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pastrygirl

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Everything posted by pastrygirl

  1. Yes, when I've just made ganache and it's too warm to pipe into shells, I'll put 1-2 mold worth into a piping bag and cool it on the marble. The thin layer cools quickly and the rest of the batch stays warm & fluid in the bowl while I'm working. Nice when I'm making 6-8+ molds of the same flavor. I think I picked this up from Melissa Coppel.
  2. If you do try the bag method, use a plastic bowl scraper to move the CB around in the bag. I do this to cool my ganaches all the time.
  3. Italian porchetta - usually involves pork belly but here's a butt/shoulder version: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/roasted-porchetta-recipe-2109840
  4. As mentioned in another confections thread, Valrhona Orelys has been discontinued. I made a batch attempting to duplicate it a few months ago using India Tree dark muscovado sugar. That was very molasses-y so I diluted it with an additional 50% Felchlin Edelweiss and came very close to the flavor of the original. I just finished a new batch using India Tree light muscovado sugar, and it's pretty close without needing to be diluted (though I think the first franken-batch was even closer). Mine is not as creamy, so it could be worth looking for full fat milk powder. Though I may go back to version 1 next time, might as well get 3 kg instead of 2 if I have to wash the melanger? 😅 Cost-wise, assuming you already have a melanger and your labor is free 🙄 it might even be cheaper than Valrhona. Yield approx 2.1 kg at approx $21/kg (Assuming cocoa butter is $30/kg, milk powder was $11.50, muscovado sugar $5. YMMV) 800 g cocoa butter 50 g browned butter (optional, especially if you can find full-fat milk powder) 450 g/1 bag India Tree light muscovado sugar 200 g C&H light brown sugar 22 oz/624g/1 bag nonfat dry milk powder seeds from half a vanilla bean 1/2 teaspoon salt Helps to have everything warm, mix the melted fats and sugar first and get that going, then add the milk gradually over the first hour or 2 so the machine doesn't struggle.
  5. make Bahn mi crostini: schmear with pate, layer on the meats, then garnish with pickled veg, a dab of aioli, and cilantro. Have a cocktail and be fancy
  6. It's not a 1:1 substitution. Peanut butter is approximately 50% fat and 50% solids, no water. Butter is more like 75% fat, 5% solids, 20% water.
  7. Some places I've worked in Seattle have used Auto Chlor but I don't know how competitive they are or if they serve Wenatchee. Harsh chemicals can damage chocolate molds, I'm not sure on specifics but you may want to keep washing molds by hand. The machine would still be good for bowls & utensils.
  8. 60k people is a small town. Is it a tourist destination? It's all about marketing. How will you sell the product?
  9. Colors can go rancid after a while. Even a flavorless fat will be noticeable but it shouldn't detract from the experience. Smell your colors and use restraint?
  10. Do you buy colors by the kg? Do you attempt to scrape off and save the excess or is the time savings still greater than the cost of the CB?
  11. These are all dark chocolate shells. These are all dark except for the square one. However these particular jewel colors aren't available in the EU & I can't speak for the non-jewel, EU safe colors.
  12. You keep saying that, but I'm not convinced. How big is the Fuji? I just got a sagola 0.8mm, the spray pattern is 3-4". So far I've only tried it on larger molds, not my small bonbons.
  13. 😂 If you're spraying so much CB that wiping off over-spray is a whole necessary thing and that's all the color you get, that is super weak. Is it natural or just lame? Welcome to the dark side. The CB should set up more quickly than that, still within 2-5 min like regular chocolate, though sometimes it doesn't and they still turn out fine. I don't actually temp my CB, just go with 'warm but not hot' on the inside of my arm. Like a baby's bottle. And I shake it a lot.
  14. Sportsball! https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/39472309/mexico-avocado-industry-prepares-own-super-bowl-ultimate-guacamole-recipe
  15. Valentine's box, this year I went with all of my flavors that were already pink and red instead of re-inventing the wheel. Ginger, vanilla bean, raspberry, passion fruit, and earl grey.
  16. @Vojta what brand of colors are you currently using? I've been happy with Roxy & Rich's Gemstone collection, though the titanium dioxide free gemstone collection for the EU does not look to be as vibrant. Only a few of the colors I use specify titanium dioxide as an ingredient, but maybe it is also a component of 'mica based pearlescent pigment'? https://roxyandrich.com/e171-free-food-colours I don't generally back with white.
  17. It gets scraped again and more thoroughly when casting the shells. I'm with Kerry on warmer CB, try 93-95F. Once you've blown cold air through it and it has hit the chocolate mold it'll be a few degrees cooler.
  18. Another layer of CB is another layer of unpredictability The white has to stick to the orange and the chocolate has to pick them both up. Has it been particularly cold? I think I have more issues with CB sticking when it's cold. As for cleaning, I do a cursory swipe with my stainless scraper and don't really worry about it.
  19. I don't know if those two issues are necessarily related. In the pic, was the orange CB backed with another layer of white, or is the white the chocolate shell?
  20. At first I thought you were cooking a lot of bratwurst, but I googled it and that's a tilt skillet for anyone else who didn't know . Have you looked at steam jacketed kettles for soups and broth-y curries? They might not be induction per se but electric options exist.
  21. Not exactly, but since my gas oven stays warm from the pilot light, I've melted lots of chocolate and cocoa butter in there by leaving it overnight. I think it's about 95F? How high can your 'proof' function be set? I think if you have silk then don't worry about keeping the chocolate below a certain temp, especially of it's not fluid enough to work with at that temp. Go ahead and melt it at 93 or 95 and let it cool a bit before adding silk to temper. Agree that you can leave it melted for days, though the fats and solids can separate after a while. Also agree with covering. Dust exists, and it just seems like best practice. There is no water in pure chocolate so no condensation will form.
  22. I've never seen empty shells spontaneously crack, that's wacky. How long after shelling did this happen? Was the room extra cold?
  23. I do have one induction burner, I brought it out & will turn off the gas for a while and see if I miss gas. This is my commercial chocolate kitchen, I have one large gas burner and a 5 burner range with oven but I don't use them much. All my chocolate melters etc are electric. I also use the microwave a lot. But I'm not trying to get an even sear on anything, I'm browning butter, warming cream, making toffee. It's hard to picture any restaurant I've worked in going all induction, though. Line cooks would have to be much more careful about banging saute pans
  24. Thanks for posting your thoughts. I, too, am contemplating a switch from natural gas to induction but am thinking my larger candy/stock burner would be hard to replace. Maybe I'll keep that for large batches of caramel and go electric for all the small stuff.
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