Gift Rouxbe for Christmas!

If you have already experienced Rouxbe, you'll know a few things: 1) your cooking skills have improved; 2) it's the only online source that clearly shows you "how" and "why" things work; and 3) people think you're a rock star and keep inviting themselves over for dinner!

So, if you're wondering what to get that "person who has everything" or that friend or relative who doesn't have the first a clue about what to do in the kitchen, give them a Rouxbe membership this Christmas. Not only will they have access to full, step-by-step video recipes, they'll be able to enroll in the World's first-ever, at-home professional cooking school. See the following post taken from Rouxbe's blog for instructions.

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The gift of cooking this holiday season.

Buying a kitchen tool for a holiday gift is one thing...buying a friend or loved-one the learning tools for cooking success is a complete other story. What we're talking about here of course, is 'gifting' a premium online instructional cooking membership to Rouxbe.

The Rouxbe Cooking School delivers the World's first-ever, at-home professional cooking school curriculum in high quality, close-up video to home cooks around the world. The School features a graduated video series, complete with progress reporting, evaluation quizzes, chef and community support. Click to view a sample of the lesson format here. It's like having your own personal cooking school and professional chef in the comfort of your own home.

Since the School's official launch this past July (2008), aspiring home cooks from over 140 countries have enrolled and completed over 4,000 lessons and evaluation quizzes. The site also features an instructional video recipe section featuring recipes that have been driving over 95% success rates since the site launched in late 2006.

Two Membership options are available: Annual Premium Membership ($99) or a Lifetime Membership ($199). 15% of all membership fees go to Rouxbe for Life - the Company's social program to feed hungry children in developing countries. To date, the company has fed almost 60,000 kids.

To find out more, please click on the button below and send us a quick note. We'll have someone here at Rouxbe send you further instructions on how to make it happen. 

Happy Cooking from Rouxbe!

Tagged as: [ culinary rouxbe school skills techniques ]

Rouxbe Cooking School is Coming SOON!

It's so close, you can smell it! We have been working around the clock to release the first few lessons of the world's first-ever online Cooking School. As it nears, everyone at Rouxbe is becoming more and more excited.

The Rouxbe Cooking School will launch the first part of its content at the end of June / first week of July. Additional courses will be released regularly over the next several months.

SPECIAL OFFER: Sign up for an Annual Membership ($99 USD) and you will automatically be upgraded to Lifetime Membership ($199 USD) status on June 28th. This includes access to our new Cooking School. Offer is only good until this Friday, June 27th at Midnight PST.

Check out Rouxbe's Blog for a sneak peak at what's cooking.
 

 

Tagged as: [ culinary nwcav online recipes rouxbe school techniques ]

Embed Rouxbe's HD Videos Into Your Site

At Rouxbe, we're all about helping you become a better cook, and we want you to spread the word. For all of you bloggers out there, we know you aim to do the same by sharing your recipes. You can now embed our invaluable drill-downs right into your blog post. Want to show someone the proper way to émincé? Now you can easily add these videos which highlight skills, techniques, ingredients and product information. Just click on the embed code button on the top right of the video.

You can also share your favorite Rouxbe recipe previews. Simply copy and paste the embed code. Here's a peek at one of my mine:

Tagged as: [ cooking drill-downs rouxbe skills techniques ]

Chocolate Series | Piping Chocolate Decorations

Once you know how to fold a paper cone, piping decorations using chocolate can be a lot of fun. Half fill the paper cone with tempered chocolate and snip the tip off with scissors. Snip less of the tip off to achieve a finer thread/stream of chocolate, or more to obtain a thicker one. It is best to snip off a little at a time until you obtain the result you want.

Secure a large piece of clean parchment to a working surface by weighing the corners down so it doesn't slip around. Begin to pipe, keeping the top part of the paper cone folded at all times so that the chocolate doesn't ooze out of it. Apply even pressure, while bearing in mind that the heat from your hands could throw the chocolate out of the tempered range. This is one of the reasons that it is best to work with small amounts at a time, ensuring you only handle it for short periods.

Fine piping takes lots of practice. Here I am messing around to show that anything can be done. These aren't the fanciest decorations, but once set, these can be stood upon or stacked on any kind of dessert to give an added touch.

