jturn00
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Posts posted by jturn00
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Skip pacifico. Horrible I was there over the summer to enjoy the outdoor section and it reminded me of a Senor Swankys in Cancun. The food was so greasy and they don't have any frozen margaritas?
My favorate places Hill Diner, Mezical (atlantic and Clinton), Lobo, Cafe Lulu (or lula), cafe on clinton.
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Since chocolate making is a hobby for me, I won't be buying a guitar cutter anytime soon. Any ideas on the best way to cut ganaches into squares making them even without using a guitar cutter?
I am starting using a half sheet pan of ganache on a silplat about 1/2 cm thick. I started using a pastry scaper to cut them but they still weren't that even. I am in NYC so building something isn't too pratical.
Thanks,
Jeff
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I'm not sure if I can post the recipe for the caramel ganache since it isn't public knowledge. But it is a ganache similar to the burnt caramel ganache in "Chocolate Obessions" but it is spiked with pear williams liquor.
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I made my chocolates over the weekend. I made a pear caramel ganache which is a recipe I got when I was at Le Cirque, I made the kona coffee ganache from chocolate obsessions and I tried a white chocolate lemoncello ganache (which was a recipe from norman love when he presented it on NBC.)
The coffee and caramel are really gooooood!
I had some problems with the white chocolate ganache. It was a little too soft when I tried to top off the molds which made a big mess. The lemon didn't come through either. I also added some honey (instead of the corn syrup as the recipe call for). The ganache had a light floral note to it but the lemon didn't realy come across. But my tasters seemed to like it. Next time I would add more lemoncello and then add more white chocolate to enable the ganache to set up.
Jeff
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I think cake mixes speed the time it takes me to make a dessert for a party. I've been trained professionally and have worked in a few restaurants where everything was done from scratch.
Yet a recipe that I used many times when I am asked to make somethign for a party is a chocolate sour cream cake that uses a mix. (similar to Wendy's earlier post). Everyone loves it. In a crunch it is my go to recipe.
Has anyone tried using a Dunkin Heinz mix in the form of a bisquit? I am planning on making a buche de noel. Instead of a bisquit (or genoise) I was curious to see how spreading the mix onto a sheet pan and seeing how that would turn out.
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Package Nakazawa Co. does some beautiful stuff, both off-the-shelf and custom. They are based in Japan, but have offices in LA. Their web address is: http://packagenakazawa.web.infoseek.co.jp/
Did Nakazawa go out of business? I am unable to find their link. I am looking for nice boxes but they don't need to be custom made.... Something that can hold between 12 and 15 molded and dipped chocolates and truffles?
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Upon re-reading John DePaula's post, I think I may have identified the cause of my "chipped paint" on the chocolates. I have PCB colors and Chef Rubber colorings. I did not pay attention to the temperature of the cocobutter as I sprayed it. I don't know if the chef rubber coco butter colorings has an ideal temperature but the molds I sprayed with the chef rubber colorings came out ok. The PCB colorings did not. I will check the temperature of the PCB colorings before I spray...
Jeff
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I don't think I scratched the molds using the paper towel
only because the chocolates realeased from the molds. It was the coco butter coloring's that I sprayed into the molds that didn't adhere competely to the chocolate making the chocolates look like chipped paint. -
I may have done my polishing correctly... I used a paper towel.. I also added some cocobutter to the paper towel. The molds were at room temperature when I sprayed and filled them. The chocolates did not stick to the mold but the coloring I sprayed (using an airbrush) did not fully adhere to the chocolate so a lot was still on the mold when the chocolates popped out. They have a chipped paint/antique look.
Next time I will polish my molds using cotton balls and no cocobutter. The molds that I used with no coloring came out great. Oh how I would have liked to get that great airbrush sprayed look.
Thanks,
Jeff
(I lent my out my digital camera so I wasn't able to take any picutres but I hope to get it back after the holiday weekend and then I can post some pictures.)
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My chocolates were a failure!
I polished the molds with a little coco butter and then air brushed the molds with PCB colors and Chef Rubber colors. When I went to unmold the chocolates they came out ok but some of the coloring stayed in the molds? So they didn't look too nice.....
My molds are the polycarbonite molds from JB Prince.
Does the colored cocobutter in the molds have to be warm and wet since I sprayed the molds saturday with the colors but finished up the process on sunday. I didn't think this was necessar based on what I read on this post....
Any ideas?
It was such a mess and I was so fustrated I ended up washing the molds :-) Which means I will be polishing the molds tonight!
Thanks!
Jeff
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I also was looking into the threads for an inexpensive (and efficient) way to cut my chocolates into squares w/o a guitar cutter since this is not a business. Does anyone think that a pastry wheel/cutter would work in cutting the ganache? I also saw a cake leveler from kerekes (www.bakedeco.com) which looks like if I put the chocolates on an elevated surface, I can use this to cut the ganache. (It is only 2.95 so it can't hurt to try).
