teonzo

Try reading the vanilla extract's ingredients, probably there's something with proteolytic enzymes (stuff that dissolves gelatin). Teo

Cool! I misunderstood what you wrote when you explained the calculations behind the drink pairing price, I thought you were going to offer only one. So that calculation is for an average of the different drink pairings? I'm really happy to see you are going to offer a huge diversity, so I can't wait to read your first menus. This is one side were fine dining restaurants lack in my opinion. Ok, wine pairings can give great satisfactions, we all know that. But, as a customer, I'd like to get more choices, especially for non alcoholic pairings. It's underwelming to go to most michelin starred restaurants here in Europe and finding that the only wise choices are wine or water. I can drink water whenever I want. If I'm driving, I'm not going to drink wine. Another option to enhance the drink pairing experience would be more than welcome. Teo

You can try different infusion temperatures and times. Different aromatic molecules diffuse in different ways, which means that at different temperature you can get a different ratio of the aromatics in the infusion. For example, say that at 80°C you get 50% aromatic A and 50% aromatic B, if you change temperature to 50°C it's possible you get 60% aromatic A and 40% aromatic B. You need to find the temperature (if there is one...) at which you get your desired result. For tobacco I founf that my favourite results are at 40-50°C, at that range I get more subtle aromas if compared to the strong ones (pungent and smoked). There is another consideration. Cream and eggs tend to mute subtle aromas. If you make a lapsang souchong ice-cream (dairy recipe with cream and possibly yolks) then what you taste is the strong aromatics of lapsang souchong (smokiness) and cream fats + sugars. Subtle aromatics from lapsang souchong get lost, buried by cream and so on. Just to get an idea, make 2 parallel infusions with the exact same method (temperature and time), one of lapsang souchong in cream, one standard in water. It's interesting to notice the differences. In the cream one you taste strong aromatics from lapsang souchong then the cream, in the standard water infusion you get the frontal kick from the smokiness then the whole rest of background tea aromas. Those background aromas get buried by cream and similars. That's why I decided to stop making ice-creams for this kind of stuff and go with sorbets. Teo

What kind of drink pairing are you planning to offer? Wine from small producers? Craft beers? Cocktails? A mix of the above? Will you offer a non alcoholic choice too? Teo

Sorry, I've never tried lapsang souchong in any dessert. It's one of the things I keep repeating myself from years, but still haven't done. When I order teas online (brick and mortar stores carry only industrial stuff like Lipton, sometimes you see a generic "green tea" which seems more like straw) first thing I do is surfing for the teas I want to drink. My preferences are towards oolong and sencha, so I spend an hour surfing those categories, forget abot the rest and make the order. I'll have to write a note on my nose to remember, since lapsang souchong, pu-er, assam and so on (even rooibos) have the potential for great results. I tried to make a praline (bon bon) with a pu-er ganache and figs pate de fruit, I was satisfied with the result, but I used a generic pu-er which was just average, pu-er world is so vast in aromas that the potential is great. On a related note I made a tobacco sorbet, same technique (tobacco infused in water, then syrup). Taste was pretty clear, you could feel all the tobacco nuances, especially spiciness and smokiness. I would have to say it was even too strong. So if tobacco's smokiness did not get lost, then I assume lapsang souchong's won't neither. Teo

Well, you are lucky to have found matcha tea in a store, here I'm forced to buy it online (TeaWay from Italy, great selection, great customer service, tons of infos, in my experience the best food e-commerce in Italy). There are various grades for matcha (as for every tea), "cooking" grade is the lowest one. Highest grade matcha teas are REALLY expensive, even cooking grade matcha tea is pretty expensive if compared to other ingredients, so when people need matcha for desserts then usually the choice is for the cooking grade. The difference in taste is subtle, it goes totally lost if you use matcha tea in a dough, a mousse or others, so it has no sense to spend huge money for subtlety when you are going to loose it. Probably you could taste a difference between a matcha sorbet prepared with top grade and another one prepared with cooking grade, since the sorbet is just water and sugar, no cream / flour / butter / eggs or other ingredients that cover subtleties, but I'm pretty sure the nuances would be muffled by the cold and the sugar. If you are willing to spend top money for top matcha, then the wisest thing is to enjoy it in the traditional Japanese way (bamboo whisk and so on). First time I made a tea sorbet was with a black tea actually, a Darjeeling one: It's Darjeeling tea sorbet (top left, I hard froze the quenelle to have some time to take photos, so it lost the shine and got grainy), quartered apricots, almond crumble, apricot sauce and raw almonds. Teo