Here is a close-up to show that well-tempered chocolate does contract as it sets. The edges of the decoration actually lift off of the paper. If you want to prevent a decoration from curling, you will need to place something of a suitable and even weight on top of it. Don't do this until the chocolate has set though, or you will mush your design. Once set, cover it with a piece of parchment, and apply a light weight on top overnight. Chocolate can take up to 24 hours to fully set/contract, so don't be tempted to take the weight off early. This applies to all things chocolate that you want to keep flat.

Obviously, the finer the piping, the more fragile the decorations will be. Once the paper cone is empty of chocolate, dispose of it. It cannot be re-used.

Related posts:

• Chocolate Series | How To Dip Chocolates by Hand
  
• Chocolate Series | How To Temper Chocolate
• Where to Find Pastry and Chocolate-Making Supplies
• Chocolate Series | The Simplest Way to Finish the Simplest Truffles
• Chocolate Series | How to Make a Simple Ganache
• Cleaning Up Hardened Chocolate The Easy Way

Tagged as: [ basics chocolate decorations howto pastry piping techniques temper tips ]

How to Fold a Paper Cone

Rather than using a large piping bag, paper cones are very handy in the kitchen when you need to pipe small amounts for decoration. Folding a paper cone can be awkward at first, but with practice it will take literally seconds to create one. All you need is a right triangle piece of parchment paper (not wax paper). Many pastry supply shops carry pre-cut triangles but it is easy to cut your own. Just cut a rectangular piece of parchment in half, along the diagonal, and away you go.

I have created a slide show in Flickr to demonstrate how to fold a paper cone. If you click on each individual photo, I have included helpful notes.

Tagged as: [ basics howto pastry techniques tips ]

Sugar Work | How to Spin Sugar

When it comes to serving dessert, wow your guests with a little spun sugar. Here is another technique for decorating with caramelized sugar. It can get a little messy but it is worth it.

You will need the following equipment:

• small stainless steel pot suitable for the amount of sugar you are working with
• bowl of ice water that your stainless steel pot can easily fit into
• approximately 1 cup of sugar (or more, depending on how much you want to make)
  
• wooden spoon
• 2 chopsticks
• tape
  
• 2 forks or a cut wire whisk (see photo below)
  
• sheet pan
• 1 large piece of parchment

Set up:
1. Overhang each chopstick on the countertop, approximately 6" apart. Secure with tape.
2. Place the sheet pan on top of the chopsticks to weigh them down.
3. Place the large piece of parchment on the floor directly underneath the chopsticks. This catches excess sugar and helps with the clean up.


Prepare the caramelized sugar by following the same instructions posted here: How to Make Dry Caramel. Remember to use caution when working with molten caramel.

When the caramel is cool enough to form a fine thread, hold the forks (backs facing each other) and dip them into the caramel. Alternatively, you can use a cut wire whisk. Using a quick flicking motion with your wrist, drizzle the caramel so it drapes over the two chopsticks. Repeat this step over and over again until the desired amount of caramel has been spun.


Once the caramel is spun, it is cool enough to handle. You can pick it up and wrap it gently into a loose ball or shape it as you see fit. In humid conditions, spun sugar can melt easily so use it quickly or store in an airtight container. Once again, be careful and have fun.


For a few additional pictures, click here.

Tagged as: [ basics caramel decorations howto recipes spinning sugar techniques ]

How to Properly Grease Pans for Baking

After taking the time to bake a product from scratch, do you ever struggle to extract it out of the tin? Once you do manage to release your product from the tin, are you left with an unattractive and nasty white paste glued onto your product? If you take just a few simple steps to properly prepare your baking tins, you will be guaranteed your products will release easily and look professional.

What you will need: melted clarified butter pastry brush baking tin bread flour

1. Brush a thin layer of melted clarified butter onto your baking tin.
2. Place the tin in the fridge or freezer.
3. Once the fat has solidified, remove the tin and dust with bread flour. Shake the tin to ensure the entire surface is covered. Bang out the excess flour.
4. Immediately fill the tin with your recipe and place it in the oven for baking.

When preparing tins in this fashion you are essentially creating two separate layers. The flour will adhere to your baked good and the clarified butter will remain on the surface of your tin allowing for easy release. By not using clarified butter, the water present in regular butter will mix with the flour and create a gluey paste. The primary reason for dusting with bread flour is to avoid caking. Bread flour doesn't clump and will leave a very thin, even coating atop the solidified butter.


You will reap great rewards by taking these few extra steps.

Tagged as: [ baking basics butter clarified flour greasing howto pans pastry techniques tips ]