eG Foodblog: jgarner53 - New kitchen: new food

[jgarner53]

I realized that there wasn't a drawer to be found in the place: not in the bathroom, not in the kitchen. No drawers.

Who builds a place like that?? That's just nuts! Even my tiniest apartments have had some drawers, somewhere. (The old kitchen had three) Hey, at least your silverware was convenient... (that's what I always said about my metro rack/pantry).

[mizducky]

A few random reflections before your blog closes:

That is indeed a wonderful green you picked for your kitchen. So fresh!

I am in awe of your ability to keep up with your strenuous schedule and workload. (sez the ultra-non-morning person.)

Really dug the spiky merengues. (Basically dug everything, actually.)

I love the happy curve of your cat's tail while chowing down in the new kitchen. Feline seal of approval.

Many thanks for your witty tour through your week!

[ludja]

Thank you so much for a wonderful blog, jgarner! Hopefully we'll get a chance to see the final kitchen photos here or maybe on your renovation thread.

If you have a chance to answer this, what is your favorite item to bake at work? Your least favorite? I guess these choices may change over time. Also, since there are so many set things that people expect from the bakery, how often are you baking new items?

Thanks again; everything was great from the shots of the kitchen at work and at home and your lovely kitty!

[Abra]

Thanks, Jennifer - it's been fun hanging out with you this week!

[jgarner53]

what is your favorite item to bake at work? Your least favorite? I guess these choices may change over time. Also, since there are so many set things that people expect from the bakery, how often are you baking new items?

I don't always get to bake things. One person will make the dough, another will sheet it, yet another will bake it, someone makes the filling, and someone else bakes it. It's very rare that I make anything from start to finish. But as far as what I do at work, I enjoy the challenge of the cannelés - pouring them just right so you don't lose very many (my best so far is losing 3 out of 320). I used to like making pastry cream, but after making it every day, the thrill is kind of gone there. I enjoy making crème anglaise, which we send out to one of our restaurants that uses it to garnish the cannelés they serve. I like 1) how quick it is and 2) the finesse of knowing just when it's done (no thermometer). Much of what we do is brute labor - fill and bake - that there isn't necessarily much technique involved, mostly strength and stamina.

Overall, I enjoy the challenge of multi-tasking. Having four or five things going at once and manipulating the timing so that the oven timer isn't going off at the same time as pots are starting to boil over!

We have a pretty set repertoire, but the owner's been pressing us to change shapes, flavors and such, so things will be changing a little bit soon. We do new things for holidays, usually, so they have a limited run. No one wants a bûche de noël in July! (This last year, on the last day - the 23rd - we finished close to 500 bûches (a team of 3 of us), which included glazing with ganache, placing on boards, and decorating with plastic toys, and then boxing up.

Thanks to everyone for the questions and interest in my blog! If you ever get a chance to try a cannelé, whether it's one of ours or elsewhere, I really recommend them.

[alanamoana]

Jennifer,

Thanks for the wonderful blog! One thing I wanted to ask was regarding the cookbook from your bakery. I noticed I have it on the shelf (don't ask how I can not know whether I have a cookbook)...how accurate are the recipes? In other words, if I try the cannele recipe from the book, is it close to the one you use at work? I know that the ingredients are pretty simple, it is more finesse-ing the molds and baking, but just curious.

I think it is time to buy some expensive molds!

It was great having a peek into your busy-but-fun life.

[insomniac]

thanks so much Jennifer; as someone who has spent most of her life crawling all over allegedly more exotic climes I loved sharing your life for a week. I'm full of admiration with your determination to carve a new career, jealous that you share your life with a beer specialist , and love your furry friend and most of all your new kitchen (as I also have no drawers in mine)

Edited April 16, 2007 by insomniac (log)

[RobinKateB]

I have also really enjoyed your food blog, oh and drooling over your new kitchen. I have also lived in a kitchen that had no drawers. The kitchen had been renovated and the owners before me did not put in any drawers, although they did add a sink and counter top that was positive for lead.

I would love to learn to make the canneles. If the recipe in the cookbook is correct I will need to get the cookbook and some molds.

So when is the big kitchen reveal? I love the light fixture in it by the way.

-Robin

[aiki_brewer]

jealous that you share your life with a beer specialist

←

Don't be too jealous - it's really about the only thing I'm good at, and also, beer snobs can be insufferable...

Also, I consider myself more of a beer dilettante than a specialist.

A beer blog would be very dull - a few hours of excitement on brewing day, and then 3-5 weeks of watching CO2 bubble, slowly, out of the fermenter - plip... plip... plip...

