TheStarvingArtist

I've seen menu items/photos/etc. of unusual flavors of cotton candy (fernet branca, pineapple, and so on), and I can't mentally process how that would be done... anyone ever make cotton candy and successfully flavor it in interesting ways? How?

I recently had a few experiences at large cocktail events where people were serving icy craft cocktails dispensed from what appeared to just be repurposed slushie machines. I've looked around online for advice, but can't find anything useful from a "craft" perspective: has anyone done this before? Do you need to calibrate the recipe in a special way? Can I just dump a bunch of stuff in the hopper and press "on"? I feel like the sugar/alcohol might throw off the freezing ability of the machine, but I've never used one... I'm debating buying a used machine for use in some of my events, but I'd rather not make a purchase *completely* blind... Thanks for your help!

We're a small local bakery, and are using the same recipe we've used for months and months. All of a sudden this morning, the doughnuts aren't expanding correctly-- they're puffing "internally", filling their own hole and turning into big, crunchy batter-lumps. They're obscenely oily, and simply not right. My sous-chef is confident she followed the recipe exactly. The oil-temp is correct. The only major difference is that *usually* our batter rests overnight, and this batter was fresh-made, but we've definitely used fresh-made batter before with no major problems. Any ideas as to what's going wrong??

Thanks for the discussion so far! In response to some of the comments: I totally agree. I have no interest in loading my stuff with weird chemicals or lowering my quality just to appease a handful of noisy vegans. HOWEVER, I have on (very) rare occasion had a vegan baked good that shocked me with how nice it was. That said, I KNOW there must be some good recipes and techniques out there, but I don't care enough to change my process at the bakeshop or spend countless hours experimenting. I just like the idea of being able to provide something that I respect and can fill a requested niche. I recently had a vegan brioche bun filled with raspberry jam that was absolutely delicious. No, as most of us know, it won't be quite the same without loads of butter and eggs, but at the same time if somebody served me one of those buns every morning with coffee, I wouldn't complains bit. At this very moment I'm experimenting with a vegan brioche trial: coconut milk and coconut oil, with a bit of lecithin for emulsion. I'll let you know how it turns out...

Hi Vegan friends and supporters! i own a tiny French patisserie and do some private work on the side, and recently I've been getting bugged about doing some vegan pastry. My problem: I come from a family of patissiers from France, and my blood is about 30% butter. I'd like to try and satiate people, but my instincts tell me that vegan brioche, vegan feuilettine, vegan financiers and canneles, etc. would all be TERRIBLE, both in texture and in flavor, and I refuse to sell something that I would never ever eat. I would LOVE some advice/techniques/recipes in the field of vegan French pastry, especially from non-vegans (or formerly non-vegan), who can give an adequate review of something (e.g. it's hardly a fair review when someone who hasn't eaten cheese in 30 years tells me that their yeasted-cashew crap is "JUST like cheese"! No it's not. Stop being ridiculous). Is Earth Balance really necessary? Does it work like normal butter? Thanks!

Someone else added the no-flavor comment... MY almond meal still tastes just fine And I've got the financier batter in the fridge! Though I don't quite feel like jumping on the macaron bandwagon yet.... And thanks, Alex! You're most kind Hope to see you at dinner sometime soon!

I own a tiny patisserie, and my friends own a coffeeshop down the block. They've begun making their own almond milk, and are sending me all of the almond meal that's leftover. An awesome partnership, but I LITERALLY get 20-30 pounds of almond meal a week from them! I do a nice almond sponge and whatnot, but most of the recipes I find for using almond meal either use just a little bit, or are just not that great... Anyone have any fantastic ideas/recipes that would help me use up my massive glut of fresh almond meal? Thanks!

Those look like Calamondin/Kalamansi to me!

Howdy! I'll be spending Sunday through Tuesday in Louisville and on the Bourbon Trail, and have never been! Any recommendations for food and fun that's out-of-the-ordinary (I tend to hate touristy stuff..) would be fantastic.

I just pitted about 30lbs of plums, and I'm wondering if anyone has had success using the pits for something cool? Infused liquors? Etc? Note: I do NOT want to crack all 500 pits....haha.

Hi! So I lucked out and purchased my whole cafe's equipment used/at auction. It's all just what I need and in really good shape, but it needs some serious cleaning on many cosmetic levels. Not having had to do this before.... Tips on grease-removal? Some of this stuff is pretty gunked... What about renewing a S/S worktable? The top is nice and shiny, but the unfinished bottom shelf has that crusty whitish deposit....how do I shine it up? Cleaning the inside/outside of a S/S cooler? I'm mostly in the need of advice re: which cleaning products to use/avoid, and any special tips/tricks. Thanks!

Are you talking about Professional Baking by Gisslen? Maybe I've misunderstood but he discusses using the depositors with his cake-type doughnut. Unless I'm completely missing it, I don't think so. He mentions using a depositor, but immediately says that "most people use a mix-- follow the directions for your mix." He doesn't actually give any info/recipes/etc. on making the correct texture of batter. I could just be missing where you're referencing, though?

I do love brioche-style doughnuts... was definitely thinking in that direction, too. Thanks for the link, Annie!

Wow-- handy link, thanks! Do you ever run into any problems with scaling up the doughs? They seem pretty straightforward, so I can't imagine there would be any... Yeah, I know most people use mixes, but the from-scratch approach is pretty much the requested calling card. Unfortunately, there wasn't a depositor-batter recipe among those in that book! Did you wind up using a robot at your shop? Or did you do it all by hand? Having never used the large-scale equipment, I can't decide which would be the best approach...

