How to Cook Fish Like a Pro
"Oh dear God, not fish again" How many times have you thought that when staring at a plate of fish? We know fish is good for us. Almost without exception, we should be eating more fish. The American Heart Association…
Pastry Bags (Piping Bags)
When I started learning to make French pastries, I bought the little cake decorating set you see everywhere. It came with a reusable bag and a nice selection of tips. Cleaning that bag was a real pain. I'm now using…
Cheesecake Cupcakes
I'm the most popular guy on the block. My neighbors love me. Sweet Lady Wife and I cannot eat the entire batch of these so I pass them out to my neighbors.The favor is starting to be returned. The other…
Pâte à Choux – Choux Pastry Dough
Pâte à choux (choux pastry dough) is used in cream puffs, eclairs, profiteroles, etc. It is a wonderfully light airy dough that rises to many times it's original height when baked. I've heard people say that making choux pastry is…
Choosing a Stand Mixer
This is my mixer. There are many like it but this one is mine... (with apologies to The Rifleman's Creed) This is my Viking Professional 7 Quart mixer. I don't think Viking makes these any more. No matter: my great…
Crème Pâtissièrie – Sweet Vanilla Pastry Cream
Crème pâtissièrie is a rich vanilla egg custard. Use this in a profierole (creme puff) or eclair and your guests will be rolling their eyes with pleasure. I'm going to show you a trick that will enable even a beginner to…
Sugar – Superfine, Ultrafine, Granulated, Confectioners
Almost all pastry recipes use sugar in one form or another. Superfine / Ultrafine Superfine or Ultrafine sugar (also called Baker's Sugar) is granulated sugar that has been ground into smaller/finer crystals than granulated table sugar. Confectioner's Sugar / Powdered…
Linzer Cookies
A long long time ago I was on assignment in Europe for my employer. I spent a lot of time in our client's facility in Stuttgart, Germany. The company cafeteria served these wonderful cookies. I never knew what they were.…
Pommes De Terre De Hollande
I've been making these for about ten years - since I first saw the recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child. Crunchy on the outside, buttery-soft melt-in-your-mouth on the inside. If you are meandering through the…
Calibrating Your Oven
I recently enrolled in a 3-month evening course in pastry-making at a local culinary school and because I'll be using my oven a lot I decided it was time to check the temperature and recalibrate the oven if necessary. I…