I second Kerry's suggestion for savoiardi. They are definetely crumbly (when natural, meaning not soaked). They soak well and keep their structure. If you need coarser texture then you just need to add nut flour, processed to your desired width. Teo

Kerry, thanks a lot for trying and reporting! Teo

So far it seems like a great value-for-money package! Teo

Glad you liked it! I would suggest you to give a try to some other matcha teas (I suppose you used a "cooking quality" one and not a top choice) and Japanese teas in general (sencha, gyokuro...). For drinking, not for sorbets eh. There are wonderful teas out there, pretty far from the supermarket teas we can find here in Europe. Only problem is their cost! Teo

I've never seen any other recipe for matcha tea sorbet. Usually it's a dairy recipe (gelato, ice-cream, whatever, I always get lost with English terms for these things, I'm sure you understand since you speak Italian), most of the time with yolks. The recipe I wrote is one of my "creations", so it's most probable you won't find anything similar since I created it from scratch. My reasoning started from the Modernist Cuisine pistachio sorbet: sorbets let the main ingredient shine more, since there are no added flavours from dairy stuff and eggs. Balancing a nut recipe is difficult, due to the varied composition of the nuts. Balancing an infusion recipe is much easier, since it's just water plus some aromatics (you could make a water sorbet, as you can make a water pate de fruits, the only thing you will taste will be sweetness). In the same way I made a honey sorbet, mint sorbet, cinnamon sorbet... After trying this road I'm not going back, they taste more pure and clear. About proteolytic enzymes dissolving gelatin, no need to worry with tea, they are not present in tea leaves. Even if they were, matcha tea is produced via steaming, so those enzymes would be deactivated by the temperatures reached during steaming. If you have an ingredient with proteolytic enzymes you just need to bring it to 100°C to deactivate them. I'm pretty sure tea leaves do not have them since I made a couple of tea mousses, starting from a cold infusion (tea leaves in water in the fridge for 24 hours), then I heated it to about 50°C to dissolve gelatin. If they had those enzymes those mousses would not have set. While they were not matcha teas but other teas, all of them are made from camelia sinensis. Teo

For sure it would work, since it's been used for a lot of time. But I don't have direct experience, never used pure gelatin as sorbet stabilizer, so I'm not sure about ratios. 2 g for a total of 500 g sound fine, but I would suggest you to make a comparison with some other recipes with gelatin ad stabilizer. I gave a quick look but unfortunately I don't have one. If you use gelatin for other sorbets / ice creams / gelatos then try using the same quantity as there. Teo

I have this one: 350 g infusion (water) 150 g sugar 2 g stabilizer (simple locust bean gum works fine) The reasoning behind it is pretty simple: sorbets work when the reading at the refractometer is within a certain window. The problem with fruits is that they have different solids content (sugars and so on), so you need to adapt each time basing on those values. With infusions it's much more simple, you just have water and sugar, so you can calculate it beforehand with a simple proportion. Stabilizer is highly suggested, otherwise you risk getting a grainy sorbet. Stabilizer ratio can vary depending on which one you are using. I would suggest to make a stronger infusion than usual, since you must factor the cold and the sugar. I would say to use 50% more tea leaves than if you had to drink the standard tea. With matcha tea just make the base syrup (with the stabilizer), add matcha tea to taste, blitzing with an immersion blender. Since you need really few grams of matcha it won't unbalance the recipe. This recipe works for spice infusions as well, in this case it's better to make the syrup and add the spice to the boiling syrup just when you put it out of the flame. The aroma extraction in syrups is much better than in simple water. Teo

