A Patric

Well, it didn't turn out well. I used Wybauw's recipe, except that instead of adding the chocolate early on I waited until the mixture hit soft ball, and then adden the chocolate with everything still on the burner and quickly stirred until it was incorporated. I then removed the fudge and let it rest for the 5 minutes as is called for, and finally stirred everything. It turned out quite dry. Does this sound like I went past soft ball (i.e. thermometer needs calibration), or does this sound like a sugar crystal issue? I would try Greweling's except that it calls for fondant which is not readily available, and I'm not quite in the mood to try making that too. Could it be that by adding the chocolate, with the extra sugar, and therefore increasing the sugar solids of the mixture, that it quickly jumped up beyond soft ball? You can probably tell that I'm no candy maker. Alan

Kerry, I'll try it out tonight and report back. As for sugar in refined/conched chocolate, I think that there is still some debate as to how much of the sugar remains amorphous and how much recrystallizes, but from what I have read, all of this depends upon the type of machinery used, the relative humidity of the air in the refining room, and conching temperatures. Based upon Beckett's book, it also seems as though only 30-90% of the sugar becomes amorphous, and so there will apparently always be some crystallized sucrose. I'm not sure what impact my refining/conching processes have on sugar in terms of conversion to amorphous forms, but as I'm not using a roll refiner, it might be considerably less. Still, I can think of other reasons why finished chocolate might not cause problems, such as the fact that the sugar particles are coated with cocoa butter and might not serve well as seed for further sugar crystallization. This is just a guess though. I think the thing that really got me is the fact that Greweling was calling for chocolate liquor, which is kind of a weird ingredient when most confectioners would have dark chocolate, but may not have chocolate liquor, so I thought that he must have had some very good reason for it. Alan

Hi All, I have a quick question for all of you confectioners out there. I want to make some chocolate fudge. I understand that not melting every sugar crystal, or introducing sugar crystals after the fudge begins to cool can cause graininess. With this as context, here is my question: Wybauw has a chocolate fudge recipe that calls for dark chocolate. He has you put the chocolate in the pan with all the other ingredients before they reach soft ball. I feel that this will result, due to the boiling and relatively high temp, in too much of a reduction of the chocolate volatiles. I compared this to Greweling's recipe. Greweling calls for chocolate to be added after the mixture has reached soft ball and started to cool, I thought that I might try that, but then I noticed that Greweling calls for chocolate liquor, and so I wondered if perhaps the unmelted crystals of sugar in the dark chocolate could cause graininess if added when the mixture is starting to cool, which would explain both why Wybauw would call for the chocolate to be added earlier, and why Greweling would call for chocolate liquor to be added later as opposed to dark chocolate. Any thoughts? I'd rather use my 70% dark chocolate than chocolate liquor simply for production reasons, and I also want to maintain as many of the volatiles as possible while not causing myself issues with graininess. How have you solved this problem? Is the graininess issue even a problem, or am I inventing it? Thanks in advance! Alan

I am wondering if we are looking for a solution to a non-existent problem. What I mean is that if we are talking about English, then the word chocolatier, though it is borrowed from French, has no gender connotations. I can understand that if you are in a French-speaking country that you may want to push for a feminine form of chocolatier, but I just don't think that 99.9% of English speakers have any idea that chocolatier has any sort of masculine connotation. Just a thought. Very best, Alan

Isn't roasted chickpea flour used in Ethiopian sauces as well?

Thank you to everyone. I am reading the Saveur article, and have ordered a couple of the cookbooks mentioned. Also, I found out yesterday that my local grocery carries Teff flour. Who knew? Very best, Alan

Hello all, Aside from making a couple of supposed Ethiopian dishes over the past ten years, I wasn't familiar with the cuisine until yesterday, when I was lucky enough to run into the owner of Ah!Zeefa lentil spread in St. Louis at the Healthy Planet Expo. We started talking about Ethiopian restaurants in St. Louis, and along with a couple of friends ended up at her favorite for dinner. It really was excellent, and now I want to know more!! I have two specific questions: 1) What would be the best Ethiopian cook book available in the US? I want to know how to make the sour teff crepes from scratch as well! Also... 2) What city in the US would have the best selection of excellent Ethiopian restaurants? NYC? Any suggestions, as I'll be there in a few months. Thank you for your help! Very best, Alan

Onigirl, Thank you for the reply. I'll look into it! Alan

Well, I followed your directions, and what I ended up with was delicious--really delicious actually--but not exactly the Mexican-style crispy, crunchy light fried cracklins. Next time I do "your" version, I think that I'll cut the strips from belly to hang onto some additional fat and some meat. Then, I'll confit the strips and afterwards crisp them up on high heat. That will be a lot more like the Jim Drohman recipe in Ruhlman's book. Still, I'd like to figure out how to make the crispy cracklins. I noticed that there is an oven version in the book called "Fat" that apparently is a twist on what Heston Blumenthal does at the Fat Duck. The photo has me almost convinced that they have the right texture. Has anyone tried this recipe? Best, Alan

HC, Thank you very much. So, as I suspected, the raw skin needs to be pre-cooked prior to frying it. I'll follow your directions to the letter. Very best, Alan

