Well, we have an open house layout, so we would need to put up new walls and doors to block off the kitchen, but I like the openness in the kitchen, and I could not close it off. So - no business. We would need to convert part of the garage, or build an addition to the back of the garage. I would love that, but you'd be talking six or seven thousand for appliances, couple hundred fro plumbing, electrical, and AC/Heating. then you have the Sheetrock, floors, waterproofing, storage, cabinets, countertops, and if we expand - new siding, small trusses, and shingles. At least ten to twenty thousand to convert the garage/expand.
I'd so love to expand a little, but I don't think that will happen.
So -- things I have learned:
No cats
If you have cats, they can never get in the room
If they can get in the room, they must be shaved
If you want to sell at the farmers market, you don't need a business license, but you need a health inspection
you cannot pass an inspection if cat hair can float into the kitchen
Some people mentioned getting space at a community center, but almost everything I am cooking involves multiple days and long rest periods. My sourdoughs require two days, and the barm is a living creature that would need to live in the kitchen full time. Marshmallows need to sit for at least 4 hours, but 12+ is better.
So, no matter how clean you keep the kitchen, if they might find cat hair, they can take away your license and hit you with a misdemeanor. When I do eventually start this business, I want it to be legit. I know it's a yearly inspection, and they might skip your house, but I would want my customer to know that I care about how their food is being prepared. So -- for now, there is no business. If you want to eat my marshmallows, cookies, cakes, or breads, you need to come to my house, work with me, or move in next to me.
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thanks to those who left comments before the upgrade. I'm sorry I lost your posts.
During this entire time, we were sipping miscellaneous drinks. We had carbonated Bombay Sapphire Gin, foamy absinthe mojitos, and passionfruit whisky sours with passionfruit foam. The mojitos were made in the soda siphon, and the passionfruit foam was made in the gourmet whip. We broke up the red wine and white wine for dinner.
This was sauteed in white wine, then tossed with the hot pasta with eggs, parmegianno reggiano, pecorino romano, and garlic. More commonly known as Pasta alla Carbonara. This was accompanied with some sundreid tomato, basil, and parmigiano sourdough bread. We had a fresh heirloom tomato and olive oil topping for the bread. The pasta cooked in two minutes and thirty seconds, one of the nice things about fresh pasta.
For dessert, we had a chocolate tart with caramel and peanuts. This was my second recipe from the Baking with Dorie cookbook. This came out very well. I made ti a few hours before company arrived, and have been enjoying it for dessert each night this week.
The skipped course. I was planning on sfering some cantaloupe and serving it with prosciutto. Sunday night, amid the thunderstorms, I was in the kitchen. Like Dr. Frankenstein, I was making something come to life as the lightning struck around me. Drip Drip Drip Drip. One by one, droplets of melon were going into a waterbath and being transformed into melon caviar. I've made fruit caviar a few times, and I have the technique down.
This was actually pretty hard to find. I guess people don't play with mixology. I found one guy who was carbonating apple juice for his kids. If the siphons can do apple juice, they should be able to do alcohol. A quick test with water shows you one thing: you don't want to serve the alcohol under pressure if you want it to stay fizzy. Water gets everywhere if you fill the cup at the wrong angle. To remedy this problem, I removed the stem and charged the canister. Well, the stem is a two part device. Remove the straw part and put the plug back in place, then close and charge the canister. The top part of the stem forms a seal around the top of the canister. Without it, all the air escapes! You can use up to two cartridges for a full bottle.
Shake the canister for a few seconds, then place in the refrigerator. After two hours, retrieve the alcohol bottle and a funnel. Dispense the c02 in the canister by depressing the trigger, remove the top and plastic seals, then [b]slowly[/b] pour the alcohol back into the bottle. If you pour it too quickly, it will fizz all over the counter. With a quick rinse, the siphon is ready to make carbonated water again.
Jen commented on how strong the flavors were in the foam, but how they were very balanced by the end of the drink. I guess this has to do with the air molecules in the liquid. The gelatin is unnoticeable; the drink feels the same on your tongue, well, except for the foam part. This technique can apply to just about any drink.
The only problem with the siphon is that we seem to run out of water when Jen goes to get a glass for dinner. Aidan loves sparkling water in his juice
When buying cheese for this - look for the imported Parmesan. In the US, we have very lax rules for cheese naming. In europe, Parmigiano-Reggiano is regulated under the name Parmesan. American copies of the cheese have to be sold as pamesello italiano, or some other name. Pamesello italiano is what Kraft sells as Parmesan. American Parmesan has a larger sodium content, is mechanically pressed, and lacks the complex flavors that are achieved by the long time in the brine solution.
Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
egg whites
preheat oven to 340 degrees (convection)
tools needed - 2 silpat mats, microplane grater, rolling pin, and parchment paper.
