pastrygirl

Is the 1500 custom truffles the contents of the 150 luxury boxes, or in addition? Molded, hand dipped, or rolled in cocoa? If you have nothing else to do, 10 days might be possible. If you have molds that make 30 pieces and can make 10 at a time, that's 5 batches, that's do-able. A couple days of truffle production, a couple days to do the rest, a couple days to package. Assuming you can get all the packaging and ingredients in a timely manner. I don't keep a ton of inventory, usually only 2-3 dozen of any one item. If I got an order like that right now ... I'd probably try to take it on because April is otherwise really slow, but it would take way longer than I want it to because these thing always do and there would be late nights when I questioned my life choices. Ideally I'd want confirmation 2 weeks in advance for an order like that, they are cutting it close especially since you have to ship it.

Interesting! Does anyone know what size or shape these blocks were? It almost looks like today's Callebaut 5kg bars would fit nicely.

" However, the chicken skin isn't crispy. It can't be eaten and all the sauce is on the skin so I can't eat it," Mr Wallace remarked. " 'Can't' does not seem like the appropriate word here. Yes of course crispy chicken skin is usually delicious while soft, flaccid cooked chicken skin is less crave-able. But can't eat it? People with serious aversions to food textures probably shouldn't be food-contest judges. Sure, we all have our limits - mushy bananas, okra, whatever - but a food judge should be able to take a small taste of anything properly cooked. Top Chef judges chose not to eat raw lake trout due to potential parasites, but Tom will still choke down okra if chefs opt to serve it.

I ended up making a milk- and egg-free chocolate mousse that actually turned out OK. I compromised my principles and used non-dairy whipped topping and melted mini marshmallows instead of cream and eggs, but it was good quality chocolate so that made it edible. Accompanied by pistachio marzipan "eggs" stuffed with dried sour cherries (that looked more like olives with pits!), dark chocolate bunnies - just a shell made in a mold, no filling, and strawberry sauce that I happened to have in the freezer. Flavors were nice together, the mousse was soft and fluffy so I served it in a quennelle instead of my original idea of cutting a shape, and my SIL who is allergic to everything and is the reason I made this wasn't feeling well so didn't come. Oh well, always good to have a challenge to test the ol' skillset. The rest of dinner (cooked by Mom and brothers) was grilled lamb with chimichurri, rice pilaf, grilled asparagus, roasted carrots, butter lettuce salad, and lemon pot de creme. All delicious. And apparently the Pope says there's no Hell, so that's a relief. Happy Easter and Happy Equinox!

Nice! What are the green and the pink, did you make them yourself?

On You Tube, I really enjoy Man About Cake and his themed cakes as well as Lofty Pursuits' hard candy making. The cakes are educational/inspirational, the candy is more just fun to watch.

Definitely agree that some things are lost in translation with Wybauw. Such technical books shouldn’t be a guessing game, imho. Even if the recipes were 100% perfect translations, we are all still using slightly different chocolate formulations and have different tastes, I see nothing wrong with having favorites or making adjustments. As for rhubarb ... I was confirming a flourless chocolate torte order for this weekend when the chef told me he was making a strawberry rhubarb compote to go with it to embrace spring. While that’s fine and means I don’t have to make a sauce, it does make me think I’ll add some white chocolate and vanilla layers instead of going all dark chocolate. I wish I could taste their compote, I’ve definitely had to adjust fruit sauces to pair with chocolate - sometimes it tastes good on its own but veers sour when paired with tannic cacao.

Fine print says roasted ... have you tasted it, how roasted does it taste? And if it's not green enough, one can simply add kale

works fine for me good luck!

So just following up for future reference, I got a sample of the Abinao 85% and i think it is a little smoother and fruitier than the Le Noir 85% bar. Plus, Chocosphere has Abinao in a bar so Valrhona must have different 85%s if they're making different bars for retail. Now what to do with it besides snack on the samples ...

Depends on what you mean by "marinade". If it's a cured ham that's already salted and cooked, a liquid marinade or brine isn't going to do much. I think most people do as @kayb suggests and do a dry rub or glaze with sugar and/or mustard, or you can do the pineapple rings on top kind of thing.

Thanks. And she's not vegan, so I could re-purpose some extra bacon-covered pecans into a pie, hmm ...

I don't know, but I've been tasked with bringing a gluten, dairy, and egg free dessert. Maybe a vegan chocolate mousse or water ganache type thing, or marzipan eggs & bunnies. The other dessert will be lemon pot de creme, which I'm not making, and I believe lamb for dinner.