Fist things that come to mind. If you just washed a wood utensil (spoon, whatever) and you need it perfectly dry, put it in the MW for about 1 minute (30 seconds on one side, then turn upside down and other 30 seconds). Beware to not keep it for much more time otherwise it will burn (literally). Kitchen sponges are one the favourite places for microbes and so on, so after using them you can put them in MW to dry. Some fruits (like apples and pears) get a nice texture (cooked but firm) and not oxidize if cooked (after peeling and coring) for few minutes in the MW. You can heat water for tea in the MW (hahahahhaha, I'm running for cover). Teo

Just a minor criticism: displaying only 1 item per type, like you did for the jams, is a deterrent for sales. It's much better to display multiple items, like you did for the cookies. Teo

I suppose you know how many jokes you would get in a real kitchen after saying this! That was a first for me. You need to be lucky to have enough ingredients with those letters and after that you need to be even more lucky that they pair well together. Making something with Z ingredients would be pretty hard! If you need more infos/other feel free to ask. Beware that the pumpkin version is a bit trickier than the sweet potato one, the pumpkin inclusion is softer and needs more care during lamination. Before creating confusion, I used the "delica" variety, you can see it on this photo for example. I don't know how it's called outside Italy, I don't even know if it exists outside of Italy. I'm also pretty ignorant about differences between pumpkins and squashes, here we call all of them "zucche". The "delica" variety is the one with the firmer (cooked) flesh we have here. Teo

So, did you start considering about taking over the Blue Chair business? Teo

(Was not able to insert 2 images in the same post, so I had to make 2 different posts) Saccottini Kukkis These are made with the same technique I used for the pomegranate + sweet potato viennoiserie I posted some weeks ago. This time I made a pumpkin dough, using pumpkin juice instead of water for the basic dough. For the inclusion I used pumpkin puree, but I had to work it a bit before getting the right texture (standard pumpkin puree is too watery and soft): first I reduced it to 50% to loose some moisture, then I cooked it with 20% flour to give it more body. Filling is persimmon jam. All the recipe is vegan. Just after taking the pan out of the oven I brushed them with hot syrup (2 parts brown sugar, 1 part water), it helps giving a shining finish, plus it acts as a barrier for moisture, leaving the cooked dough more tender. This is not a light viennoiserie (well, which are?) because pumpkins and persimmons have earthy and prominent tastes, but who cares, I liked them. Teo

Dessert Mel This is composed by: - melissa mousse (the 2 whitish pieces on top image) - pomegranate "waffles" (don't know how to call them in English, the 3 thin things sandwiching the mousse) - pomegranate jelly (the 2 curved strips) - quince cheese (not set, still pliable) Decorations are melissa leaves and pomegranate seeds. The idea for this dessert started from a play on words, the 3 main ingredients all start with the same 3 letters in Italian (melissa = melissa, pomegranate = melagrana, quince = mela cotogna). This is a light dessert that can appeal to anyone. I used no sugar for the 2 pomegranate components, their acidity help to contrast the fattiness of the mousse and the sweetness of the quince cheese. The citrus tones of melissa help to light it as well. Teo

I always dreamed of making a month traveling from farm to farm, this site is a great help, thanks! Teo

Crostata Nisba An earthy pie made with fall ingredients. Layers from bottom to top: - millet shortcrust (half millet flour, half wheat flour) - medlar jam (this layer is not visible) - horseradish "cake" (flour + sugar + grated horseradish + water + oil) Decorated with confectioner's sugar and medlar jam. The recipe is vegan (not how I realized it, since I used standard confectioner's sugar). I'm happy with the result, it's a weird combination so this is a pie for adventurous palates. The main tone is the earthiness by all 3 ingredients. Medlars give a good acidity, horseradish (used few) gives spiciness and a long aftertaste. Millet flour is coarse and make a raw effect, which is ok for the pie: this is a blue collar pie, not a white collar one. I'm always happy when I use poor ingredients (medlar and millet are used as animal feed here in Italy) and get good results. Teo

