pastrygirl

Can anyone think of a "sexier" name for chocolate covered nuts? Does 'enrobed nuts' sound fancier? Maybe something French or Italian? I don't think 'dragees' quite fits. Rochers?

I'm curious to see if you can get this to work. Wouldn't the batter, however thin a coating, interfere with the light reflecting and therefore the glitteriness?

If it's delicious, gluten free is fine with me. This truck started up recently, with their signature being panini made with latkes instead of bread. However, bread is available, so I wonder if they keep one panini press totally GF, or if they are just really into latkes and not so much into gluten free. http://www.napkinfriends.com/?section=home You could easily have a taco truck that used only corn tortillas.

We have rules like that here (Seattle). That doesn't mean we follow them!

If that's the case, why not just mould up solids? Then there's no issue at all with spoilage. +1 You could insert the toothpick before the chocolate is fully set. Or cast the shells then fill with aerated chocolate so you're not using so much chocolate.

It's not a code I live by or anything, just answering the question in the title

OMG. Please bust his balls a little extra for me.

I made angostura bitters caramels today which were delicious, but not very bitter or herbal. I used 1 ounce bitters for 10 oz sugar, 8 oz cream, 3 oz glucose, 2 oz butter, 1 tsp salt. Needs more, or something to bring out the bitter. Grapefruit zest?

My pastry mother sauces: Caramel Coulis Creme anglaise Hot fudge Chantilly

Crepes, cream puffs, chocolate mousse, shortcake, zabaglione, pavlova, tapioca ... I'm a big fan of a well-stocked freezer. Lemon curd, coulis, buttercream, fudge sauce, biscotti logs & cut-out shortbread ready to bake. I try to avoid needing emergency back-ups, but stuff happens.

I tried a little angostura in strawberry sorbet and it was lovely (I didn't follow this recipe, but here is where I got the idea) http://www.chefsteps.com/activities/strawberry-angostura-sorbet I bet bitters would be a nice addition to pates de fruits and other confections.

Food Lovers Companion, 3rd edition: It was the 19th century French chef Antonin Careme who evolved an intricate methodology by which hundreds of derivative sauces were classified under one of four "mother" sauces. Those are: espagnole (brown stock-based), bechamel (milk-based), veloute (white stock-based) and allemande (egg-enriched veloute). Add to these a fifth group - emulsified sauces such as hollandaise and mayonnaise. Curious that she listed allemande instead of tomato. But still no vinaigrette!

I usually make a gallon of lemon curd at a time, so I'd say go for it. Use a double boiler if you're concerned about that much product over direct heat - with all the acid your eggs are not going to scramble but you should watch extra carefully for signs of scorching.

Pastrygirl, I am very interested in the results of your experiment. I am planning to make macs as favours for my son's baptism, and being able to make and freeze them ahead of time would save me from this last-minute baking frenzy. Especially since they are so temperamental. Also, if anyone has experience freezing the shells only, and cares to share what they know, I would greatly appreciate it. Diana, Jeanne is right, they freeze fine. The ones I froze had already been in the fridge for a few days and were a bit soft, but I don't think they were changed or harmed at all after a week in the freezer. I still have one more tray frozen. I'm sure 2 weeks would be fine.

After I set aside enough for the next three parties this weekend, I still had about 70 extra, so I put them in the freezer and will see if they survive well enough to be sold next week. I'm sure I've seen frozen macarons in grocery stores. I'll try to remember to report back on how well they thaw out.

Quick question on storage - troubleshooting too many macarons! I had a catering yesterday that ordered 400 macarons, so I started production four days ago. They barely touched them. If I wanted to serve them a week from tomorrow, should I freeze them, or will they be fine in the walk-in? I'll make fresh ones next week if I have to, but it would be nice to not have all that piping and sandwiching go to waste! They are filled with Italian meringue buttercream. What would you do?

Oddly enough I made passion fruit ganache with Opalys this morning! Piped into shells, though, not slabbed. I used a little bit more cream/passion fruit than usual because the Opalys seems thicker. I used to always make that ganache with Felchlin Mont Blanc but ran out. IIRC I used 130g each cream and passion fruit perfect puree (instead of the usual 120), 40g glucose syrup, 440g Opalys, and 34g butter. Heated cream, passion fruit, and glucose to a boil, poured over chocolate in food processor, processed until smooth, processed in butter.

A few dozen pieces or a few dozen moulds? I love buying kitchen toys as much as anyone, but if you're only doing a few moulds at a time, I'd skip the melter/temperer, maybe rig up a heating pad if your kitchen is cold, and spend the money on a nice thermometer, more moulds, cool transfer sheets & colors, maybe an airbrush...

I have the 6kg, which I don't bother with unless I am filling a lot of molds and need at least 2kg, usually 3 or 4. Looks like the 3kg is bowl shaped, so would be better for smaller amounts. A temperer stirs the chocolate, a melter only melts it and holds it at your desired temp. With a melter you still have to hand temper, that is add seed chocolate and stir and check it for temper. Once your chocolate is where you want it, set the melter at the desired temp and it will keep it there while you're working with it. Good if you are hand-dipping or when you need the chocolate to stay workable for a while. If you're just going to temper 500g at a time and use it all for a bark, I wouldn't bother.

Well I have it and like it. Make me an offer I can't refuse.

Depends. How much is it worth to you? Natura, Albert's newer one (in English, even) is a mere $200 on Amazon.

Thanks for the link. I was looking for a panning thread, don't know why I didn't find it. Maybe the mods will want to merge. Some good info in your demo. I was using tempered chocolate on room temp nuts and adding a fair amount of chocolate at a time - doing it all wrong! Will keep practicing.

Oooh, looks very cool! One more thing for the wish list, once I get the technique down. Do you take the extra step of candying nuts before coating? I like the effect but not the labor. When I start selling these, they will either be really expensive or not very profitable, or both

Does anyone have experience using a confectionery coating pan? I got one from D&R over the summer, and have only had a few chances to play with it. When coating nuts with chocolate, how much chocolate is typically left on the pan? Last week I coated some hazelnuts, and about 1/3 of the chocolate that I used was left on the inside of the pan. Seems like a lot of waste. How much chocolate do you add at a time? Are more smaller additions better than fewer larger ones? Do you aim for a particular chocolate:nut ratio? Any tips for less spherical items like cashews? What do you use to cool the nuts as they are tumbling? I tried some cold spray, which seemed to help. Unfortunately I followed the cold spray with a hit of the propane torch to the outside to try to melt some of the chocolate on the pan, and managed to create a small fire ball, so I won't be doing that again! :0 Do you use a hair dryer to heat as needed, or something else?

I would argue that you shouldn't need refrigeration to get a properly set shell. Do you test the chocolate on paper before molding to make sure it is in good temper, or do you just trust the machine? In what position are your molds after casting the shells? Standing them on edge allows better air circulation than laying them flat on the table. I only use the fridge if the kitchen is particularly warm or if I'm molding thicker bars.