Kerry Beal

What sort of shelf life do you need on this piece? I'm wondering if you cut back on the cocoa butter and added a bit more of some other liquid to help with the emulsion. What actual chocolate are you using - I find that some of the more acidic formulations are difficult to get into a good emulsion.

What Rob said - also be interested in how you put your ganache together. What sort of temperatures are you getting it to?

Hate to hear you aren't coming - but very excited about your new chocolate cafe! Will keep all appendages crossed.

I would happily head to this - but it's close for me and if I'm not enjoying myself and can easily bugger off home! Anna and I have done the Icewine festival (as vendors) a couple of time - never again - too damn cold that time of year, but by May it's usually quite nice weather wise in Niagara. There are lots of other things to do in the area - so I'd probably suggest you go for it.

Need an unlike button!

Here's the recipe I use - Marmalade Ingredients ½ dozen Seville oranges two pounds 8 cups water 1 cup water to soak seeds 1 cup sugar for every 1 cup fruit 2 lemons Method Remove seeds, soak overnight in water. Then tie in cheesecloth. Grind or slice oranges, soak in water overnight. Boil together for one hour. Remove bag of seeds. Measure fruit, add 1 cup sugar to 1 cup fruit. Grind or slice and add 2 lemons. Boil together for about 30 minutes. Start testing after about 20 minutes. Tip cold plate, look for little ridges on surface. Source Mom

I recently connected with Tina again on Facebook - we had spent some time chatting via eG when she was first diagnosed. I recall the fund raiser they held at a restaurant in Vancouver to get her a nanny to help out when she was doing the heavy chemo after her son was born. I, of course, sent chocolate! One a day antioxidants I think we called them. Tina, I'm so glad that you had the opportunity to have the extra years with your family that you did, and that your son was born and you had the time with him that you did. Just wish that we all weren't being deprived of having you with us for many more years.

80% I think.

So Rodney (Alleguede) and I got the gig making some panned product for Cacao Barry for the Canadian Food and Restaurant Association Show (now known as The Restaurants Canada Show). It runs from tomorrow to Tuesday in Toronto. I plan to head down for Sunday. We covered dried cherries with Zephyr white chocolate. First batch we used as is - and coloured the surface with dark pink. While the first batch was running - I took all the cherries for the second batch and rounded them up so they would coat more easily. We used a combination of freeze dried cherry powder and gum arabic to round them a bit more before engrossing in the chocolate - and when we went to get the extra chocolate off the sides of the bowl - the bits of powder from the pan showed up on the surface. We decided we quite liked the effect so went with it instead of finishing with the dark pink we had prepared. I present to you in honour of the 2015 measles outbreak - 'Cherry Measles'! Almonds engrossed in Alunga milk chocolate. Almonds engrossed in 74% Ocoa - the high percentage of cocoa butter and cocoa mass resulted in pits that occurred in the polishing phase of the process - so while these look shiny here - we went back and coated with cocoa powder and powdered sugar to make them look more acceptable.

Peanut butter Cap'n Crunch with PB gianduja. Believe it or not there is colour in there - but clearly a bit wasted if not added to white chocolate. I was trying for something less sweet than the Reece Pieces cereal version.

Four bins of easter molds have just moved from their storage spot into the chocolate lab. Should have some items to report before long! Panning will have to take a back seat for a while.

Haven't tried it with vanilla - but use one for various alcoholic extractions with good effect so no reason it wouldn't work.

I've made vanilla with overproof Wray and Nephew - makes a lovely vanilla. Haven't bothered to make it with a darker rum though.

Actually - you can put a wok on the BGE - from there a couple of inches of oil - and Robert's your mother's brother.

Here you go - discussed here a few years back.

I know that someone who left their butter crunch in the car on a freezing weekend found that all the chocolate fell off after it had been fine initially - so I suspect temperature might play a part.

Tay, Welcome to eGullet. The temperature of the syrup does indeed play a role in the firmness of the nougat. The one in the eGCI goes to 270 F and makes a pretty soft nougat. Corn syrup affects the crystallization (by preventing it).

Resistance is futile!

Yup - weight of solid chocolate. So really only lets you compare size - not how much ganache it will hold. Though you could probably extrapolate back if you have a mold of a particular size and you make it up with ganache weighing at each stage.

I did - I'm sure I posted about it somewhere on here - but not sure where I'd start to look. Found it.

I cook dinner for my family almost every night and rarely use Souse Vide or smoking or pickling. I do not bother to post photographs if I do not feel that the finished dish is attractive enough to share.

Pure shit luck - nothing more!

Arrived a little early at work yesterday so took a couple of minutes to drop in to the Grimsby Benevolent Association thrift store - they were having a bag sale - all the clothes you can stuff in a bag for $8 so it was a bit busy. But did manage to lay my hands on this baby - It's a Siemens - but they were bought out by Bosch - so the parts from my Bosch compact mixer fit on it including the stainless bowl. The warranty card inside the manual says it was purchased in 1983 from Robinsons in Hamilton - a department store that no longer exists. It has a grinder attachment as well. Cost me $8.

Actually I think it had that yogurt sauce with it that you can see in the picture. Had the leftovers for dinner tonight at work - tasty - and smelled so good!

I like the idea of a cocktail theme - a variety of different cocktail flavours in white chocolate. A negroni, campari and grapefruit, marguerita...