204 replies to this topic

[isomer]

MilissaH: i don't know what people did with the other transfer sheets. I saw lots of people sticking home-made frog stencils onto dipped chocolates, though :)

Lior: Thanks. And thanks for sending all those treats. I had a good time trying to read the labels (I was able to read "kit kat" and "halva", but not much else. It's been a long time).

jturn00: As Kerry said, the icewine filling was a mixture of icewine and neutral glaze, mixed to taste. I'm afraid that I didn't get it cool enough, because those were the causalties when I unmolded my first batch. The caps all broke off.

The curry coconut (or Madras) filling is very good. We made it with bought curry powder. If it were to do again, I'd toast up a fresh mixture of Mughal garam masala (green cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, black pepper). It would definitely be worth doing again.

[Kerry Beal]

A couple of pictures of our helpers - I asked Benny if he had seen my bamboo stirrer - Kristina pulled out a bamboo chopstick (used to hold double molds together) from my kit.



One of my favorite pictures - Kristina, Benny and Tori taking a breather.
Some more dinner photos.




Matt giving a hand cutting the greek pita for the appetizers. Calipoutine had refreshed them for us.



Dave Gibson, the chef, seasoning his mushroom soup.



Where's the beef?





Wendy, the second year apprentice, garnishes the soup with the truffle cream.



Chef Peter Storm - the chief patisserie instructor at the college - garnishing. Peter is one of the people I went to Belgium with last spring.



The gang at dinner.

[alanamoana]

sooooooo jealous! it looks like everyone had a great time. as everyone upthread has already mentioned, kerry is just amazing! her energy makes us all look like slackers. maybe we can have a west coast conference one day?!

thanks for posting pictures and everything everyone

[ArtMills]

My sisters were raving about the lunch meats and bread and wanted to know if the bread was made by the school for the event?  The rustic flavour and pumpkin seeds were great! 

Bread was supplied by local Ravine Bakery Cafe (& winery). Christina one of the students who helped us on the weekend works at the bakery that is run by the Olsons: Anna ('Sugar' on Food Network) and husband Michael works with the Niagara College Culinary program.

[Lior]

You are welcome
I appreciate all the recipes and pictures, emotions and sharing!! I can feel the excitement!! I am sure it will all sink in -all that was learned and done in the weeks to come. Here is a picture of truffle shells capped for whoever asked about them. Thanks!

filled and capped- I used a diff color to cap so it shows up clearly.



dipped and decorated:

Edited by Lior, 20 April 2009 - 09:56 PM.

[mostlylana]

You are welcome
I appreciate all the recipes and pictures, emotions and sharing!! I can feel the excitement!! I am sure it will all sink in -all that was learned and done in the weeks to come. Here is a picture of truffle shells capped for whoever asked about them. Thanks!

filled and capped- I used a diff color to cap so it shows up clearly.



dipped and decorated:

I have never done truffles. I must say yours are BEAUTIFUL! I have a question - how do you get the coating so smooth and even - no swirl lines at all?!

[Lior]

I just dip with a truffle fork the one that looks like : @ (which here is referred to by all as shtreudel! Silly) tap tap. wipe once and place. I thnk the way you disconnect is important. It is super easy-you should try it. I like making them.

[Kerry Beal]

My sisters were raving about the lunch meats and bread and wanted to know if the bread was made by the school for the event?  The rustic flavour and pumpkin seeds were great! 

Bread was supplied by local Ravine Bakery Cafe (& winery). Christina one of the students who helped us on the weekend works at the bakery that is run by the Olsons: Anna ('Sugar' on Food Network) and husband Michael works with the Niagara College Culinary program.

Art - welcome to eG. I think you'll discover there is a whole world of information contained within these virtual pages.

To everyone else out there - I first met Art and his wife Wilma a number of years ago when they became my cocoa butter suppliers (everyone needs a 35 lb pail of cocoa butter). I seem to recall I met Wilma when I was doing a locum for her family doc - asked what she did for a living and found out about their ingredient supply company. A couple of years ago I discovered that they had taken over a chocolate panning operation in Niagara on the Lake and changed it into a wildly successful business that makes a very tasty product indeed (the last guy that had it didn't seem to understand the concept of starting with a quality product to turn out a quality product).

Anyway - now we know how to get ahold of Art when we are looking for a strange ingredient.

[cmflick]

Thanks for posting all of the recipes above, Kerry. I've got to get busy trying some of these. I've been thinking about trying fruit caramels for a while, so I think that I'll try out these recipes.

