teonzo

The pastiera taste is given by the balance between many ingredients: ricotta, wheat, candied orange peel, candied cedro (cedro is the fruit of the cedar tree), orange flower water and cinnamon. The filling includes also sugar and eggs. If you want to be traditional then you need to make the pastry using lard instead of butter. You need boiled whole wheat berries. To prepare them you need to soak whole wheat berries in water for 3 days, changing water every 12 hours. After soaking you have to boil the wheat until tender. Since it's a time consuming process now you can find the canned stuff here in Italy, really few people continue to soak their own wheat. Since you can't find the canned stuff then the only way is the traditional soaking method. If you want to use something else instead of wheat, then rice is a better choice than farro (there are various families that prepare pastiera with rice instead of wheat). Sorry but I have no experience about casatiello. Teo

The link provided by Mjx is a good resource to extimate how safe you can be. Remember people eat just a fraction of your batch, this comes in your favour. For example if you make 80 pralines from 2 g of tobacco, then each praline will contain the nicotine extracted from 0.025 g of tobacco (and it won't be ALL the nicotine included in that 0.025 g of tobacco). I used tobacco in various desserts, including a praline. The recipe was 200 g tobacco infusion (220 g cream, 2 g tobacco, cold infused for 12 hours), 320 g dark chocolate 70%. They tasted quite strong, you can halve the tobacco. Teo

Sean Brock published his book tour: http://www.husknashville.com/book-tour/ Maybe you can find some useful addresses. Teo

Another thing you should start to consider now (1 year passes quickly) is planning your "release shows". Things like combining a book presentation (with signing session) in one of the major cookbook stores (like Kitchen Arts and Letters) and a guest dinner in one of the good restaurants in that city. You seem to have an open and funny personality, so those kind of events are really good to capture the attention of people living far from your restaurant. If you end up self-releasing your book (or signing a contract that will force you "buying" a good amount of copies of your book) then start considering some trades with other "small" cookbook publishers. With "small" I mean publishers which books aren't sold on Amazon or similars, like Montagud or Face. This way it will be much easier to sell a huge amount of copies in your restaurant, since the choice will be much broader and people will be able to get hard-to-find books. Plus your revenue will be much higher since you get full retail price and not wholesale price. Gaining less money per book but selling a higher amount of books may give you a smaller income in the short term, but it will pay in the long term. Teo

I would try to make a fruit flavoured meringue and then I would try to FD it instead of dehidrating it in the usual way. I'm pretty sure commercial powdered albumin is FD-ed, so your albumin should work. I would grind it to powder, weigh 20 g of albumin and 180 g of fruit puree (whatever you want), mix a bit and let it rest for about 1 hour. Then make a French meringue adding 200 g of sugar, form some meringues and then try to FD them. Teo

Can you try with fresh albumen? Thanks. Teo

I suppose it's a problem of too high tension between the 2 thin layers of chocolate, combined to the refrigeration. If you let set the first layer then the second layer will get attached to it while fluid, expecially with inclusions such in this case, then during cristallization it will shrink, creating a tension of the first layer (already set) and making it crack. I would suggest to pour the second layer when the first one just started to cristallize (same viscosity as when you close easter eggs or when you score chocolate plaques with a knife) and to avoid refrigeration (quick cristallization = more tension). Teo

I made a bunch of stuff with saffron: Entremet with apricots, saffron and pistachio http://www.teonzo.com/immagini/torte/albicocche_zafferano_pistacchio.jpg Plated dessert with white asparagus, saffron and hazelnuts http://www.teonzo.com/immagini/dessert/asparagobianco_zafferano_nocciole.jpg Pralines with saffron and porcini mushrooms http://www.teonzo.com/immagini/ciocc_conf/praline_zafferano_porcini.jpg Plated dessert with saffron, orange and basil http://www.teonzo.com/immagini/dessert/zafferano_arancia_basilico.jpg Macarons with walnuts and saffron http://www.teonzo.com/immagini/biscotti_mignon/macaron_noci_zafferano.jpg Entremet with figs, saffron and almonds http://www.teonzo.com/immagini/torte/fichi_zafferano_mandorle.jpg Figs and saffron is a great pairing now that we are in figs season, it was traditional for ancient Romans. If you are interested in some recipes I'll try to translate them. Teo

I would add La Boulangerie par Veronique Mauclerc if you want some viennoiserie cooked in a wood fired oven. Sugared and Spiced is a great blog where you can find tons of reviews about Paris. Teo

Another one: Ollie Dabbous - "Dabbous: The Cookbook" Teo

Other releases coming out in the next months: Martin Benn - "Sepia" I'm really curious about this top restaurant in Australia, I hope this book will be on par with the one by Ben Shewry. Alexandre Gauthier - "Alexandre Gauthier: Chef, La Grenouillère" This is in the bottom of my want list of all the restaurant books coming out this fall. Nicolaus Balla, Cortney Burns - "Bar Tartine: Techniques and Recipes" The previous Tartine books were winners, hopefully this one will be on the same level. Vincent Lemains - "Ladurée Chocolate" Don't know what to expect, the previous Laduree books left me a bit cold. Johnny Iuzzini - "Sugar Rush: Master Tips, Techniques, and Recipes for Sweet Baking" This seems about basics so I'm not that much interested, but Iuzzini is always top class. Jean-Pierre Wybauw - "Fine Chocolates 4: Creating and Discovering Flavours" A must buy for me. Brooks Headley - "Brooks Headley's Fancy Desserts: The Recipes of Del Posto’s James Beard Award–Winning Pastry Chef" Must buy too. Antonio Bachour - "Bachour Simply Beautiful" And another must buy. Ecole Grand Chocolat Valrhona - "Chocolate Master Class: Essential Recipes and Techniques" I'm not a fan of books aimed both to professionals and amateurs (as were the previous Flammarion/Valrhona books), so I'll wait to find this for cheap. Dave Arnold - "Liquid Intelligence: The Art and Science of the Perfect Cocktail" This seems to be a must for cocktail lovers. Teo

