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Posted

We are learning new skills now that we were less used to (specifically creams and foams)

Where do you learn read and find resources to deeply understand new culinary skills?

So we can start collecting books on a matter, but are there groups collected searchable resources that are deeper than recipes? Facebook groups? Websites of lore rather than bottom lines? There's EG, but anything else?

Posted

methinks you're on the wrong track.

 

if you want to acquire "expertise" in creating a "foam" - there are millions of videos demonstrating the technique.

and . . . it's a technique . . . not a "skill"

the "skill" required is the willingness to watch, learn, do-it-yourself, recognize and correct any 'error'

 

you can read books until the ink falls off the paper - the reason restaurants 'take on' apprentices is so they learn first hand by watching and doing.

 

stupid simple example:  I do luv' a good crepe....  watched a couple Pepin videos on how he makes crepes, a couple tries later, , , I can crepe with the best of them . . .

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Posted
4 hours ago, AlaMoi said:

the "skill" required is the willingness to watch, learn, do-it-yourself, recognize and correct any 'error'

 

you can read books until the ink falls off the paper - the reason restaurants 'take on' apprentices is so they learn first hand by watching and doing.

 

 

I think you can "teach yourself" if you have a good foundation.  But if you are a novice, or by yourself, the trial and error can be frustrating - why did something work the first time but  not the second?  If the video goes into detail about why the process/technique works and what can go wrong then that's helpful.  Knowing who to trust is the key.

 

Just today, I was looking for recipes for Tres Leches cakes, and one recipe with more than 50 positive reviews that I found online actually wrote to not let the cooling cake get exposed to "outside air" because that would make the cake "too eggy". 🙄

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Posted
14 hours ago, borgr said:

There's EG, but anything else?

 

Wait—there are other sites?

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"There is no sincerer love than the love of food."  -George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman, Act 1

 

"Imagine all the food you have eaten in your life and consider that you are simply some of that food, rearranged."  -Max Tegmark, physicist

 

Gene Weingarten, writing in the Washington Post about online news stories and the accompanying readers' comments: "I basically like 'comments,' though they can seem a little jarring: spit-flecked rants that are appended to a product that at least tries for a measure of objectivity and dignity. It's as though when you order a sirloin steak, it comes with a side of maggots."

 

A king can stand people's fighting, but he can't last long if people start thinking. -Will Rogers, humorist

Posted
11 minutes ago, Alex said:

 

Wait—there are other sites?

Not as good though

 

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Posted

". . . . - why did something work the first time but  not the second?  "

 

it usually goes something along the lines of:  "I followed the recipe exactly, except I didn't have xxxx so I substituted zzzz and . . . "

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Posted

ChefSteps has a course on whipping siphons and one on hydrocolloids. Those can help you understand foams. If you're interested in siphoned foams in particular, iSi (the siphon manufacturer) has a YouTube channel and recipes on their website.

 

Modernist Cuisine is the best text resource on foams , creams, and airs and it's probably the best resource for a normal non-chemist to learn about hydrocolloids and their practical applications.

 

For a good online text resource, check out Texture: a hydrocolloid recipe collection edited by Martin Lersch. 

 

Random tip: if you want to make an acidic flavored whipped cream (like lemon or lime flavor) you can set the citrus into a gel with agar, then blend it into a fluid gel and add it to the whipper with the cream. This will keep it from breaking. I think Dave Arnold came up with that technique.

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Posted

Hey,

 

i'm from France, i don't know if you have these websites, but for me it's pretty useful when i want to do new recipes or just to discover a recipe, sometimes i just put the name of a product like zuchini and he's gona give me a few recipe with zuchini, it's called "Marmiton" or another one cool is "Jow"

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