It doesn't sound like anyone reached a conclusion about the three different ways of making ganache. Is that true?

Were these fruit caramels for piping into shells or did you slab them and dip them?

All of the details are fantastic!

[Kerry Beal]

It doesn't sound like anyone reached a conclusion about the three different ways of making ganache.  Is that true? 

Were these fruit caramels for piping into shells or did you slab them and dip them?

All of the details are fantastic!

I think that's a fair assumption. I'll have to do a small side by side comparison of the 3 methods at home, so I can reach some sort of conclusion.

The Passion Fruit Mango caramels are cuttable, the Passion Fruit caramel under piped fillings is for piping. The piped one contains chocolate, the cut one doesn't, but does dip nicely in chocolate.

[Kerry Beal]

Anna reminded me this morning that I forgot to post about the wonderful prizes that Chocolat-chocolat provided for us.

Chocoera won the Barry Callebaut kit - that contained quite a nice variety of goodies (Kyle tried to steal it from her - I coveted it as well). Erika - could you post on what it contained?

Wilma won the dipping forks I believe.

Pagosselin won the Wild Sweets books by Cindy and Domenic Duby.

I think it was MelissaH that won the two molds - I got so distracted by stressing that these molds shouldn't be sprayed with colour - that I kind of lost track of who won. Correct me please if I am wrong.

These molds are new at Chocolat-chocolat - they are a 'truffle' mold. Essentially all the cavities in the mold are a little bit different so they look like hand made truffles when they are done. The mold however has a matte surface finish rather than a shiny one - so when you spray with colour (particularly with a pastel green) they look kind of moldy rather than beautifully finished.

[Lior]

sorry but can someone explain the term "deglaze" I assume it means just adding the puree?

[chocoera]

Anna reminded me this morning that I forgot to post about the wonderful prizes that Chocolat-chocolat provided for us.

Chocoera won the Barry Callebaut kit - that contained quite a nice variety of goodies (Kyle tried to steal it from her - I coveted it as well).  Erika - could you post on what it contained?

Wilma won the dipping forks I believe.

Pagosselin won the Wild Sweets books by Cindy and Domenic Duby.

I think it was MelissaH that won the two molds - I got so distracted by stressing that these molds shouldn't be sprayed with colour - that I kind of lost track of who won.  Correct me please if I am wrong.

These molds are new at Chocolat-chocolat - they are a 'truffle' mold.  Essentially all the cavities in the mold are a little bit different so they look like hand made truffles when they are done.  The mold however has a matte surface finish rather than a shiny one - so when you spray with colour (particularly with a pastel green) they look kind of moldy rather than beautifully finished.

hi! the cocoa barry chocolate kit had a set of chocolate handling gloves made out of a nice cloth, a super long and sturdy sturdy sturdy "stir stick" (which i already used last night when stirring a triple batch of fudge!) a long straight spatula, a "spackle" spatula (i don't know the proper term, but it looks like those you would buy at home depot...but really really nice!) a dipping fork, and a huge supply of disposable piping bags...all in all, a very well-rounded and appreciated gift!

[alanamoana]

sorry but can someone explain the term "deglaze" I assume it means just adding the puree?

often the term "deglaze" is used when you're making a sauce or something and have residue left in the pan. you add a liquid (like wine or water or whatever) to the hot pan and that removes the extras (flavor)...everything in the pan is used in the sauce.

in pastry, people often use this to mean adding liquid to a caramel that has reached the proper stage of cooking.

[Lior]

thank you!

[MelissaH]

I think it was MelissaH that won the two molds - I got so distracted by stressing that these molds shouldn't be sprayed with colour - that I kind of lost track of who won.  Correct me please if I am wrong.

No, it wasn't me. But if anyone has some extras that they'd like to donate, I'd take 'em!

MelissaH

[cmflick]

Can someone post a link to the chocolat-chocolat molds that are matte and can't be sprayed with color? I'm intrigued.

[lebowits]

It occurs to me that after we did the 3 methods of slab ganache making - the Greweling, the Morato, and the Wybauw - we didn't do a side by side comparison. 

Could everyone comment on the slab they made and what the result was - did you compare your ganache with the other two?

My team did the Morato method which turned into a soft slab suitable for piping, but not really for enrobing. The method called for heating the chocolate to between 40C - 45C and adding the infused cream when it cooled to about 30C.

I suspect if we ignored heating the chocolate to that high a temperature, and used tempered chocolate, we would have had a firm slab.