Hi Peter, Do those scrunchions end up getting light and crispy? After the fat has rendered is the heat turned up to brown and crisp the skin? Best, Alan

Hi All, I have some pig skin that I want to turn into crispy and light pork cracklin's like you can find at a Mexican market. I've tried just frying in oil, which doesn't work. After that, I tried to find info in a variety of cookbooks, and then online, but to no avail. The one bit of info that I _think_ that I've gleaned is that the skins need to be cooked first to weaken the collagen, and then they can be towel-dried, spiced, and fried. Does anyone know if I'm on the right track, and if so, is there a tried and true way of precooking the skin--steaming, boiling, baking?? Also, if I'm way off here, please don't hesitate to let me know. I'm hoping that there is a pork cracklin' expert out there somewhere who makes them all the time and can clarify. Best, Alan

Well, I made the pork mincemeat this morning. It was pretty straightforward. Unlike Viva, I can taste the pork in the mix, but it is very subtle, though it adds a delicious richness to the mix that is noticeable. I love pork, so I was hoping to be able to taste it a bit. I used some freerange Berkshire hog meat, which is quite a bit fattier--marbled--and flavorful than regular pork, and so it probably ended up tasting a bit porkier than if I had used regular pork. Next weekend will be the cake. By the way, the recipe for mincemeat definitely, as Viva mentioned, results in much more than the final cake recipe calls for, so there is probably enough for several cakes, and I bet that if this stuff is vacuum sealed and frozen that it would work just fine for next year's cake. Finally, it seems to me that the recipe is calling for cooked pork. However, since Viva used raw pork, from what I could tell, and since using cooked pork seemed somewhat odd, I just used raw pork, and everything worked out just fine. Also, regarding the section that talks about draining fat, I also didn't have any fat at all that needed draining, so I think that this part of the recipe can probably be removed. I'll keep everyone posted on the final cake next weekend. Alan

Bringing the thread back. I never did have the time to make it, but I'm really thinking that I might do so tomorrow--at least the first part. I am still dreaming of this cake. Has anyone else made it with success? Is it a moist cake? Alan

Bob, Thanks. I emailed them just now. Unfortunately, based on the brochure, it seems that prices might have gone up considerably since a year ago, but either way, I'm sure that the knife will be worth the price. Best, Alan

I guess I didn't. Thanks for pointing that out.

Hi Bob, Well over a year after we last talked, I'm finally ready to get that Takeda. However, when I go to the link with which you had supplied me, the online catalog link isn't working: http://shop.niimi.okayama.jp/kajiya/en/index_e.html Do you know if they have stopped selling overseas, or do you think that this is a website glitch? By the way, I'm now feeling, after paying more attention to my own knife skills and preferences that a fairly flat blade would be completely acceptable, and even preferable. The photos of your Takeda above, is that with "extra belly" or is that the standard shape? Best, Alan

Thanks everyone!

I've never had one, but I want to. I won't have the time to do one myself, so my question is: Are there any Turduckens worth ordering (put together but not yet oven roasted), and if so, which ones? Thanks, Alan

Last time I checked Union Standard, the used machines were 55-75K. One could hire an awful lot of people to wrap bars for that kind of money. The problem is that the current bar wrappers on the market were designed for companies turning out thousands of bars per day, so the price reflects that. Alan

I found a video a few videos showing what I was thinking of. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4j-M9MKMBxM The last one notes the location as being Ghirardelli Square, so it looks like they must have some machinery set up on display.

I've never heard of a Ghirardelli museum tour. Perhaps someone else can help you with this question. IMO, Ghirardelli chocolate is a mass-marketed chocolate and does not measure up in quality with other chocolates. I do have a soft spot for See's Chocolates, a West Coast chain. There's a store on Market St across from Stacey's Bookstore (mentioned in my first post). When I am in that part of SF I hit those 2 locations. (books...chocolate...books...chocolate..) Michael Recchiuti Chocolates, besides Scharffenberger, is my other favorite stop for chocolates. There's a store in the Ferry Bldg. http://www.recchiuti.com/index.html ETA: If you're going to be in Berkeley, you can also check out the Berkeley Bowl supermarket, especially the produce section. I suggest you avoid the parking lot and park on the street to protect your life and your sanity. Across the street from the Bowl, on Adeline about one block north is an excellent bakery, one of my favs, Crixa. http://www.crixacakes.com/ ← DJ, Thank you, but I'm not looking for chocolate/chocolates to buy, and so it is not the chocolate at Ghirardelli that interests me, but the chocolate history museum tour that I thought I heard about. I was under the impression that they had a selection of old chocolate manufacturing equipment there (melangeurs, longitudinal conches, etc), but I haven't found anything here about it: http://www.ghirardellisq.com/ghirardellisq/visitor_info.php Anyone know? Alan

Fuzzy Chef, Thank you for your suggestions. I'll get them all down on paper. Alan

Excellent. I'll make sure not to miss it. Alan

DJ, Thanks for all of the suggestions. I'll type them all up, and try to visit some. I'll actually be all over the place in SF and out near Berkeley, so they should all be possibilities. I've been on the Scharffen Berger tour, so I probably won't do that again, but do you know if Ghirardelli has a good tour/museum in SF? Alan