Kerry Beal

There was a rather nice breeze though. Michael Olsen was telling me that his latest kick has been finding old metal platters etc and getting them powder coated with food grade coating. He get's some really nice looking stuff out of it - his stuffed jalapeños were served on a lovely platter.

I'd send an e-mail to HR to ask their opinion.

I have a large and a mini at home - I have a mini up north. We cooked on 2 larges for the eggfest.

Niagara Eggfest at Hernder Estates Winery again this year. We decided to keep the number of dishes down this year - and I think it was a good choice. Anna's daughter helping get things started before the hordes descended. We were housed next to Celebrity Chef's Michael and Anna Olsen. They had a bushel of jalapeños that actually had a bit of heat to them. They were making stuffed jalapeños, a pork sirloin taco with peach salsa and s'mores. We started with ham and cheese rolls. A sausage and green chili frittata. Bahn mi - under construction - layer of pork pate, siracha mayo Pork loin - sous vide, then browned with caramel sauce - a little more caramel sauce on the top, pickled veg, cilantro (just about killed me to put that on there), a little more siracha mayo. Brazilian cheese puffs - must have miscalculated on the amount of tapioca - they weren't really puffs - but they got eaten anyway! Peach summer torte - our most popular offering today I'd say. Second batch ended up a little dark on the bottom - Anna's daughter trimmed it up and it went just as well as the first batch. We had a couple of peaches left over and decided to grill them - people seemed a little annoyed when they asked when we were serving them and we said we weren't - they were the cooks treat!

Replacing the cream with puree and 35% oil to mimic the composition of cream.

Awoke in Dunnville again this am - after an overnight shift in the ER. Hit the farmer's market on the way out of town. Took a little sample of the freeze dried corn to the vendor I'd purchased it from - she enjoyed it! Cheddarwurst, cantaloupe, peaches and potatoes. Of course more tomatoes, a couple of nice peppers along with a lovely cauliflower and some fresh green beans. Last week heading home I'd seen a sign on the side of the road saying eggs $1 a dozen. Had to stop this week! Apparently they are breeders and can't sell the eggs through the usual channels until the chickens are a certain age. Bonus for me. 5 dozen that I intend to freeze dry. Eggs aren't huge - but the price is right!

Pasta, bruschetta - anywhere a really tasty tomato is required. This batch I freeze dried.

I'm not sure if pectin lowers aW or not. It's a polysaccharide so probably does. I know solutes will - so sugars, salts - but fats don't.

I'd say of the whole ganache. Does your heavy cream list fat %?

My thought too! Cute little Peruvian bowls.

Just for fun - try using just your puree, no cream, same amount of glucose and 1 ounce of neutral oil. I'd make a part batch and see what your texture is like to start.

How much puree?

What Ruth said - you need to come up with a ganache recipe that incorporates the fruit as part of the liquid. Are you using milk dark or white for the ganache - would you be willing to share the recipe that you are using that is giving you trouble and we can help trouble shoot it for you?

2005 for me - I seem to recall it was related to pate de fruit. I lurked for quite some time on the various forums - then one day someone asked something that no one answered to my satisfaction and I HAD to post! I recall that my first posts on the non confectionary/pastry forums were like swimming with sharks - best not to bleed. My skin has thickened considerably since then!

Dehydrated honey does exist - Tate and Lyle, Domino Specialty Ingredients both make it. I've had samples to play with - again hygroscopic but better than liquid honey when added to chocolate.

Also - what is the temperature of your filling when you pour it in?

Yeah - praline almonds - realized after it was too late to edit that I'd put caramelized almonds. These ones were purchased from the bargain bin at my local high end supermarket - guess they brought in too many for the easter season - price was too good to ignore. Sadly the almonds weren't as roasted under the sugar as I would have liked.

Excitement this week - Alleguede went to the Chocolate Academy in Montreal to teach them all about their new EZtemper. He survived the serious grilling by the chefs - and reports are he handled it extremely well!

Taught some panning on the weekend to a friend of Alleguede's. His GF turned out to be a natural - they had spent a bit of time with Rodney once before and she clearly picked up everything she saw. Freeze dried blueberries in white chocolate with vanilla. Peanut butter cereal in milk chocolate. Malt balls. Caramel coated almonds. Malt balls after polishing.

Practicing up some recipes for the Big Green Egg eggfest this weekend - Brazilian Cheese Puffs (Pão de Queijo) - same recipe as Anna's post above from February First batch made just after making the batter. Next batch made a day later with batter that had been in the fridge for 24 hours. They don't seem to have suffered any from their rest in the fridge - so means I can mix up the batch the night before.

Latest batch - Mint that grows in my neighbours garden - the best place to get mint. Tomatoes Provençal Little raspberries Corn kernals - damn they're good!

Is suspect as tomatoes started to be bred to be lower acid that the necessity to add acid occurred. As long as you use older varieties of tomatoes that are high acid you probably don't need the added acid unless for flavour.

Tomato Juice 8 quarts tomatoes, 13 lbs1 head celery leaves and all2 onions½ cup sugar1 tsp kosher saltpepperpaprika2 drops tabasco sauce (I suspect you might want to add a little more than this!) Fill 8 quart pot with washed, chopped tomatoes. Add remaining ingredients and cook until soupy. Process through fine plate on food mill. Heat again until just under boiling, place in quart bottles with 4 tsp lemon juice in each. Process in boiling water bath for 35 minutes. Makes around 7 quarts.

I have an excellent tomato juice recipe if you are interested.

Should do.