I remember seeing the result of another team which had also done this method and had coated both sides of their equally soft slab. This allowed them to at least attempt to cut and enrobe the pieces.

[lebowits]

also, a few questions regarding that packet of info kerry handed out:  i did a wybauw ganache..thought the texture was very smooth and flavored carried well but it turned out super soft.  we pre-coated the bottom and let set in fridge to harden, it helped when using the guitar cutter, so no worries...but would like to know if we think we just didn't have enough chocolate? (270 g, 250 g cream, 25 g invert, 50 g butter) or if it was the method (mix 30 C cream with 30 C chocolate, then add room temp butter) any thoughts?  should chocolate go up to 300 or 320 g?

We made the Wybauw too and also ended up with a really soft ganache.

I think his method is supposed to create a fairly firm ganache because the chocolate never leaves temper (doesn’t Grewling also table his slabbed ganaches?).

Greweling generally specifies tabling the slabbed ganaches until they reach the desired consistency. In several instances he specifies using tempered chocolate as well.

I think the problem might have been the percentage chocolate we were using; if I remember correctly that bags said that it was a 55% chocolate. I think most of the dark recipes with 1:1-ish ratios are formulated for 65%-ish chocolate, so this might have caused the ganache to be softer. A bit more chocolate would have probably helped (or a bit darker chocolate).

At least that’s my best guess.

[lebowits]

First, thank you Kerry for organizing a great weekend. You really put together a first class event and I suspect that we all had a wonderful time.

Second, I personally had a great time meeting everyone, putting faces to names, and comparing notes on business issues, supplies, and techniques. Of course we shouldn't forget simply hanging out with a bunch of cool people.

Saturday dinner was one of the best I've had in a very long time. My favorite dish was the wild mushroom soup topped with truffle infused cream. You can't go wrong with truffles (wild or chocolate).

Finally, I think I must have taken close to 300 pictures. As I just returned home a little over an hour ago, I'll get them onto the computer, sort out the cruft and post them very soon.

I would like to pose three questions:

1. If you attended this years event, would you attend a similar event next year?

2. If you did NOT attend this years event, would you be interested in attending next year?

3. How important is location to you?

The reason I ask is that I did indeed suggest in a conversation with Kerry that we do this again and that I would work on such a project. It is my intent to see if I could get my culinary alma mater and a local company to "sponsor" us and let us use their facilities in Gaithersburg, Maryland (near Washington DC).

Please post your thoughts here or send me a PM.

Again, thanks to you all.

[Lior]

Location mean not much as everything is far-unless it is Europe!!
Yes I think I would commit to coming. Thanks and waiting for the pictures! First settle in!

[tammylc]

I'd definitely be interested in attending next year, and location isn't important to me.

[lebowits]

I've got all my photos on the computer and I'm in the process of uploading the first edited set to Flickr. These are just from the first day of our 3 day event.

You can find the pictures here.

Enjoy these and I'll get the rest uploaded over the next day or so.

[Marmish]

Steve,

1.Yes
2.Yes
3.I'd love to come to MD. We were from so many places that I think MD would work for just about everyone that made it to Niagara.

I'm having all the "So, what did you do over spring break" conversations now that I'm back at school. I keep repeating over and over what a great bunch of people I got to spend time with. And I made some chocolates. And had a phenomenal dinner. Here, look at the pictures. Here, taste one. And check out Erika's website. And all these other ones, too. And, and, and. They can't shut me up. Totally up for another one.

Trying to figure out where to get massive quantities of chocolate in Chicago. Anyone?

[cmflick]

First, thank you Kerry for organizing a great weekend.  You really put together a first class event and I suspect that we all had a wonderful time.

Second, I personally had a great time meeting everyone, putting faces to names, and comparing notes on business issues, supplies, and techniques.  Of course we shouldn't forget simply hanging out with a bunch of cool people.

Saturday dinner was one of the best I've had in a very long time.  My favorite dish was the wild mushroom soup topped with truffle infused cream.  You can't go wrong with truffles (wild or chocolate).

Finally, I think I must have taken close to 300 pictures.  As I just returned home a little over an hour ago, I'll get them onto the computer, sort out the cruft and post them very soon.

I would like to pose three questions:

1.  If you attended this years event, would you attend a similar event next year?

2.  If you did NOT attend this years event, would you be interested in attending next year?

3.  How important is location to you?

The reason I ask is that I did indeed suggest in a conversation with Kerry that we do this again and that I would work on such a project.  It is my intent to see if I could get my culinary alma mater and a local company to "sponsor" us and let us use their facilities in Gaithersburg, Maryland (near Washington DC).

