808 replies to this topic

[tammylc]

However an airbrush and stencils may be just the ticket for making home made transfer sheets...

I'll let you know, as I have exactly that experiment planned for this week.

[Stuckey]

I received my copy of this book last week, and I have to agree with everyone else - it is fantastic!

I also bought a new iSi 1L Profi Whip cream whipper today. The instructions for the aerated chocolate in the book call for actually heating the cream whipper to about 32C. Is this really necessary?! How would one heat up the whipper? I also note that the instructions for the cream whipper state that it is not to be used for hot ingredients.

Also, for recipes in the book which call for fondant - I have Caullet fondant. Is this the right type of fondant that is specified in the book? Thanks.

[Kerry Beal]

I received my copy of this book last week, and I have to agree with everyone else - it is fantastic!

I also bought a new iSi 1L Profi Whip cream whipper today. The instructions for the aerated chocolate in the book call for actually heating the cream whipper to about 32C. Is this really necessary?! How would one heat up the whipper? I also note that the instructions for the cream whipper state that it is not to be used for hot ingredients.

Also, for recipes in the book which call for fondant - I have Caullet fondant. Is this the right type of fondant that is specified in the book? Thanks.

Proves how well I read instructions, never noticed the heating the cream siphon. I'd just hit it a little with your heat gun or hair dryer before adding the chocolate.

Tell us more about the fondant you have, is it scoopable, kind of like a really viscous liquid. If so it's the right stuff. If it is rolling fondant for covering wedding cakes, then it's the wrong stuff.

[alanamoana]

I received my copy of this book last week, and I have to agree with everyone else - it is fantastic!

I also bought a new iSi 1L Profi Whip cream whipper today. The instructions for the aerated chocolate in the book call for actually heating the cream whipper to about 32C. Is this really necessary?! How would one heat up the whipper? I also note that the instructions for the cream whipper state that it is not to be used for hot ingredients.

Also, for recipes in the book which call for fondant - I have Caullet fondant. Is this the right type of fondant that is specified in the book? Thanks.

you should be fine as kerry said with heating it up, before putting the chocolate in, with a hair dryer or heat gun. you do this so that the chocolate which has to be in temper isn't shocked and doesn't set up as soon as you put it in the whipper. also, when you add the gas it cools down considerably, that's why the chocolate sets up so quickly once aerated and extruded.

when isi says not to use for hot ingredients, they mean things that are around 150+ degrees F. your chocolate and heating it up shouldn't be above 90-93F, so no worries. they make a special whipper for hot ingredients.

edited for clarity

Edited by alanamoana, 22 March 2007 - 07:21 AM.

[Desiderio]

So going back to the recipes,what starch is needed for tuekish delight???
Because corn starch sure doesnt work with his formula , or at least it didnt seems to work for me ,it didnt set nice and firm but more giggly.Definately not what I was expectin,I know he talks about thin boiling starches , but I have hard time find those at my local grocery store , .

[Kerry Beal]

So going back to the recipes,what starch is needed for tuekish delight???
Because corn starch sure doesnt work with his formula , or at least it didnt seems to work for me ,it didnt set nice and firm but  more giggly.Definately not what I was expectin,I know he talks about thin boiling starches , but I have hard time find those at my local grocery store , .

Thin boiling starch is a tough one. I have not found it at any of my usual suppliers. I was able to get a sample from a starch company, the rep actually lives in my town, so I picked it up from him, but I'm not sure where you would get some in your area.

[gap]

I was wondering if anyone had made the pate-de-fruit recipes using pectin out of this book? In particular, why is "Apple Compote" used - is it for extra pectin?

Also, I saw the brief description for making Apple Compote under "Notes" for the first pectin-based recipe, but can anyone give me a little more colour? For instance, is it just baking peeled/cored/sliced apples with some sugar sprinkled on top and then puree the lot or is there a bit more to it? What sort of consistency should the final product be?

Thanks for any help

[Kerry Beal]

I was wondering if anyone had made the pate-de-fruit recipes using pectin out of this book? In particular, why is "Apple Compote" used - is it for extra pectin?

Also, I saw the brief description for making Apple Compote under "Notes" for the first pectin-based recipe, but can anyone give me a little more colour? For instance, is it just baking peeled/cored/sliced apples with some sugar sprinkled on top and then puree the lot or is there a bit more to it? What sort of consistency should the final product be?

Thanks for any help

In the Boiron recipes if you are using a fruit with less natural pectin, you add pear or apricot puree. The flavour of the pear or apricot is not really noticable but it provides the extra pectin.

Boiron recipes here.

The apple compote in the book is just applesauce boiled down to a nice thick paste, no extra sugar required.