[MarketStEl]

The only photo I'd taken, though, was of my croissant and almond croissant, and I was planning on photos of dinner, which will be my favorite stovetop macaroni & cheese, my ultimate favorite comfort food. For half a pound of macaroni, it uses an ungodly amount of cheese, something like 12 ounces.     

←

Why are you skimping on the cheese?

I'm having a friend over for dinner tonight, and I plan on picking up some Asiago and maybe some Shropshire blue to add to the New York cheddar and Parmesan I already have on hand for mac and cheese to go with the roast pork. Think I'll try that Alton Brown version. I usually bake mine.

And as for Berkeley still being Berkeley: I don't think I'd see a store with a big sign on the outside reading "I wish Pluto were a planet again" anywhere else. (Nuclear-free-zone cities are a dime a dozen. West Chester, the county seat of one of Philly's Republican suburban counties, is one.)

This has been a wonderful blog, even if the last day or two was bereft of illustrations. You have a nice-looking old-fashioned modern kitchen there! Blog again once you've gotten it all broken in, okay?

Edited April 16, 2007 by MarketStEl (log)

[constanela]

Excellent blog, Jennifer! I have been enjoying your canneles for a few years now and am tickled to know a little bit more about who makes them. When you first showed us pictures of them, I had a feeling I knew which bakery you worked for and after showing us the photo of the front, I was right. I work just a few blocks away....here at work, we refer to it as the "Blue Bakery" (as opposed to the "Yellow Bakery" a block away) and frequently pick up tarts and such for staff birhtdays. Thank you for an enjoyable week.

[JeanneCake]

Thank you for letting us spend the week with you! I've loved it - your kitchen is terrific and many years of happy cooking await you there!

You'll have to update us with a picture when your tart on the packaging arrives in stores!

Thanks again...

[CaliPoutine]

Thanks for blogging, its a lot of work, especially with your schedule.

I can't wait to see pics of your entire kitchen.

I've always wanted to try a cannele. My friend recently moved back to SF after 2yrs away. I'm planning on a trip out in September, I'll definatly stop at your bakery and pick up 1 or two.

Oh and Alton Brown's Mac and Cheese is my go-to recipe. I've tried lots of others, but I keep coming back to that stove-top version. Its so easy and good.

[Domestic Goddess]

Jennifer - thank you for sharing/pointing out the recipe for the stove-top Mac&Cheese. I'll stock up on the cheddar next time we head for Seoul. It was truly enjoying to read your blog. And count me in as one of the jealoues ones (love that kitchen and stove!).

[jgarner53]

how accurate are the recipes?

Well, not actually having made anything from the cookbook, I can't say 100% for sure (esp. since my copy is still buried). But I do know that our staff tested the recipes at home extensively for the cookbook, so they should be pretty accurate. The quantities we use for our cannelé batter are as follows:

6 L whole milk

6 vanilla beans

600g butter

1200g pastry flour

3000g sugar

1 lb. egg yolks

2 lb. 8 oz. pasteurized liquid eggs (honestly, I have no idea how this translates to whole eggs)

600g rum

If you do the math and divide by even 6 to get a 1L batch, you'd have:

1L milk

1 vanilla bean

100g butter

200 g pastry flour

500 g sugar

2 2/3 oz. egg yolks

6 2/3 oz. whole eggs

100g rum

Does that match up what's in the book?

The book was done before I started, but many of the people shown in the back are still there, or have recently left. For me it's sort of like a yearbook!

I work just a few blocks away....here at work, we refer to it as the "Blue Bakery" (as opposed to the "Yellow Bakery" a block away)

Aahhhh, yes, the "Yellow Bakery"! Very frequently when I tell people where I work, they don't recognize the name, but when I give the location and mention the blue front, they usually say, "Oh yeah, I love that place! I go there (or used to) all the time!"

Oh, and for the Frenchily challenged, it's pronounced "KAN-uh-lay." Not cannoli, not quenelles. We hear it all. Just so you can be in the know when you go to buy them.

(Edited to add reduced rum quantity - can't forget the rum!)

Edited April 17, 2007 by jgarner53 (log)

[Marigene]

Jennifer, I really enjoyed your blog. Love your kitchen.

[Kouign Aman]

Whew! I caught up in time to say "Thanks!".

Stove top mac'n'cheese, rhubarb pie (no strawberries), etc.

I am now STARVING.

Good luck with the rest of the kitchen in getting all the details fixed just so.