Any comments?
Thanks,
Jeff
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I was looking through the two books I have for chocolates and both recommend putting a thin layer of untempered? chocolate on the ganache before cutting them into squares. One book mentions that this is to make the dipping easier? Why is that and is that step necessary?
Thanks,
Jeff
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I did some research last night.
I am thinking of doing a coffee ganache, pear caramel ganache, a dark chcolate ganache (a request from my brother) and maybe a white ganache using lemoncello (or another flavoring that goes with white chocolate).
I will let everyone know how they turn out.
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I have two questions but they are related so I am putting them both here. Is it better to put the transfer sheets on top of the chocolate ganache squares dipped into tempered chocolate (by cutting the sheets into into smaller squares?) or put the tempered squares directly on top of the transfer sheet?
Also, would it be possible to airbrush an acetate sheet and then put the tempered squares onto the acetate as a way of making my own transfer sheet?
Any suggestions would be welcome!
Thanks,
Jeff
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I came back with a bottle of lemoncello. Any ideas on how to incorporate it into a ganache? Would you think it would be better in a white chocolate ganache or dark chocolate or neither?
Thanks,
Jeff
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Thanks for the photos. They are great and you were able to take them on a crowded saturday!
I went on friday and when I arrived there were a lot of kids (6ish) but the crowds thinned out. I really liked Felichin's chocolate. I didn't spend to much time looking at the chocolatiers who have stores in NY since I've been to their stores already.
I did find the booth of the author of Chocolate Obession (he wasn't there to autograph the book I bought at he B&N table
) but they had some great chocolates. (I liked the burnt caramel they were sampling). The demo by Pierre Reboul was great! He did a chocolate snickers caramel in a chocolate tuile. After a while, I couldn't taste any more chocolate. It was overkill....I ended up buying a 11lb box of chocolate from Guittard for my holiday chocolates and some cocobutter colorings from chef rubber.
Jeff
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I am leaving for Italy on the next week.... I will be in umbria and tuscany. Any ideas on what I should look out for or special events due to the truffles?
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Thanks for the info. We'll have to head to Wolfgang's some time soon.
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I work in midtown near grand central terminal and we do a lot of dinners. Since many times my boss is taking a train we want to be with in 5 minutes walking distance of Grand Central Terminal. We've eaten at the two steak houses near us Michael Jordans and Capital Grille we chose Capital Grille more often as the service and food I feel is better. It has a good business environment.
Peter Luger's is too far and doesn't accept credit cards. We went to smith and wolenski once. Too noisy and cramped. I'll have to look up wolfgang's to see if it is near us.
I had the poterhouse and thought it was good. I like their onion soup but it is a lot to have with a steak. I find that their strip steak is very good. (I am going to try some of their fish dishes next time.)
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I didn't have access to the web unitl now....
nightscotsman,
Thanks for the help.....
NicoleKaplan,
I've just started the book and really like the info. I think it will really help me develop an better understanding of chocolate and sugar work.
Wendy DeBord,
Did you get Normal Love recipes from a book or just his seminars? How would you describe the major differences between the two that lead to your preference for Norman Love?
Thanks.
Jeff
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I looked at some of the recipes in wybauw's book, and while I have some good pastry and chocolate experience, as an "amateur" I don't have access to all the ingredients he mentions in some of his recipes. The coconut chocolate lists ingredients like sorbitol, mycryo butter and inverted sugar. [i am still in the process of reading the book on a detail level, but had a craving for a "Mounds" bar so I figured, I'd try making one myself]
I think for inverted sugar I can use corn syrup. But what are your comments about the other items he lists in his ingredients. How about list in the front of the book.
Jeff
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Just a quick follow-up. I just received the PCB colors. The coco butter is solid in the tubes. What is the best way to heat them up? In a hot water bath or in the microwave. How long should I microwave them for?
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Thanks for all the great help and info!
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After reading the postings in this thread >>> http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?act=ST&f=72&t=56184
I was curious on the airbrushing technique Wendy DeBord descibed that norman used. After airbrushing there must be some residual spray.
How do you keep your work area clean?
While the objective is to get the colors into the inside of the mould what do you do with the coloring that gets on the outside?
I am planning on using the powered dyes with cocobutter that I will melt and mix. Any tips on cleaning up after using cocobutter and colors? (I ordered the badger 250-4 with two "cups" but if I want to use a third color I will have clean one of them.)
These tips hopefully will let my first attempt at airbrushing chocolates go smoothly.
Thanks,
Jeff
Melting down a Hersey's Bar
in Pastry & Baking
Posted
I just received a giant (over 1lb) chocolate computer from hersey's as a gift from our it consultants. Not sure what percentage it is but can I melt it down and temper it to mold it into smaller more manageable chocolates? (In tempering I will be using the seed method, if I run out of milk chocolate can I use part dark?)
thanks,
Jeff