pastrygirl

Painter's tape isn't very sticky, especially on cardboard. I'd go with a heartier duct tape.

No, the cacao solids are pink rather than brown. Maybe it starts out more ruby colored before they add white milk and sugar that dilute the color. Cacao butter is off-white once separated from the rest of the bean.

Ahhh, when I saw the 68% on the package, I thought that was the cacao % (you know you're a chocolatier when ...) So the kit kat is 32% crispy wafer fingers and 68% chocolate, which is 47% cacao milk chocolate?

Cocoa mass is pretty far down the list. I'm surprised that milk powders are the third ingredient. There can't be more milk in the wafers than wheat flour, so is ruby actually a milk chocolate? Or a milk chocolate for KitKat, at least?

I had also been thinking of popcorn or caramel corn in chocolate, but as pieces. Wheat-free and not a nut Making it a smooth "milk" chocolate is an interesting idea! Now I'm thinking smooth rice and cinnamon horchata 'milk' chocolate. Or white chocolate! Theo already has a milk chocolate horchata bar but it would be interesting to try a non-dairy version. Rice, CB, sugar, cinnamon, maybe a little macadamia butter ...

Exactly. What are we missing? Aren't starches just complex sugars? Ha! I just want to know what he's expecting to go wrong. Maybe it will be revealed, or maybe I'll need to try it for myself. I have the tools ...

Yes, if the pieces stayed that size. Simply mixing in dry chunks doesn’t really affect chocolate, but if you’re grinding it to perfectly smooth, as Kerry said the smaller and smaller particles will require more fat to keep moving. But the butter on the popcorn would help. I’m just not seeing why a pastry pro would say it shouldn’t work. It’ll work with more fat, that’s a simple solution. Problematic if the popcorn isn’t buttery enough or you don’t have extra cocoa butter, I guess.

Right, but doesn’t that apply to anything dry? Nonfat dry milk, sugar, freeze dried fruit ... I guess it’s problematic if you don’t want to add extra cocoa butter.

saw this post and questioned why “in theory, this won’t work”, response so far is “starch in chocolate can be problematic” Ok ... obviously adding a lot of fine dry material will decrease fluidity, and things could get weird if you were going to add cream and make ganache, but how else would milling popcorn into chocolate “not work”? My experiments so far suggest you just need enough warm cocoa butter to keep things moving, how would starchy popcorn be different from fibrous fruits?

You’re welcome, I hadn’t read all the way through to see that you had placed your order. But for other curious shoppers outside of the US, it’s one price for the size of the box, no matter how heavy or how far it’s going. Seems expensive to cross one friendly border, but a pretty good deal when shipping to a village in the Himalayas.

Flat rate international is about $45 for a medium box, so you want it packed full! Screenshot from USPS.com -

Beeswax is solid at room temp so I don’t know how you could spray it unless it was thinned considerably with something else. It should be food grade, isn’t it just honeycomb?

dark chocolate, french fries ... Is this a sit-down dinner (plated or family style), buffet, finger-food?

For firm slabbed ganache & gianduja, I use the stainless frames from design & realization, mostly 15mm but I have a couple of 10 mm as well. Pate de fruits can ooze under the edges a bit but they work. I don’t think caramels work in those frames, it stays too hot and runny for too long. Instead, I use 9” square cake pans lined with parchment for caramels. False bottoms a plus if you go that route. How many pieces do you want to make at once, and do you already have a guitar?

You wouldn't buy from Restaurant Depot only because of the delivery policy, or other reasons? I may need to invest in a fridge or freezer, I'm glad for the reminder to factor in the cost & inconvenience of delivery & set-up.

Was the cream weighed before of after heating and infusing? You may have lost a little in that process, or it may be high fat cream and high fat chocolate. I think every book recipe needs to be adjusted to your particular ingredients. Cream can be from 30% to 40% fat, and chocolates can have varying ratios of cacao solids to butter in a given percentage. Your 65% dark could be 30% solids and 35% fat or 45% solids and 20% fat or anywhere in between.

@rarerollingobject I love the carrot roses!

Oh, caramel can definitely be tricky, and people swear by vastly different techniques - clearly! I'm actually really surprised that stirring wet caramel did not make it crystallize. Usually you stir a dry caramel constantly, but that's why I don't make dry caramel Wet caramel should be easier to scale up, and constant stirring is not required - you only need to make sure all the sugar is damp and there are no dry crystals on the side, then stir or swirl once it starts to color. (Or at least that is what works for me). Sometimes I caramelize a cup of sugar, sometimes it's 4lb, the only difference is a bigger pot and it takes a little longer. You do want to be sure the pot is big enough to contain the violent eruption of adding liquid, that'll help with both safety and clean-up. Allow room for at least tripling in volume, ideally more. Have fun!

Agree with @Tri2Cook, I find the advantage of making a wet caramel to be NOT needing to stir continuously. My method is mix sugar and water, cook without stirring over pretty high heat, once it starts to color, turn the heat down and swirl the pan until you get even, desired darkness. But yes, do be very careful when adding liquid, both the steam and the splatters can burn your skin.

This is not one that I'm eager to replicate, but still one that I can't figure out what tool(s) they used ... Some of the scratches are centered in the white but then there are white lines without scratches. Parallel lines make me think dipping fork, but the scale is wrong and who would do that to their molds?

I’ve only had goat a few times, last was in a spicy Senegalese stew. Delicious!

Gain access to dozens and dozens of followers?

That wet, liquid center is the lava. Nothing necessarily wrong with the recipe, if you want cake that is solid in the middle, then you don’t want a lava cake!

Are botulism and listeria common in fish, or would it have to be a case of contamination?

Use less fat! Or ask if they prefer certain oils instead of ghee - fat is flavor, but you also want your customers to be happy and feel good about the food. Also, some fats will solidify as they cool and look less appetizing, but many oils will stay soft. Or you can skim it off. If you make the curry a day ahead and chill it, you can remove the fat layer from the top. Are the dishes delivered warm?