Shave the cheese with a microplane, add the egg whites and mix with a spatula until the mixture resembles pasty dough. Transfer this to a silpat and spread evenly across the middle. Place the second silpat over the paste and evenly spread around with a rolling pin. You want a very thin, even layer of cheese across the entire silpat.
Place this into a preheated oven and bake for five minutes
Remove from oven and carefully remove the top silpat. I used an offset spatula to loosen and unstick any cheese that didn't want to release. Place a sheet of parchment over the cheese and flip over. Remove the remaining silpat and reduce the oven to 320 degrees (convection). Place back in the oven and cook for another 4 minutes. If you do not have convection, you may have to cook this for longer. You want the entire crisp to brown. If there are white spots, they will sag after you cut them.
When it is evenly browned, remove the crisp from the oven and cut immediately. You want them to be long and skinny. If you wait for the cheese to cool down, it will shatter when you try to cut it. Once cut, allow the crisps to cool to room temperature on a flat surface. I ended up using a chef's knife for slicing; the pizza wheel didn't do the trick. Serve in a dish or cup that will show off their height. They stay crisp for a long time. We ran out before they got soggy.
The little guy helped me make them; he ate so many of the crisps. I had to move them so he didn't finish them off.
This will be my first installment of Molecular Gastronomy Techniques for the home chef. I'm going to focus on the recipes and my experience with it. I'll try to keep the science talk to a minimum, but give enough for those interested. My first technique will be sferification. I think this technique goes to El Bulli Restaurant/labs, if I'm wrong, someone feel free to correct me, and I'll update this little point.
I started with caviar because it is one of the easier things to attempt. In the last week and a half I've attempted this five times. My first attempt was using the wrong chemical bath, so that was a mess, my second attempt was a success, three and four were a mess and a pot of gooooooo. My fifth attempt worked great. I've determined it is all about measurements, pH, and timing.
- Measurement is the first critical thing. I need a scientific scale, something that can measure a tenth of a gram.
- pH is the next critical thing. I think I need to buy testing strips. If the pH is too high, it will not work, if it is to low, it will not work. I already have chemicals to alter the pH, but I need a way to test the solution before I proceed.
- Third is timing, this is the easiest. If you let your sferes sit for too long, you get a solid gel. If they don't sit long enough, they break.
There are two processes for sferification. I will focus on the standard process, and explain the reverse process in another post.
First, you need the right chemicals: Sodium Alginate, Sodium Citrate, and Calcium Chloride.
Apple Caviar
8 ounces Apple Juice
1/2 tsp Sodium Alginate
1/8 tsp Sodium Citrate
2 cups of water
1/2 tsp Calcium Chloride
One or two water baths.
Mix a third of the apple juice with the sodium alginate. You need to use an immersion blender for this to work (a stand blender would also work). Heat this mixture to 205 degrees - this helps remove the air bubbles formed from blending. Add the rest of the apple juice and sodium citrate, mix to combine. Chill. This part can be made in advance and held for service.
Mix the water and calcium chloride in a large bowl.
When you are ready to 'cook' the sferes, transfer the apple mixture to your dropping apparatus. Syringes can be purchased at CVS, specialty equipment can be purchased from your chemical vendor, and you can use a squirt bottle. I have a 96 pipette dropper, and a squirt bottle. For speed, the dropper is amazing, but I prefer the slightly larger sferes that the squirt bottle makes.
(This is where the timing comes into play)
When you drop the mixture into the water bath, the reaction is instantaneous. The longer the sfere is in the water, the thicker the shell. As the chemical reaction takes place, the apple is gelling; if it sits too long, you have a solid sfere, instead of a liquid filled sfere. Thirty seconds to 45 seconds is the time the sferes need to cook. If they are in there much longer, they will solidify on you. Remove the sferes with a slotted spoon, strainer, or skimmer and dip in the water bath. I use two baths: one for the first dip, and the other ice water bath to cool the sferes (I used them in a cold dish).
You now have apple caviar.
If you want to make raviolo, fill a round teaspoon with the apple mixture and place the spoon under the water. Rotate the spoon over and flip the apple out of the spoon. It will naturally take on a sphere shape in the fluid as the bonds are formed. Let these rest for sixty to ninety seconds. Then remove and dip in water baths to remove the chemicals from the outside.
DISCLAIMER: You NEED a stand mixer!
12 ounces (1 1/2 cups) sugar
1 cup corn syrup
3/4 oz gelatin *
1 cup ice water
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup corn starch
Take 1/2 cup of the water and add to the gelatin in the bowl of the stand mixer.
