zilla369
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Posts posted by zilla369
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That sounds absolutely brilliant, CB. And so....fucking....simple.
Sobbing into my second bourbon and coke,
Marsha
P.S.: by the way, THANK YOU!
Next time. Next time.
And this, ladies and gentlemen, is a perfect example of why eGullet rocks.
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ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!!!!!!!
Okay, i know frozen puff pastry is a "convenience" product, so it should technically make your life easier. Previously, i've used it for a lot of things, and it's great for wellingtons and pinwheels and little purses filled with this or that. But until today, i've never tried to bake it flat.
I found a recipe online for Caramel Mousse Napoleans that sounded like just the ticket for my viennese pastries-for-a-Schubert-recital gig tomorrow. (And yes, i know, i know, i know the rule - never make anything you've never made before for guests or clients without a trial run. But i've never been able to abide by that rule. Guess i'm just a rebel with fantastically good luck
)Anyway... the recipe said to roll out and cut the pastry shingles, then dock with a fork and brush on melted butter, sprinkle with sugar, and bake to golden brown. First go-round i did a pan full that i docked with a toothpick. Those blew up like lovely, golden-brown balloons. Cute, but no good for napoleon layers. Second pan i docked with a fork as directed - these blew up lumpishly and unevenly, flat in some spots and swollen in others. Then i went upstairs to the restaurant kitchen and borrowed their meat tenderizer, which has something like drywall finish nails spaced about 1/2 inch apart - turned out about like the fork method, all uneven surfaces. Finally i settled for another try with the fork, but this time, i forked those suckers until they looked like they'd been assaulted with bird shot; not a square micrometer without a tine-hole in it. This took about a frickin' year.
I reluctantly accepted the results from the last method. They came out fairly even, but still hardly what i would call flat. I actually clocked out during the whole debacle, because i felt it was unfair to my employer to spend three hours of overtime experimenting with something i sold a client without having tested it first.
The napoleans looked fairly even when i put them in the fridge, due to the mighty evening power of the mousse (i used the flattest candidates for the tops), but i know when i cut them tomorrow, the effect will be at least partially spoiled by the curves in the layers. Did you click on that link above for the picture? Methinks that's cardboard rather than puff pastry (except the top layer - that one looks like all of mine.)
HOW the hell do you get them to bake flat? I briefly considered putting a weight on them, but was afraid that would destroy their flaky properties. Any advice would be appreciated.
Crying into my bourbon and coke,
Marsha
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Too many good smells to name.
Really bad: lobster shells being roasted for stock. ICK.
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It's really very old-school. I never flute mushrooms that will be covered in sauce, usually only do them to garnish a party platter or one per plate on a mushroom dish.
Click here to review the method for fluting a mushroom cap (and how to turn vegetables, etc): eGCI Basic Knife Skills
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Hey, in Denmark don't they call danishes "Viennese pastries"? Not that you'd want to serve cheese danishes at this event; just asking...
Funny you should mention that...because the boss, ever cost-conscious, and knowing this is a very slow week for us, tried to encourage me to find something pre-made from Sysco to serve, since it's "just high school kids" (he was also convinced the client would never go for the price we calculated for the menu i posted above).
Dutifully, i checked with the Sysco rep. "Sure," he said. "We've got something like that, from Pepperidge Farm." Click to see "StreuDelights Breakfast Bakethroughs"
Nope. Not gonna happen. No way am i serving bear claws and trying to pass them off as Viennese pastry. I'd be scared Schubert would climb out of his grave and clonk me over the head with a harpsichord.
Happily, it all worked out as the client signed off on my menu without a quibble, even bumped it up another five servings.
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I make my sorbets in an "old fashioned", though electric, ice-and-rock salt ice cream machine. I mix the juice and the syrup together and chill, then pour it into the machine, run it for 20 min then scrape out and freeze the sorbet in an airtight container. It's smooth and creamy and scoopable. I've made every imaginable flavor including chocolate to great success (at least the plates all came back licked clean and no compaints other than, "what, no more?".
I do the same thing (4 qt Rival) at work. And I faithfully use a tattered copy of an old Cook's Illustrated chart which adjusts the sugar, lemon juice and liquor amounts according to the sweetness of your main fruit, and it's never let me down. Always a perfect texture. I never whizz or re-whizz anything.
Next time you make lemon sorbet, try substituting buttermilk for the liquid in your recipe and add some finely chopped tarragon. People go nuts over that stuff.
Another favorite: kiwi/pear/mandarin orange, with oj as the liquid. Leave the seeds in, they're beautiful!
Also, i've been using apple cider as the liquid in almost every sorbet for the last couple weeks, as we had a lot left over from a holiday party. Gives everything a nice kick. I've got a couple gallons of the stuff still - but a few gallons went to the line cooks who added some yeast and put the whole thing in a big lexan behind the ovens last week. Not sure how that's going to come out. Will they get the hard cider they're expecting?