Probably it's just a matter of the kind of chocolate. I suppose you are using a chocolate with more cocoa mass and less cocoa butter than the one used in the original. Is it written what kind of chocolate they are using, besides the %? Cluizel? Teo

Leave it where it is, as everything made by Ponti. They are one of the cheap companies here in Italy, their products are among the worst you can find in our supermarkets. Plus I would bet that their exported stuff is of lower quality than what they sell here. Teo

Thanks for posting this! This technique seems to have some fun potential! Teo

Uhm, this is not correct, Mjx wrote it right. Here in Italy the word "gelato" is simply a general definition for all that kind of preparations (water based, dairy + egg, only dairy, artisanal or industrial... everything). Most professionals look for medium/high overrun, not for low (if we are speaking about traditional gelato in Italy). Teo

Near Ostuni: Ristorante Da Gino Contrada Montevicoli, 57b 72013 Ceglie Messapica (Brindisi) http://www.ristorantedagino.it/ Ristorante Le Palme - Hotel Masseria Torre Maizza Contrada Coccaro 72015 Savelletri di Fasano (Brindisi) http://www.masseriatorremaizza.com/ Taverna della Torre Via San Quirico 3 72014 Cisternino (Brindisi) http://www.tavernadellatorre.it/ Hosteria Gia' Sotto l'Arco Corso Vittorio Emanuele, 71 72012 Carovigno (Brindisi) http://www.giasottolarco.it/ ------------------- Near Specchia: Pasticceria Arte Bianca via Don Sturzo 73052 Parabita (Lecce) Ristorante Lemì Via Vittorio Emanuele, 16 73039 Tricase (Lecce) http://www.ristorantelemi.it/ Ristorante Il Bastione Riviera Nazario Sauro, 28 73014 Gallipoli (Lecce) http://www.ilbastionegallipoli.it/ Ristorante LaltroBaffo Via Cenobio Basiliano, 23 73028 Otranto (Lecce) http://www.laltrobaffo.com/ Trattoria la Puritate Via S.Elia, 18 73014 Gallipoli (Lecce) U Purpitiellu corso Annibale Ugento di Torre San Giovanni (Lecce) I'll try to look for some more. Teo

Most probably you need to add some acid too, otherwise pectin won't gel properly. Teo

I was totally skeptical about this re-edition, thanks for confirming it's not worth any cent. Teo

Be careful if it's something like Gelatina Vegetal by Sosa: it works at different temperatures than standard gelatin (much higher, causing troubles if you want to make mousses), plus it is not suitable for freezing. Teo

Other books coming out this year: Marc Forgione - "Marc Forgione: Recipes and Stories from the Acclaimed Chef and Restaurant" Dan Barber - "The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of Food" Sean Brock - "Heritage" Teo

Some stuff from past year that went under my radar: Kris Goegebeur - "Fruity Pastry" Emmanuel Mollois - "Patissier" Jialin Tian - "Choux Temptations" Teo

If I were you I would avoid the feuilletine, just for a matter of overall balance considering the other tastes... If you add neutral oil to white chocolate then the result is obviously a sort of ganache. 10% is enough to start loosing the crunch of the tempered white chocolate. Other possible solutions are these ones: - brush a piece of parchment paper with a very thin layer of tempered white chocolate, immediately (it sets quickly) sprinkle it generously with dessicated coconut, then cut is with the needed shape for your entremet (in this way you get a very thin and crunchy layer, easy to cut, but being thin maybe you need to use more than 1 layer); - put some desiccated coconut in a bowl, add some untempered white chocolate (just enough to hold together the coconut), put some of this between 2 pieces of parchment paper, roll it to desired height (2 mm I'd say), cut it of needed shape (using untempered white chocolate will give you the desired firmness for this kind of layer). Teo

If you want to make fruit mousses then agar-agar gives some troubles due to temperatures: it starts gelling at 40°C, this is a bit too high when you need to fold in the whipped cream. The best substitute is cocoa butter, it works almost at the same temperatures as gelatin. About quantities, you need to multiply the gelatin quantity per 5 or 6. Example: if your recipe calls for 10 g of gelatin, then you can subsitute it with 50-60 g of cocoa butter. Teo

In Pãstryrevolution #5 (a great magazine on pastries and bread, if you can read Spanish language) there is an interview with Francisco Migoya where he says he is starting a project with Nathan Myhrvold. This seems like the beginning of the works for "Modernist Patisserie". This is a great news for me, an equivalent of "Modernist Cuisine" for pastry and baking would be a dream! Teo

Some more stuff: David Kaplan, Nick Fauchald, Alex Day - "Death & Co: Modern Classic Cocktails" This seems a must buy in cocktail books. Christopher Kostow - "Beyond the Vineyard: In Search of a Napa Valley Cuisine" I'm curious to see how much pages will deal with the restaurant and how much with the Valley. Gunnar Karl Gíslason, Jody Eddy - "North: The New Nordic Cuisine of Iceland" Same here, I'm curious to see how much will be dedicated to the restaurant and how much to Iceland. Per-Anders Jorgensen - "Eating with the Chefs" I'm not interested about the contents, but I'm sure it will include tons of great photos and good writing. Christian F. Puglisi - "Relæ: A Book of Ideas" This is a must buy for me, I really liked everything I've seen by Puglisi. Charles Phan - "The Slanted Door: Modern Vietnamese Food" I'll wait for some reviews before deciding. Teo