Add the sugar, corn syrup, salt, and the remaining 1/2 water to a pot, heat on medium, covered, for 4 minutes. Remove lid and attack your candy thermometer. You want the sugar to reach 240 degrees. Do not mix the sugar with a spoon, it can create crystals. When it reaches 240 degrees, remove from heat and remove the thermometer.
While the sugar is whipped, prepare your pan. Take a 13 x 9 pan. I've used glass and metal. If you can find a straight edged metal pan (I got mine from sur la table) you will get better edges. I've not had problems turning marshmallows out of either pan. Back to the pan preparation. Mix the powdered sugar and corn starch. Spray the pan with non stick spray, then dust the pan with the corn starch mixture. Make sure to get the coating on the sides of the pan. Collect the extra powder and save for later use.
From here on out, non stick spray is your friend. Marshmallows are the stickiest things I have ever worked with, but they are afraid of the non stick spray, so it's your friend :D Spray a spatula with non stick and turn the sticky mess into your prepared pan. Spread the mixture evenly around the pan. If your spatula begins to stick, clean it and re-spray it. An even layer will make for attractive cut marshmallows. Once in the pan, dust the top of the marshmallows with the cornstarch mixture and let them sit uncovered for a minimum of 5 hours, I let mine sit overnight.
When you are ready to cut them, flip the brick out of the pan onto half of the remaining cornstarch mixture. Pizza cutters are your friend at this point. Dust both sides of the pizza cutter with corn starch and begin to cut a grid into the marshmallows. Once you have them cut, pull strips apart and dredge in the cornstarch. Every side needs to be covered, so I do strips at a time, then I separate the individual marshmallows and dredge the remaining sides. These will keep for 3 weeks in a ziplock.
There are two ways to add flavor to marshmallows. First is to use extracts. At the thirteenth minute, when you add the vanilla, you can add other flavors. To make the lavender ones I added 1/2 tsp of lavender extract, 1/2 tsp of lemon extract, about 20 fresh ground lavender blossoms, and 1/2 tsp of finely minced lemon rind. You could also add other flavors here. Orange extract works exceptionally well, as does spearmint, cinnamon, etc.
The second way to flavor marshmallows is to substitute ingredients. For the honey lavender, I subbed out 1/2 cup of sugar for 1/2 cup of fresh honey from lavender fields (near our house). When I made the peach marshmallows I subbed out all the water for fresh peach juice. I took 5 peaches and attacked them with an immersion blender ( I cut them up first). I strained the larger parts out and ended up with 1 cup of liquid. Half of that went in the gelatin, the other half went in the pot with the sugar. The peach was quite interesting. Half of the juice was cooked in the sugar, while the other half was flash cooked when it came in contact with the sugar syrup. The peach flavor was surprisingly strong, and did not have a cooked peach flavor.
Since the recipe is SO LONG, I will link to it, instead of displaying the entire recipe.
For us daring bakers, the biggest challenge was picking flavor combinations. Since we were thinking spring time, light, fruity flavors were at the top of most people's minds. Others were immediately sucked into the green tea realm. I immediately wanted to use orange. Then Galliano came to mind.
Galliano has a very light citrus taste, along with some vanilla, anise, and some herbs. Its dominating flavor is anise, like Sambuca or Pernod. I built the flavors around this. Orange-vanilla buttercream with hints of Galianno and Drambuie, the syrup was Galliano flavored, and the liquid used in the syrup was infused with star anise. The mousse was white chocolate, vanilla, and honey. And the final glaze was white chocolate, Galianno, and a hint of limoncello for some additional citrus.
This is a complex recipe. Not overly difficult, just time consuming. If you can balance your time, and the recipe, over a few days, this can be accomplished by anyone.
I made the cake and syrup one evening. The next evening I made the buttercream and mousse. I assembled the cake and cooled it overnight. The next day after work I made the glaze and poured it over the cake. Once cooled, I squared the cake. This is a presentation cake. There is no icing on the sides, so the layers can show. You see them in bakeries all the time.
I loved this recipe and this concept. So did my neighbors. They were willing tasters, and this makes a
lot more then two people can attempt to finish before the cake starts to head
south. Once square, you can get 12 or more rectangle slices from the cake.
As many of the other Daring Bakers recipes, I did this one twice. Not because I screwed up on the first one, but because I had so much fun making this. We have new neighbors, so I figured this would make a great 'welcome to the neighborhood' gift. They told me they were chocolate lovers, so I approached the recipe a different way. I avoided the coffee flavors, but I gave them as much chocolate as they could stomach!
For my second opera cake, I made chocolate joconde (almond cake), I made a Grand Mariner and limoncello syrup, orange-grapefruit buttercream with a hint of vodka, a raspberry lime bittersweet chocolate mousse, and a chocolate glaze infused with vanilla and Grand Mariner. I also ventured into new territory and made a stencil of my logo.