I have to politely disagree a bit in re: the Paolo Figli Maraschino-- Yeah, it definitely is more muted when compared to Luzardo, but I'm someone to whom the Luxardo's perfume often seems obnoxiously heady and overwhelming, so to the point of occasionally making me hate a cocktail because it just tastes like maraschino. I found the Paolo Figli to play much more nicely with other lighter flavors. Sure, there's still a place for Luxardo (the Paolo can't stand up to powerful liquors very well), but I made a few cocktails for a friend of mine (who HATES maraschino), and she really liked them when I used the Figli-- it sort of sat in the background and bound the other flavors together.

So I just got hired into a new pastry spot to start in a few weeks. I have plenty of pastry experience, but the restauranteur wants me to do a large doughnut service of homemade stuff, both yeast and cake. It's a new place, so I get to request any equipment I need. My problem is... I've never had to make doughnuts professionally! Sure I've done a batch here and there for special events or at home, but we're talking 500 doughnuts a day, from scratch. I've never had to use large-scale equipment or anything! PANIC!!! Of course, my new boss doesn't know this, and thinks I'll be a genius.. uh... help? My main questions are these: -What size equipment should I shoot for? This isn't a corportate/retail setting, so do I need a MASSIVE fryer? Or just a "large" one? -Everyone argues over oil-type.. what should I use? We're trying to be health- and environment-conscious... -I like the efficiency of using a doughnut dropper, but can't find any recipes for large-batch batter that aren't from-a-mix...advice? -Advice/recipes on large-batches of yeast dough? -ANY other help/advice would be so incredible! Thank you!

Gorgeous photo. I haven't tried the Cocchi Rosa and haven't found detailed reviews, but I gather it's a lot like the standard Americano? I may just buy it next time I'm restocking on Cocchi then. Tonight, I made a Dark 'n Stormy to try out my new ginger syrup/soda, using Gosling's Black Seal instead of my usual Lemon Hart 151 (I'm low) or Cruzan Blackstrap (I'm out). The syrup came out pretty dry so I supplemented it with a bit of falernum and pineapple juice. Good choices. Thanks! I grabbed it on a whim, since I like the original so much. The rosato is much richer and punchier, which lots of strawberry and rose and spice. It also seems a little more bitter, but that might just be because the original's bitterness seems offset by the citrus, whereas the rosato doesn't have that quality. I almost like drinking it on its own more than mixing with it!

Got a bottle of Dimmi Liquore to play with. Tried a fun twist on an Aviation that worked quite nicely- sort of spicy and flowery. Definitely will revisit this. Lady of Milan 2oz Bluecoat gin 1/2oz Dimmi 1/2oz Cocchi Americano Rosato 1/4oz lemon juice

Hi all! I'm spending this weekend in NYC for my first time ever! I know there's food (and opinions) everywhere, but I'd love to have a grasp of what things I absolutely shouldn't miss. I'm on a budget, so I need to choose wisely-- if there was a fancy place that was life-changingly-worth-it, I'd consider it, but I'm ideally looking for smaller, cheaper thrills by the dozen. So, have at 'er: a professional foodie, first time in NYC, staying in Manhattan three days. What should I move heaven and earth to experience?

I too love fernet, and aside from a shot at brunch alongside my coffee, this is one of my favorite nightcaps: It's The Always the Same, Angel 2oz rich, sweet bourbon (I like Russels 12 in this case, but pick your fave) 1/2oz brizard dark creme de cacao 1/2oz fernet branca 1 dash whiskey-barrel bitters Lemon twist Serve with a single large rock and a splash of water. "Every time a bell rings, an angel gets wings. But they never tell you: it's the always same angel. *sips drink* It's horrifying."

Ooh neat idea.. sadly, Michigan is remarkably limited in the products available to the nearly non-existant mixology culture here. With extra time, I could run to Chicago for a special grab, but it's not something I can reliably source here.

Hey all! So I'm consulting with a bar that has a glut of pretty nice homemade limoncello. I'd love to put a limoncello cocktail on the menu, but have seen SO many cocktails of vodka/limoncello, limoncello/chambord, champagne/limoncello, that I'd love to put together an interesting use for it. Sadly, most of my research just brings me back to more vodka and champagne. Anyone doing anything cool with Limoncello? T

Actually, Nocino is the green walnut liqueur: herbal, bittersweet, occasionally spiced/citrused/etc. Nocello is a more proprietary liqueur that's akin to a walnut-version of Frangelico. Easily confused, but really not even sort-of interchangeable. I love both of 'em!

I definitely am planning to position myself near our few downtown colleges. The problem on the University's campus is that they've got an exclusivity contract signed with their awful national catering corporation, so I wouldn't be able to get on there (I know, because I argued against the contract when I went to school there...hah). Here's another question: I did a budgetary estimation.... build-out, equipment, startup costs, plus six months of rent, payroll, and ingredients. I came out to just about $50,000. Having never done anything like this, does that sound like a lot? A deal? Reasonable expectations? I know restaurants can be stupidly expensive, but $50,000 isn't that cheap in my book, so I don't know where it falls on the scale of "acceptable expenses".

I'd love to figure out some sort of cart... our city is in the midst of a street-food battle, with a contingency trying to outlaw/overregulate food trucks and the like (stupid, I know...). That said, I'm a little hesitant to put any money into something that might be illegal/red-tape-filled in a year or so.... but It's definitely on my radar.