[gap]

Thanks Kerry, I've picked up the Boiron recipes already and have used pear juice in previous PDF's, but thought it might be interesting to try the apple compote.

Edited by gap, 09 April 2007 - 06:27 PM.

[jturn00]

I just got the book and was looking at the "hot chocolate" recipe (located in the airated recipes) which has a cinnamon marshmellow layered with a ganache. Are both applied with the isi canister? How is the ganache applied? (can you whip the ganache and get the same effect?).

Jeff

Edited by jturn00, 10 April 2007 - 07:42 AM.

[Kerry Beal]

I just got the book and was looking at the "hot chocolate" recipe (located in the airated recipes) which has a cinnamon marshmellow layered with a ganache.  Are both applied with the isi canister?  How is the ganache applied?  (can you whip the ganache and get the same effect?).

Jeff

Jeff,

It looks like the mashmallow is made in a more traditional way with the kitchen aid and the ganache is not whipped at all, just made as a smooth emulsion.

Looks good, doesn't it? I bet they are very tasty. You could do flavoured marshmallows to jazz them up. How about neopolitan, a layer of strawberry marshmallow, a layer of vanilla marshmallow, then the chocolate ganache?

[jturn00]

They do look good. I've never made marshmallows but this looks like a good recipe to try. The book is great (although I did find some typos), i find it a little more accessible than the wybauw book.

[alanamoana]

They do look good.  I've never made marshmallows but this looks like a good recipe to try.  The book is great (although I did find some typos), i find it a little more accessible than the wybauw book.

as much as i love wybauw, i have to agree. i think a lot of it has to do with poor translation whereas the peter greweling book was written by a native english speaker in his own language being read by native english speakers.

is anyone else disturbed by the photo opposite page 114 (cinnamon stacks)? we're always being warned that we need to make sure that our chocolates have no air, etc. in them, but this method clearly allows large air gaps between ganache piping which goes against what i've been taught.

[Desiderio]

I was wondering about that also.

[ejw50]

I like the Wybauw book better, but only after the "second translation" provided on the forum by DavidJ, you, Kerry, John, serj, and others. After getting the info from the classes, it's like a whole new book.

They do look good.  I've never made marshmallows but this looks like a good recipe to try.  The book is great (although I did find some typos), i find it a little more accessible than the wybauw book.

as much as i love wybauw, i have to agree. i think a lot of it has to do with poor translation whereas the peter greweling book was written by a native english speaker in his own language being read by native english speakers.

is anyone else disturbed by the photo opposite page 114 (cinnamon stacks)? we're always being warned that we need to make sure that our chocolates have no air, etc. in them, but this method clearly allows large air gaps between ganache piping which goes against what i've been taught.

[Desiderio]

I have tried few recipes form the book , one was little bit to challenging for my skill at this point, I dont have enough equipment and experience, but I will keep trying with more time and patience.The others were simpler and very good.Today I am going for some sleeping Beauties , I was thinking to flavor the chocolate nougat with some coffe to do a moka flavor.
I have been readiong his slabbing and piping technique for butter ganaches and I found out some of my mistakes , so I am very excited to try them properly.I recently made some chocolates that I really like and with the technique they should be even better .I love the book evey time I picked up and I read it , I learn something new

[Desiderio]

Ok sleeping beautie didnt turn well at all , I have should follow my recipes for nougat and caramel , the nougat didnt turn well at all , I couldnt spread it, totally failure, caramel ok but stayed to soft.I think I am going to follow my own recipes next time , I am very disappointed to had waste so much ingredients.

[lapin d'or]

Ok sleeping beautie didnt turn well at all , I have should follow my recipes for nougat and caramel , the nougat didnt turn well at all , I couldnt spread it, totally failure, caramel ok but stayed to soft.I think I am going to follow my own recipes next time , I am very disappointed to had waste so  much ingredients.

That is a such a shame. I hate wasting stuff.

I am going to try one of the nougat recipes next - I will try and watch the mixture carefully so I get it tipped out before it sets up solid. I did the condensed milk soft caramel recipe at Easter and it was a bit too soft but I think I took it off the heat a bit too soon. I do not like hard caramel so I was a bit hesitant.

The caramel tasted good but I had to double dip the pieces to get them completely covered. Little bits of caramel started oozing out of the first shell. Very scary looking.

Jill

[gap]

I made the marshmallow recipe over the weekend. Very simple/quick and was a success. I just rolled this batch in cornflour (cornstarch) and icing sugar but the next batch will be layered with a ganache and then dipped.

[gap]

I was wondering if anyone has made the Meltaways? What do you use for coconut fat? Is that just coconut oil or can you buy a solid block of fat labelled as coconut fat?

