said to me "this gelateria in Venice is top notch!" I always ended up being disappointed. I would suggest you to try Grom, it's a chain with a lot of stores in Italy and abroad. They have 4 stores in Venice. Their stuff is not the best but it's good. Their sorbets are made from real fruit and not from industrial powders, a rarity for Venice. The only good name for pastry shops is Vizio Virtù in my opinion, they are focused mainly on chocolate. All the other good places closed or have been bought out. Well, you can find some top places in San Marco, but their prices are much more over the top. Teo

Have you tried searching on Eat Your Books using all these ingredients? Maybe you are lucky and someone indexed that magazine. Teo

In the zone where I live there is (was) a typical kind of bread called "pan boemo" ("Bohemian bread"). It's a small loaf, crumb is really fluffy (I would say the fluffiest crumb of all the breads sold here), crust is really thin and tender (almost non existent). I'm pretty sure it's made with some milk and sugar. I tried to look for some more infos in various libraries but to no avail, couldn't find any mention anywhere. Nowadays there is only one bakery that keeps doing it. The others closed or changed ownership. I asked to this baker what he intends to do with this recipe, since all the other bakers who made it kept it for themselves and died. His answer: "this recipe will come with me in my tomb". Such a shame. Teo

This is another example of a text written/translated by someone with no professional experience (seems like a frequent happening with this book). After reading the recipe I'm pretty sure that the original French term was "poudre à crème", somehow it was translated as "powdered cream". "Poudre à crème" is a product used only in France to thicken/gel custards, flans and so on. As far as I know it's a given in France (meaning they think everyone else should know what it is), while outside that country it's almost unknown (even in Belgium). "Poudre à crème" is a mixture that can vary in its composition, it's mainly modified cornstarch (including dextrines), some producers add vanillin, others not, and so on with minimal differences. You can substitute it with the starches you use for you go-to pastry cream recipe (this is a basic pastry cream recipe, after that you'll have to add butter and hazelnut praliné to make the mousseline). Teo

I would suggest you to contact the restaurant and ask them directly. If you still have a receipt of your order (confirmation e-mail, whatever) then attach it. Teo

I'm totally old school when it's up to chocolate bonbons' aesthetics, my experience is on enrobed/dipped bonbons, so my experience about these kinds of decorations is almost null. My uneducated guess is that they used a similar method to the multiple pastry bags. If you insert 2 or more disposable pastry bags into another empty disposable pastry bag, then you can pipe out something with 2 or more colours at the same time. In this case I suppose they used a good amount of pipettes, each one filled with a different coloured cocoa butter, each one activated at the same time (probably electronic pipettes?). This way you get multiple colored drops falling at the same time in the cavity, then you apply some compressed air (I suppose with a good dispersion) and hopefully it works. If it's made this way, it should be pretty quick. I repeat, this is just my guess. Teo

(this seems like the usual case where the text is written by a ghost writer who's not practical with pastry making) Tempering at step 2 seems like overkill, it has not much sense since when you pass the mixture in the grinder at step 4 you are going to heat it and melt the chocolate / cocoa butter. So it doesn't change is it was in temper or not. I would omit that tempering passage. I'm pretty sure that with "grinder" he means a professional chocolate grinder with granite stone wheels, the big version of the small machine you use and call "melanger". Don't really think he means a grinder with blades. If you temper the gianduja with the tabling method then you need to go to lower temperatures, around 24° C. The reason is similar to why you use lower temperatures to temper milk and white chocolate: the added fats interfere with the cocoa butter crystalization. If you are pratical with the tabling method (meaning that you don't need a thermometer to check it, you just "feel" if it's in temper) then trust your feelings for tempering the gianduja too, the difference between tempered and untempered is the same. Teo

Andrew Friedman - "Chefs, Drugs and Rock & Roll" Title is a bit misleading, the book talks about chefs, very few about drugs and rock & roll. This is a fine read, dealing with the change in the American fine dining scene, from mostly French restaurants helmed by Frenchmen to the blooming of the American chefs/owners and the celebrity chefs. Due to its nature this book is fragmentary, Friedman tried to talk about a lot of people that became iconic and the various scenes where they got success. It's based mainly on California (Los Angeles, San Francisco and Berkeley) and New York. It's an interesting read with some intriguing anecdotes. I had a good idea of most of those happenings (from reading here and there), but it's nice to find all the story covered in a single book. My main criticism is that I would have liked to see more pages dedicated to some figures like Jean-Louis Palladin, Charlie Trotter and Rick Bayless. They get a quick naming and nothing more. I understand the practical problems of interviewing them, I understand that Palladin was French and not American (well, Puck is Austrian and got a lot of coverage), but they deserved a couple pages each at least. Probably there are more big figures I'm missing. Not a detracting criticism, when you write such a book it's impossible to include everyone, there will always be people saying "you needed to add _____ and ____" (that's what I just did hahahahha). Teo

Anne-Sophie Pic - "Le Livre Blanc" Now on sale for $11.37 (original prize $60.00). If you like restaurant cookbooks for their food porn, then this is a steal. If you want recipes to use at home, then keep far. Teo

Some books for the professionals (mostly fine dining restaurants): Albert Adria - "Tickets Evolution" Jason Atherton - "Pollen Street Social" Tommy Banks - "Roots" Fredrik Berselius - "Aska" Nick Bril - "33" Mauro Colagreco - "Mirazur" Kobe Desramaults - "Kobe Desramaults" Hendrik Dierendonck - "Carcasse" Leonor Espinosa - "Leo el Sabor Ancestral y Moderno" Will Goldfarb - "Room for dessert" Brooks Headley - "Superiority Burger Cookbook: The Vegetarian Hamburger Is Now Delicious" Ignacio Mattos - "Estela" McMillan + Morin - "Joe Beef: Surviving the Apocalypse: Another Cookbook of Sorts" Junichi Mitsubori - "Kado: The New Art of Wagashi" Mouratoglou + Carré - "Mazi: Modern Greek Food" Redzepi + Zilber - "The Noma Guide to Fermentation" Simon Rogan - "Rogan" Stone + von Hauske - "A Very Serious Cookbook: Contra Wildair" Teo