Kerry Beal

Blast from the past - saw this recipe from Serious Eats and decided I needed to try it. Dug into he cupboard and found some RG Corona beans 'best before 2018'. They are in the oven now. I'll let you know how they work out.

Saw that in the newsletter - added it to my list of things I wanted to try. What's Avacream?

Welcome Jeannie. I'm reminded of the spray booth we set up at the first eGullet chocolate workshop - overhead hood, plastic, covered the gas stove with with a big board. spray booth

Love the Kringle! Miss the Kringle!

Welcome Dom. Before you start give some thought to what quantities you want to put in the each container in the freezer - you might want to put a certain number of each flavor together - giving some thought to how many you might need when you thaw. So if you were to freeze 100 pieces of lavender ganache but will be getting an order for 10 boxes each containing 1 piece of lavender - you might want to figure out he logistics of not having to thaw 100 pieces and find a use for them at once. So perhaps putting together a container with 10 pieces each of 6 bonbons - so you can make 10 boxes of 6 when you thaw. Package in layers with as little dead air space as possible in an airtight container - I like the lock-lock containers. Some folks go 1 day in fridge first - but I go straight to freezer (temp -18ºC or lower is ideal). When I am removing from the freezer - I remove the entire container - and pop it straight into the 4º C fridge for 24 hours. Then to room temperature for 24 hours before opening the airtight container. This is all in aid of preventing condensation forming on the surface of the bonbons. The condensation will form on the outside of the airtight container only. If you open them too soon and condensation forms on the surface of the bonbon - sugar will migrate out of the chocolate into the water and when the water evaporates you will be left with sugar bloom on the surface. Do a test on each of your bonbon flavors to see how they react to freezing. Some flavors get lost in the freezing process and so should be boosted before freezing - others actually heighten in the freezer (I'm thinking about you hot chilis) making them rather unpleasant after freezing.

Couple of containers of the Likkerland Chocolate - ripening a bit before scooping into my little Tovoli containers.

Made 3 containers of butter pecan - stirred in the pecans instead of using the mix-in option as it tends to break up the nuts.

White coloured cocoa butter oxidizes quickly - It is very likely that it has gone off. Adding powder instead will be fine but you need to make sure you mix it very well. I tend to use one of those little battery powered coffee frothers. If you want to use the bright colors and put white behind it, I would make up some fresh white with the powder that you have and melted cocoa butter.

If you have ever seen the burn pattern made by lightening - would be similar - cutting a path through the chocolate - not burning the whole thing.

I have burned chocolate - usually has been white chocolate (although I have burned milk and dark) - but it seems to have been related to some impurities in the bowl and the microwave waves have burned a swath through it. Smells awful and leaves little crunchy bit in it!

Chocolate can tolerate much higher temperatures than 45º C. Burning it usually requires overheating it in the microwave with nothing added to it - adding very warm liquids to it won't burn it. Imagine if making hot chocolate resulted in burning the chocolate! I pour hot caramel over milk chocolate on a regular basis to make a caramel ganache. Caramelizing white chocolate is accomplished by the maillard reaction (reducing sugar reacts with amino acids) rather than the caramelized sugar you think of when you put sugar in a pot and heat until it is golden (or darker).

Try pharmacies in Canada for distilled water.

Yup - ours were made with cream cheese buttering the squished bread - had to be canned asparagus. I could probably still do some serious damage to some! Canadian here. And in response to @chromedome - maraschino cherries or manzanilla olives or gerkins could make up the middle.

If it was open to the air - It likely has taken on moisture. You might get away with adding a buttload of melted cocoa butter to it - or you might not!

Here's my notes on eye of round - Finally got around to the test of combining CI's method with sous vide. Trimmed some of the big fat cap, left enough for later. Salted for 24 hours, bagged and cooked at 58 C for about 36 hours. Cooled and browned off on the Big Green Egg. Something between 24 and 36 is probably ideal as 36 hours was approaching mushy.

Have I ever mentioned how rarely I read an e-mail to the end before responding. Apparently our @Chocolotwas watching episode 2 - not on episode 2. But we had been discussing our @Pastrypastmidnightwinning a baking show called Baking It.

Often if you see bloom inside the shell - the outside will still be pretty much ok.

I mean cooling your molds after you pour them. Here’s my canned talk latent heat When chocolate is rapidly crystallizing (particularly if it is in good temper) - it gives off heat - “the latent heat of crystallization”. It can get warm enough to throw itself out of temper. You see this sometimes on the side of enrobed pieces that are too close together and not put through a cooling tunnel. If you pour a large egg, and put it flat side down on the table without air circulation then enough heat will be produced - and hot air rises - to leave a big spot on the top of the egg curve that is out of temper. So once you have molded your item, made your shell etc - wait until you see it starting to lose shine and become glossy around the edges - that is the time of most rapid crystallization and the time to pop it into the fridge for 15 minutes or so to carry off that latent heat. A fridge with wire shelves that gives good air circulation all around the mold is ideal. With clear molds - I leave it in until I see the chocolate starting to separate from the mold. You don’t want to leave it in too long - if the item gets too cold it will get below the dew point and when you take it back out, condensation will form on the surface. Sugar from the chocolate will move into the water and as that water evaporates you will be left with fine sugar crystals on the surface - ‘sugar bloom’.

Are you cooling during the period of rapid crystallization to prevent the latent heat of crystallization from knocking your chocolate out of temper?

Our @Chocolotis in it

Try this one or - This is the one that I have - fits in the CSO - think I found it at Homesense.

Dipped in tea - nothing better!

And over tempering seems to happen even faster when you use the nearly melted method.

Resistance is futile!

But did you find the butter?