284251 Sun Apr 02 22:20:02 -0700 2006 10 31 Home Cooking 0 1519211 Hi all... have been interested in possibly procuring a few pastry bags and tips. I am not so much interested in cake decorating, as i am in say piping mashed potatoes on to a savory tart or stuffing cream puffs. and maybe possibly, making macaroons or some of the churrros everyone's been mad about lately. or perhaps i'm just running out of kitchen gadgets and have found something new to fixate on. :) I don't really know anything about them... though I assume I'd want the wider/bigger sized tips. Can anyone direct me to a reputable supplier and any caveats? or perhaps there is a starter kit I can get started with? I am not a very "delicate" cook, the closest I've ever come to this kind of thing is drizzling frosting on a cake with a sandwich bag i've cut the corner off of. thanks in advance, Megan Sun Apr 02 22:20:02 -0700 2006 0 withalonge 1 1519213 I think people make way too big a deal about pastry bags and tips. You can do just fine at Sur La Table. For your purposes, just buy a few sizes of canvas reusable pastry bags and a few large tips (1 round, 1 star) that are very inexpensive. I don't even bother with the little plastic device that secures the tip on the bag. I just push the tip into the bag, and push it into the hole, creating a tight seal with the canvas. Fill the bag and pipe away. There are many kits, but again, for what you want to do, simple and cheap is better, IMO. Sun Apr 02 22:25:14 -0700 2006 1519211 0 Aaron 2 1519216 Exactly. It shouldn't be a huge investment. I do like the little plastic screws (called a coupler) that hold the pipe in place because I tend to make a mess if I don't (the pipe gets pushed back into the bag). But they're cheap too. I saved money by not buying a pastry bag. I just cut the tip off of a ziploc (size depends on how much I'm piping) and use that. At SLT, the tips are $2 each and the coupler is maybe $3. Spend under $8 and start having a grand old time. Sun Apr 02 22:38:44 -0700 2006 1519213 0 nooodles 3 1519223 I do the same thing -- spent the money on the tips, but I use Ziploc bags because frankly, who wants to wash a canvas pastry bag? It's such a gigantic pain in the arse. Sun Apr 02 23:52:40 -0700 2006 1519216 0 Das Ubergeek 4 1519224 My thoughts exactly. I never bother with the canvas bags. Ziploc works well, just snip off the end to whatever size hole you need and you don't have to clean it. If you are concerned about the environment, get a biodegradable plastic bag. Mon Apr 03 00:01:56 -0700 2006 1519223 0 Morgan 5 1519225 Good point. I use the zip locs because I usually need two pastry bags at once and am too cheap to go out and buy multiple ones because I know once I start it'll never end. I'll want three, four, five (one for each color frosting). Better to use up a few ziploc bags on the rare occassion that I pipe. It also frees up space since the tips fit in a small box and the bags don't. Mon Apr 03 00:04:50 -0700 2006 1519224 0 nooodles 6 1519259 I just bought a mechanical pastry bag at Williams Sonoma. It has a stainless steel barrel with a plunger on one end, coupler and assorted tips to go on the other end. It resembles a cookie press contraption. I haven't used it yet, but i'm guessing that it will perform better for piping savory things (mashed potatoes, gougeres, etc. than more delicate icings and the like where the control of a real pastry bag might be needed. does anyone have any experience with this gadget? The whole thing comes apart and is diswasher safe. I too, refuse to deal with cleaning pastry bags. I'm under no delusion that this gadget is necessary, but think it will be a fun toy. Mon Apr 03 10:29:59 -0700 2006 1519225 0 MAH 4 1519236 I paid probably too much for a bag and a little boxed set of tips from someplace like Sur la Table or Williams-Sonoma or somewhere about a hundred years ago. I just toss it into the dishwasher to clean. No fuss, no bother. I probably wouldn't have bought it if the notion of using a ziplock had occurred to me, since 95% of the time I'm just filling creampuffs. But that last 5%, decorating cakes, it sure comes in handy: shape, general wieldiness, ease of generating a nice even flow. Mon Apr 03 01:54:31 -0700 2006 1519223 0 Jeff 3 1519235 I have gone over to the disposable pastry bags; no cleaning and a fair bit easier to handle than zips. The canvass ones are still with me for merengues(Iwil know how to spell in my next life) and choux. Mon Apr 03 01:51:15 -0700 2006 1519216 0 SarahT 1 1519241 I like to use the disposable plastic pastry bags ... the canvas one is a pain to clean, though turning it inside out helps. Mon Apr 03 07:05:36 -0700 2006 1519211 0 MMRuth 1 1519253 If you paln on using the bag primarily for mashed potatoes (a fine choice!) I must recommend a canvas or heavy-duty plastic pastry bag. I have never used a ziplock that had the strength to hold up to spuds. Frosting? Yup. Canape toppings? Yup. Mashed potatoes- launched the tip halfway accross the room or jsut burst the bag. Buy a Huge heavy duty bag (it should still be pretty cheap) like 18-21"- get a HUGE star tip and a round one (I think they're numbered 4 and 6 respectively from Wilton) cut just enough from the end of the bag to fit the 1st third of the tip through. For piping the spuds, fill the bag about 1/2 to 2/3 of the way, shake the contents down, twist the bag shut. I recommend a 2handed approach, use the left to hold,/support the bag. Use your right hand to apply the squeezing pressure about 1/3 of the way up th bag and to direct the tip. I am one of the worst pipers the pastry department I worked in had ever seen, but I could top shepherd's pies like nobody's business! I also have a 14" bag with a coupler and a small container of other decorative tips for my pastry and canape applications. I prefer the plastic bags to the canvas, but still prefer a triangular bag to a ziplock. Mon Apr 03 09:41:17 -0700 2006 1519211 0 jdherbert