Tips

PASTEURIZED Egg whites are better for French macarons.

FOR MOUSSES Best made with Italian meringue but with 1/2 of the sugar. Eggs and butter always at room temperature — but even if they aren't, THEY MUST BE AT ONE AND THE SAME TEMPERATURE.

MIXING INGREDIENTS Always add the heavy to the light (pour heavy ingredients over the whipped cream).

FREEZE-DRIED FRUITS Replace 10% of the flour with freeze-dried fruit (measures for French macarons). Freeze-dried fruit is always added together with the butter and the sugar, because the fat is a carrier of the aroma.

CHOCOLATE Regina bianca edelweiss Callebaut 54 and 71 Valrhona dulce de leche Icam

SEASONINGS BAY LEAF — first put it in ice water and then into the boiling soup, so it releases a faster and stronger aroma.

ONION — to remove the bitterness, first soak it in boiling water and then cut it.

BUTTER — add the cold butter after pouring in the water (when boiling pasta and dumplings); as it melts it creates a film over the water which helps it boil faster.

Kombu — cooked at 60 °C.

Vegetables are always added at the beginning of cooking the stock.

Katsuobushi — steamed with hickory and then dried in rice. Can be made with any meat, but it must have no fat!!! The fat must be under 5%. It is made into mince, vacuum-sealed, cooked at 100 °C, then put in a smoker and smoked with hickory.