Torta Biema Layers from bottom to top: - poppy seeds biscuit - beets and yogurt jelly - beets mousse - poppy seeds biscuit - yogurt mousse - beets glaze Decorations are pure yogurt on top, a white chocolate strip sprinkled with poppy seeds (a bit too much seeds) on the side. Beets are totally unusual in pastry here in Italy, I was curious to try making an entremet with them. The result is very light and "catchy". I gave a slice to a few people for a blind taste (without telling them what was in the entremet), all of them liked it and cleaned the plate. After telling them there were beets all them made a puzzled facial expression (or worse) but they couldn't argue about their appreciation for it. It's always fun seeing such reactions. Teo

I wondered the same question, I suppose the oil quantity should be too high. As far as I understand the yeast cells attack and process both the wheat flour and the sweet potato starches, this way they develop gas bubbles in all the layers. The standard lamination technique used in viennoiserie is to include pure butter, not mixed with flour (as most professionals do with their puff pastry recipes), this must be for a good reason. Another problem is that oil is liquid, so adding it to the sweet potato pulp would make it softer and more fluid, this would cause a good amount of troubles during lamination. I see this technique more as a way to include (a high amount of sweet potato pulp in the dough without it absorbing flour) than laminate. Since the result is a really tender and light dough (more similar to bread than buttery viennoiserie), then I'm fine with the current state. Teo

Saccottini Hinaqu Don't know how this shape is called in English, in Italian it's called "saccottino" which means "little pocket". It's a sort of turnover made with leavened dough and jam inside. Flavors here are sweet potato (here in Italy we have this kind, grey flesh) in the dough and pomegranate in the filling. I tried a new technique for the dough: when eating a sweet potato I thought "this has the texture of soft butter... I can use it instead of soft butter somewhere". So I tried it for a viennoiserie piece. I picked up a recipe for croissant dough and used the cooked sweet potato pulp for the lamination instead of the usual butter. Since I was substituting a dairy product with a vegetable I decided to make it a vegan recipe. Laminating the cooked sweet potato pulp inside the dough has the advantage that the potato is not aborbing flour as if you were adding it to the main dough. In this way you get a lighter result, not as heavy as the usual sweet potato doughs. After cooking you loose the lamination effect, you don't see the different layers and don't get the crispy flaky crust of croissants. This because croissaint lamination works thanks to the butter fat (the fat of all the mini butter layers works as a shield for vapor, keeping divided the layers), sweet potatoes are mainly starch and not fat, so that effect is null. No problem, I'm happy the same since I got a light, soft and tender dough. Filling is a sort of pomegranate custard: pomegranate juice, sugar and cornstarch, cooked together. I used the cornstarch method to avoid the risk of the filling spilling outside the dough. I'm really pleased with the result. Texture and taste are quite different from all the usual viennoiserie, but it's really a pleasure to eat. Plus it's vegan, good thing because making vegan viennoiserie is always a challenge. Teo

Simply I don't like it, hehhehe. I'm a bit of a pistachio "purist", I'm not a fan of the pairing with caramel. Using top quality pistachios in a praline is just a waste of good ingredients in my opinion, you loose the nuances that make good pistachios good. Giving how much pistachios cost, I don't see much sense in buying something where pistachio qualities are covered. As I wrote, it seems like a way to use non-top pistachios and ask premium prices for them. Good for their wallets, not for mine. Same as above: I don't think they use their top cocoa beans for caramelized products, but they ask premium prices for them. Ok, caramel flavored things will always appeal to the masses and be a good sell, but there are cheaper ways to get those flavors. Teo