Modig

What was your outcome? Uh, they promised me a refund and asked for an amazon order number. I gave it to them and since then I haven't heard from them despite sending several emails. It's been months.

Has this company gone out of business? They've been very curteous and helpful when I spoke to them. Unfortunately my unit broke down and they were unable to ship a replacement to me, so I was promised a refund. But now they're not responding to emails anymore. Does anyone know what's going on?

I've been unusually slack about searching before I post. I apologize if this thread is redundant and I'm very grateful you took the time to hook me up with those links. Will read thoroughly, thanks!

Hey! I'm on a mission to become a cook. I'm halfway through a two-month stage at the best restaurant I can commute to. Before this I've done about three months in another kitchen owned by the same people. My stage will be ending soon and I need to figure out how to move forward. My short term goals are to make a wage I can live on and as quickly as possible find out whether I want to work in a fine dining restaurant and if I can handle it, probably by getting a stage in one. I'm not looking for any shortcuts, but I am looking for the most direct path. I don't even know exactly which questions to ask, but here are some things I don't know: I don't know what kind of skills and experience it takes to get a stage in a michelin star restaurant. I don't know what sorts of jobs I should look for with my experience and my prioritized goal of learning as much and as quickly as I can. One cook at my current restaurant suggested I get "any" kind of job where I get to be responsible for my own station, no matter the type of food they serve. He suggested a sports bar. I don't know if this is a good idea or if I should look for a position with less responsibility (prep cook?) in a restaurant where I actually want to work. What are my options? I don't know what I need to study. I've got a background in physics (undergrad) and I'm reading stuff like Modernist Cuisine and On Food and Cooking. But it's too unfocused, I wish I knew more precisely what knowledge I should acquire that will help me on my mission. Should I cook my way through Le Guide Culinaire in my spare time, or should I learn the recipe to every thing on the menu where I'm doing my stage? I'm lost. I don't know which habits I need to develop to work effectively and learn effectively. I'm obsessive about working clean, organizing my station and improving technique. I take notes on anything I find interesting or important and I'm always watching people to see how they work. I don't know if there are things I should be focusing on that I don't even know about. I realize this post is pretty jumbled but I've been on this path for six months now and I've never had any guidance. I mean, beyond the usual people telling me what I can't do and that the odds are against me. If parts of it seem brash or naive, that's probably because I am. I would love to hear some wisdom and experience though.

Thank you, especially for those links. I see that some people have done very thorough experimentation for me to take advantage of. In hindsight this query might not have deserved its own thread but I'm very thankful for everyone who contributed with links and advice. My chef has asked me to make macarons for the restaurant so the help I've gotten here has really been incredibly useful. Thanks!

I try to make things as simple as possible when I'm learning, both to reduce the challenge and to minimize waste if I mess up. The shells were plain with no flavoring and the filling was french buttercream flavored with half a vanilla pod. Great for practice, but not for presentation. This batch turned out pretty good so for my next one I might dare to experiment a bit with flavor and colors.

Feels like a coffee table book, like all Kellers books. A lot of history, pretty pictures, but also some good advice about process and an interesting selection of recipes. I've always found his books a bit light on technical explanations, but I can be like a five-year old, always asking why, why, why? I attempted another batch and I think I acheived approximately the texture you describe. After I piped them their surface eventually smoothed out entirely, which I wasn't too pleased with. However, they did turn out very well when I baked them. I folded in the batter very slowly and I stopped as soon as the batter looked even in texture. The way the batter is treated DOES matter a lot, many would agree that a key element of making macarons successfully is the macaronage, i.e. the mixing. I use a Laduree recipe, which is a French meringue. I use a whisk to mix until all the meringue is incorporated into the dry ingredients, and the paste is homogenous. Once it is completely mixed, I switch to a spatula and start mixing more vigorously, to deflate it. I found that if I used a spatula from the start, it crushed the meringue too much. I could not manage to mix it properly before it got to the "lava" stage, and I had streaks of meringue in the batter. Switching to the whisk solved my problems. Try this method too, see if it will work for you. I used a spatula in my last batch and what you describe is pretty much what happened, it was loose before it got incorporated. I am a bit confused though, why would you want to deflate the meringue? Is it just too thick otherwise? I feel like it's definitely time for me to learn more about meringues, going to be doing some reading to understand this properly. Attached a photo of my latest batch. I'm reasonably pleased with how they turned out. Would have been even better if I had proper piping bags and mouthpieces, these were piped with cut-off freezer bags

Thanks for the links. I did search and browse a few threads before I posted, I'll take some more time to look around for an answer. This is interesting. Would that imply that the way the batter is treated (for example, how hard it's mixed) doesn't matter? I've read that the batter is supposedly quite delicate. The recipe I used was from Bouchon Bakery by Thomas Keller and Sebastien Rouxel. I find it hard to believe that the recipe would be at fault rather than my implementation of it. I agree that it's a lot of water for the meringue though and I honestly don't see the point of it.

I've made two batches of macarons so far and both times the batter has come out so runny that the macarons can't keep their shape after I pipe them. After some googling I've gathered that the problem might have to do with overmixing the batter. This is how the process went: Mixed 212g almond flour and 212g powder sugar Made a hollow mound, poured in 82g egg whites Mixed it rather violently with a spatula until the batter had an even texture Added vanilla seeds, more violent mixing For the meringue: Beat 90g of egg whites with pinch of sugar with an electric mixer to soft peaks Heated 236g sugar with 158g water to 120 C / 248 F. Slowly trickled the sugar syrup into the egg whites while stiring at medium speed Mixed until the meringue had cooled to ~30 C / 86 F (This meringue turned out excellent, held its shape very well) Added ~1/3 of the meringue to the batter, mixed with spatula once again rather forcefully until the mixture was even. At this point the batter turns quite runny, even though both the meringue and the batter individually were stiff and held their shape without moving. I added the rest of the meringue and I also tried piping at various stages with different ammounts of meringue added to the batter, all with the same runny result. I'm thinking one needs to be more gentle when combining batter and meringue, but how if so, and why? Does the meringue deflate if you combine it too forcefully with the batter? I felt like I had to use a lot of force to get them to mix completely. I really want to understand the process in depth before I make my next batch. Any advice or suggestions for resources I might check out?