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Thanks for the suggestions, everybody. I've decided to go with:
Individual Linzer tortes with raspberry preserves
Individual Apple Strudel
Caramel Mousse Napoleons with caramel sauce and fresh berries
and, even though not a pastry, chocolate truffles with treble clefs and eighth notes piped onto the tops, 'cause everybody loves chocolate truffles.
If they turn out good i'll try to get some pictures. The event is this Saturday.
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Tooling around the internet looking for soup, i found Soupsong. Some interesting stuff, not just recipes, but soup lore, confessions, history, etc.
According to them, Julia Child's last meal was French Onion.
P.S. - feel better, Maggie!
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What a cool plan of action, Maggie.
I absolutely love Succotash Soup. I wish i had written the recipe. I've served this at winter dinner parties and it's a real gem. I must say you should go the extra mile and get the fresh herbs, especially fresh oregano - makes all the difference. Damn - wish i had a bowl of it right now...
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Just last week caught "Le Divorce" with Kate Hudson on cable. The film is set in Paris, and there are many, many beautiful plates prominently featured, as much of the action takes place in upscale restaurants. Not just food happening to be in a scene, but deliberate, overhead shots of the plates.
Also, "Woman on Top", starring Selma Hayek as a Brazilian chef that comes to New York and gets her own cooking show. Fluffy little movie, but great food scenes.
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I like to cut fully cooked andouille sausage into bite-sized pieces and toss it in a little black pepper, fresh thyme and olive oil. Then i wrap puff pastry purses around them, egg wash, and bake until golden. Best served very warm, though.
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Where i work, they combine crabmeat with shredded fennel and cilantro, using egg and potato flakes as the binder. Then coated in potato flakes before frying. Yeah, i know - potato flakes! But believe it or not, they make a good flavorful substitute for the bread crums.
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Here's what i do on a round cheesecake:
I reserve a little bit of the cheesecake batter itself, and color it with, say, chocolate syrup or cocoa powder and cream. Or you can use a speck of food coloring. I throw that in a disposable pastry bag with no tip, then cut a tiny opening in the tip of the bag. Starting at the center, pipe a spiral onto the top of the cake. Then use the toothpick method two ways - drag "spokes" out from the center, then in between those drag "spokes" from the outer edge inward. Works good with opposite colors of chocolate ganache, too, on a non-cheesecake cake that's enrobed or topped in ganache.
On a sheet pan cake, just make stripes and drag the toothpick two ways in a checkerboard pattern. So easy, but gives cakes a professional polish!
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Okay, so i had a meeting yesterday with a client that's in charge of the "Great Expectations" series function here in Louisville in January. If you listen to NPR, you may have heard of this organization. Their goal is to scour the country for talented young classical musicians and give them some musical exposure.
This event will be a chamber music recital, all by the composer Schubert. So the guy got the idea that he'd like to have us cater the event by serving "Viennese pastries". He didn't have a really specific idea of what exactly constitutes a Viennese pastry, but he'd like miniature versions so the guests can sample three or four different kinds.
So help me out, folks. I'd love to hear your suggestions. Keep in mind that about two thirds of the crowd will be made up of high school music students. Beverages are non-alcoholic (water and coffee, no sodas).
Also, bear in mind that i am not formally trained as a pastry chef, so - although i have some skills - it can't be anything too, too elaborate. Party size is about 35 people and i need three or four different miniatures, so a total of around 100-120 pieces. The client did throw the word "napoleon" out there.
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Quick! Buy (or order immediately) a size #100 "disher" (basically a tiny ice cream scoop) from your local restaurant supply. I use these to make large batches of truffles, because i have warm hands. Saves all that rolling, and you can then drop them in your coating and they come out very uniform in size.
Your basic recipe looks fine to me. I like to add different liqueurs like Chambord and Gran Marnier and Frangelico.
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I feel so guilty.
As pastry person, i have my own, separate kitchen on another floor away from the hot line. Only drawback is having to wash dishes without a dishwashing machine, and clean the whole thing by myself. But it's well worth it. Also, i have no range, only ovens and a steam kettle (for chocolate tempering). But i have my own walk-in, and the restaurant's walk-in and walk-in freezer are only 40 feet away, whereas the hot line guys have to walk down two flights of stairs to get their supplies (which are next to my kitchen). I have my own mixers and robot coupe, my own juicer, my own pasta maker, my own silpats, my own muffin pans and ring molds, and, while i have to fight for flat sheet pans, we have about 100 each halves and fulls, so i can get what i need on a fairly regular basis. We have an abundance of speedracks, too.
I feel all of your pain.