In answer to your questions, I wasn't able to attend this year, but would be very interested in attending next year.  Gaithersburg would be fanstastic for me.  I would definitely prefer somewhere on the East Coast that I could drive to (I'm in CT).

Please post your thoughts here or send me a PM.

Again, thanks to you all.

In answer to your question, I was not able to attend this year and and am definitely interested in being there next year. I would have been there this year, but had another trip already booked elswhere. Gaithersburg would be great for me. I would prefer somewhere on the East Coast that I could either drive to or get to by train (I live in CT).

[John DePaula]

Ok,... finally made it back home. Took me 30 hours to get back to Portland thanks to the big storm on the East Coast. And for those of you who may be wondering, Newark airport is a pit at 3am in the morn.

But all that time with my teeny-tiny laptop allowed me to do a first pass at processing all of those pix. Let me know if I've made any errors in captioning or if there's a photo missing that you'd like to see.

Big, big hugs go out to Kerry for all of her hard work, and to all of you who helped to make the conference a success esp. Anna N, John N the photographer, the Staff and Students at Niagara College - you guys are the best!

Kerry's Chocolate and Confectionery Conference 2009

[Anna N]

Ok,... finally made it back home. Took me 30 hours to get back to Portland thanks to the big storm on the East Coast.  And for those of you who may be wondering, Newark airport is a pit at 3am in the morn.

But all that time with my teeny-tiny laptop allowed me to do a first pass at processing all of those pix.  Let me know if I've made any errors in captioning or if there's a photo missing that you'd like to see.

Big, big hugs go out to Kerry for all of her hard work, and to all of you who helped to make the conference a success esp. Anna N, John N the photographer, the Staff and Students at Niagara College - you guys are the best!

Kerry's Chocolate and Confectionery Conference 2009

Fabulous photos, John! You are certainly multi-talented and both hubby and I feel privileged to have met you.

[beacheschef]

How about the goodies that Lior sent for us to enjoy - I've been working on the lokum and some of the snacky foods today.  What did you take home?  How are you enjoying it?

Lior:
Thanks so much for the boxes of goodies you sentl. Wish you were there, but the goodies were an acceptable substitute. I brought home the chocolate halvah for one of my customers to sample - I'm hoping to use it in a filling for cakes I make for his restaurant. I also brought home the Chai tea and (what feels like) coffee, as I'll infuse these flavors in cream for some new amazing cakes for this same customer.

I'll let you know what I do with these items as I get around to using them.
Mary

[Marmish]

Ok,... finally made it back home. Took me 30 hours to get back to Portland thanks to the big storm on the East Coast.  And for those of you who may be wondering, Newark airport is a pit at 3am in the morn.

But all that time with my teeny-tiny laptop allowed me to do a first pass at processing all of those pix.  Let me know if I've made any errors in captioning or if there's a photo missing that you'd like to see.

Big, big hugs go out to Kerry for all of her hard work, and to all of you who helped to make the conference a success esp. Anna N, John N the photographer, the Staff and Students at Niagara College - you guys are the best!

Kerry's Chocolate and Confectionery Conference 2009

Very nice John! I'm so sorry it took you so long to get back! My flight was canceled Sunday evening, but I was able to hop on a Southwest flight into another airport. Thank goodness Chicago has two!

[beacheschef]

Anna reminded me this morning that I forgot to post about the wonderful prizes that Chocolat-chocolat provided for us.

Chocoera won the Barry Callebaut kit - that contained quite a nice variety of goodies (Kyle tried to steal it from her - I coveted it as well).  Erika - could you post on what it contained?

Wilma won the dipping forks I believe.

Pagosselin won the Wild Sweets books by Cindy and Domenic Duby.

I think it was MelissaH that won the two molds - I got so distracted by stressing that these molds shouldn't be sprayed with colour - that I kind of lost track of who won.  Correct me please if I am wrong.

These molds are new at Chocolat-chocolat - they are a 'truffle' mold.  Essentially all the cavities in the mold are a little bit different so they look like hand made truffles when they are done.  The mold however has a matte surface finish rather than a shiny one - so when you spray with colour (particularly with a pastel green) they look kind of moldy rather than beautifully finished.

I flew home with these two chocolate molds - haven't had time to use them yet. Will post photos sometime next week when I can catch my breath.

Thanks to Chocolat-chocolat for donating them!
Mary