[Kerry Beal]

I was wondering if anyone has made the Meltaways? What do you use for coconut fat? Is that just coconut oil or can you buy a solid block of fat labelled as coconut fat?

As you suspected it's the stuff called coconut oil. I've seen jars in asian and caribbean markets.

I just recently bought a jar to try the meltaways, now just got to find a 'round too-it'.

[Desiderio]

I made them and they were very good , next time though I am going to dip them in chocolate .I buy the coconut oil/fat at my local vitamine cottage , but I have seen it in the grocery store as well.

[Trishiad]

I made the meltaways a few weeks ago. I wanted something I could toss together quickly and bring to a friend that evening.
I bought the coconut fat at Whole Foods and used a 70/30 combo of bittersweet and milk chocolates. I also increased the peppermint oil by 5 or 6 drops. I popped the pan into the fridge and they were ready in no time. They tasted a bit like Magic Shell. If I made them again, I'd want them to be creamier. They didn't melt away as well as I'd like. More milk chocolate next time perhaps.

[Kerry Beal]

I made the meltaways a few weeks ago.  I wanted something I could toss together quickly and bring to a friend that evening.
I bought the coconut fat at Whole Foods and used a 70/30 combo of bittersweet and milk chocolates.  I also increased the peppermint oil by 5 or 6 drops.  I popped the pan into the fridge and they were ready in no time.  They tasted a bit like Magic Shell.  If I made them again, I'd want them to be creamier.  They didn't melt away as well as I'd like.  More milk chocolate next time perhaps.

The meltaway recipe I put together before I realized that they use coconut oil uses butter and fondant, milk and dark chocolate and mint oil. Perhaps adding a bit of butter would soften them?

[Desiderio]

When I made the ones from the book , I followed the recipe the way it is and they turned out pretty good, they actually melted away very well.
I am courious to know if the milk chocolate , since contains milk and milk solids , can influence the result.

[gap]

Thanks all for the meltaway advice

[mrose]

The recipe for jfb's calls for praline paste which is also descibed as a paste made from hazelnuts & caramel (p230). I always thought they contained pecans as he describes further down the paragraph in the process to make them. Do you make pralines & just grind them to a paste? Do you add extra sugar as in nuts pastes? Does anyone have a good recipe for pralines?

[Kerry Beal]

The recipe for jfb's calls for praline paste which is also descibed as a paste made from hazelnuts & caramel (p230). I always thought they contained pecans as he describes further down the paragraph in the process to make them. Do you make pralines & just grind them to a paste? Do you add extra sugar as in nuts pastes? Does anyone have a good recipe for pralines?

Different kind of pralines. The ones they make in the US south are a fudge like item with pecans. Pralines in europe can be what we would call bonbons or chocolates, and praline paste is caramelized nuts ground to a paste. It doesn't necessarily have to be hazelnut, but that would be the classic. It's not something that you usually make yourself because like nut pastes they grind with a stone or metal grinder to get the very smooth result and not generate a lot of heat.

A source would be Qzina or one of your chocolate suppliers I suspect.

[Serj]

The last few weeks I've been playing with sourdough and neglecting chocolates. Throughout, however, the internal chocolate-itch has been building up, so last weekend and this weekend I've been playing. I had a good day today. I discovered successfully tempering chocolate in a robot coupe - easy, fast & clean!

Anyways, I don't know why but i've been focussing on Earl Grey ganache. The recipe the FPS gave us is good but I wanted to try something else, so I tried the Chocolate Obsession recipe & the Greweling recipe. I didn't like the chocolate obsession flavor - too weak but I thought this one was good. I piped the ganache into my newly found robot couped chocolate shells and it all came together well. I'm happy! :)

Tomorrow I'm going to make some rocher and try something fruity - how appropriate for mothers' day...

[Kerry Beal]

The last few weeks I've been playing with sourdough and neglecting chocolates. Throughout, however, the internal chocolate-itch has been building up, so last weekend and this weekend I've been playing. I had a good day today. I discovered successfully tempering chocolate in a robot coupe - easy, fast & clean!

Anyways, I don't know why but i've been focussing on Earl Grey ganache. The recipe the FPS gave us is good but I wanted to try something else, so I tried the Chocolate Obsession recipe & the Greweling recipe. I didn't like the chocolate obsession flavor - too weak but I thought this one was good. I piped the ganache into my newly found robot couped chocolate shells and it all came together well. I'm happy! :)

Tomorrow I'm going to make some rocher and try something fruity - how appropriate for mothers' day...

Serj,

Tell us more about tempering in the food processor.