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Looking forward to this one, Placebo.
Cheese is my favorite food! Rock on.
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Dang, Puck - you beat me to it.
I was watching the interview (i love Sandler) - and Leno asked him "so, you trained with a professional chef?" and Sandler goes: "Yeah, and everybody who knows anything about food that i say this to says this guy is the best at what he does; his name's Thomas Keller....." and i about fell out of my chair.
Would have liked to have been a fly on the wall during all that (not that there would have been any flies on Keller's kitchen walls...)
(edited to change the spelling of "flys" to "flies")...
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Cake it Easy Custom Confections
Cake-A-Palooza
Cake Whammy
Katie's Cake Classics
Praline State Confections
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So....
Got this crazy idea i'd like to create a gingerbread replica of the Kentucky Center for the Arts in Louisville for a holiday seasonal display. The restaurant i work for is housed in this building. You can see a picture here.
*Sigh*
Now, i haven't made up my mind to do it. However, i have done some fairly decent gingerbread houses in the past - just none of them were patterned after an actual building.
This building is mostly glass - is there a nice "sugar glass" technique i've never been introduced to? How would one execute that curved piece of architecture? There's a couple distinctive sculptures out front that i could probably represent with cookies.
Let's put our brains together, pastry people!
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Wow. See, this is what makes eGullet an invaluable resource. Anne, that cake is amazing, and that leopard-print looks just like the fabric swatch i'd been looking at.
Not sure which method i'm going to attempt yet, since i'm on a dealine for this cake and we're very busy at work, but rest assured i will be trying the modeling chocolate recipe and method in the near future.
If the cake turns out to be at all photogenic, i'll post a picture (though i'm sure it'll never come close to Anne's masterpiece above).
Thank you, thank you everyone for your answers and encouragement!
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Thanks for the reply, K8. I wish i had an airbrush (mental note: wishlist addition). I saw some spray-on colors today, but unfortunately they were all garish Barbie-hued tints. No nice browns or light oranges. Mind you, i was at the grocery, not at a baking supply shop (it being Sunday). Haven't worked with fondant before - should i give it a try, or would it be crazy to attempt it without experience?
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I've been tapped to make my boss' daughter's birthday cake next weekend. She's 10, and fond of all things leopard-print. Now, i wasn't instructed to make a leopard-print cake, but thought it would be a nice surprise. The cake will be chocolate. I'd like to do the leopard-print on just the top surface of the cake. This is a freebie, so i don't want to spend hours getting it just right - i just want the basic effect. Far as i can tell, i need a light background color with two darker colors to make up the spots. I don't need a frosting recipe, just a good idea about how to get the spots onto the base-coat without driving myself nuts.
I've been thinking maybe i should paint the spots onto a silicone mat and then transfer them to the top of the cake after they firm up. Sounds like a plan, sort of - although i've never "painted" anything onto a silicone mat and have no idea of the methodology required. Any ideas?
Also, if anyone can think of a way to get a sort of feather-boa effect around the edge of the cake, it'd be much appreciated.
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And here I am!
There are tons of lovely places to eat in Louisville. Robin Garr's website is, truly, the best place to start researching them if you're from out of town.
My (independent, non-chain) suggestions:
Pricey:
Oakroom at the Seelbach
Vincenzo's
Limestone
Le Relais
610 Magnolia
Equus
Mid-Range Fine Dining:
Jack Fry's
Club Grotto
L&N Wine Bar (they have a Cruvinet!)
North End Cafe
Porcini
Jarfi's Bistro (i'm pastry/catering chef there)
Lynn's Paradise - i would say that the food quality at Lynn's has declined just slightly in the last few years, but it's well worth going just for the ambience. It's kooky, kitschy fun)
Avalon
The Patron
Ethnic:
Ramsi's Cafe on the World
Havana Rumba
El Mundo
Asiatique
Olmeca's Gourmet Mexican Grill
Los Aztecas
Heh. That oughta keep y'all busy. Links to reviews of all can be found at Robin Garr's Louisville Restaurant Guide.
Frozen Puff Pastry
in Pastry & Baking
Posted
Thanks for the responses, people. In the end, my wavy shingles ended up okay, but next time i'll use your methods from upthread to make them flatter.
Pics were taken, so as soon as i get them in my email, i'll post them.
Annie - would it matter that these were basted with melted butter and sugar, as far as placing the parchment and pan directly on top?
Really, in my inherited kitchen, there are these round metal discs in a drawer that i've always wondered the function of (the discs that is, not the drawer.) Maybe those are pan spacers? Lord knows they left everything else in there.
Since i majored in straight culinary and not pastry specifically, there's a bunch of smallwares in my kitchen that i can't fully identify. Maybe i should start a thread with pictures and we can play "ID that pastry tool", heh.