Ahh, shelf life, the chocolatier's other nemesis besides packaging! I agree, farmers markets can be unpredictable. They weren't really worth it for me the last couple of summers - if it's cool enough for chocolate, attendance is lower, and if the sun is out at all, everyone is eating ice cream and their car will be hot. You can mess around with dry ice or ice packs but to me it's not worth the struggle, I'm better off doing wedding catering on summer weekends. But back to shelf life. I have a couple of wholesale accounts and a couple of consignment accounts. The little independent stores and boutiques are going to be more likely to trust your judgement but they also don't always have refrigeration. So I stick to bars and caramels for wholesale and save the more perishable stuff for events. Some stores will have their own requirements; I've heard Whole Foods asks for a 6 month shelf life. You have to figure that the product might sit on the shelf for a month, then some people actually have self control and hide their candy and don't eat it for another month or two ... So I'm going with better safe than sorry. I recently got a quote for an aW meter because it would be super useful and I'd love to have that extra confidence but I opted for other tools and toys instead. People do get excited by bonbons but they're not my top priority. Yes, I sometimes have returns from consignment stores, if I have a lot I might donate it if it's still good, otherwise I give them to friends & family or occasionally throw things away. My brothers are totally willing to eat a chocolate Santa Claus in February And I figure since other stores want net 30 terms, I get paid just as fast with consignment.

When in Canada, do as the Canadians do, be very polite and say “sorry” a lot

Fiddling with paper candy cups is tedious, but they probably do offer more protection to the candy. Especially if the pieces are packed snugly into the box so they don’t move around and get scuffed in transit, vs a tray that’s not an exact fit. Packaging takes time, no matter what!

I’d be interested to know how Dulcey and zephyr caramel compare side by side. I haven’t tried the zephyr caramel yet. I did try some Felchlin Bionda blond but found it much sweeter than Dulcey

Yes, that sums it up nicely

No. Sigh. If only .... Are you using molds too? For bonbons, I started out using shallow boxes and some really small molds - the low profile or artisan depth from Glerup-Revere. http://glerup.com/clear-gold-shallow-sm-gold-bottom-6-1-16-x-1-1-4-x-3-4.html Now I'm using more domed molds (the CW 2295 that is popular) and these: https://www.papermart.com/set-up-view-top-gold-candy-p-e-t-box-with-inserts/id=38551 But they still need extra padding to keep things in place, and the cavities are too small for some heart and elongated molds I have. I don't think I've tried dipped pieces in these. Are you launching a full-time commercial venture or more hobbyist quantities? Custom is expensive, and you may change your mind, so I'd definitely get some samples and see if something off-the-rack will work before going custom. Do you want to sell chocolate or do you want to sell packaging? Yes, the packaging has to fit and look great but ...

Anytime I would encourage you to consider packaging, I think many of us find it frustrating trying to find the best combo of height, width, price, material, etc. if you’re doing a lot of fork dipping, the 25mm might be easier than the 22.5, they’re a liiiittle small. I got my guitar 7 or 8 years ago, I don’t recall if the 5 mm base was an option or if I chose the 7.5 for a reason. I will say it was a good investment, at least for me. I’ve cut tens of thousands of truffles, mostly with ease!

I think it's only to keep it "one bowl" One bowl and two bags, that is.

How about blowing bubbles with an airbrush, with the tip just under the surface of tempered but liquid chocolate?

it looks like the only real difference is the medium frame, 25 vs 22.5 mm. They both have the 15 and 30 mm, and some larger sizes. What are you making? Do you already have packaging that it needs to fit? I have the 7.5 mm base with 15, 22.5, 30, and 37.5mm frames. I've been cutting truffles 22.5 mm square by 15 mm deep and they fit perfectly into a 2" cube box. But the boxes aren't airtight, so I'm thinking of switching to a flat-bottom bag and cutting them a little smaller, 15 x 22.5. 25 mm squares wouldn't fit in that particular box, but I'm sure there are options. I cut caramels 15 x 37.5, which happens to make an even number from a 9" square pan with only tiny scraps. I also use the wider spaced wires for cutting catering minis like flourless brownies and lemon bars (the crust is pretty soft, it cuts fine). I don't know if 2.5 mm here or there makes that much difference unless one set perfectly fits something you already have.

So the issue is you need to create seed. How about melt, put in fridge til it starts to set around the edges, stir. Do you have any white chocolate that is in reliable temper that you could use for seed?

You obviously need an EZ temper.