John DePaula

Just FYI (old but relevant): 2 Portlanders file class-action suit against Western Culinary Institute

It's really very simple. Just a dc cooling fan like the one used in desktop computers. You can buy an ac - dc transformer to connect directly to the fan. I used some wire to suspend the fan from the bottom of the wire shelf. Voila! Usually, someplace like RadioShack can set you up with all that you need to do this.

The marbleized effect is achieved by drizzling a complementary color of chocolate over the still-wet-from-enrobing bonbon and then vibrating a bit. See an example -> here Try the very expensive Chef Rubber for the template used in the chips.

Oooooh! Beautiful! I will try that method. Please, each session of syrup of increasing sugared strength: - how cool was it before pouring over the kumquats? - how long did the kumquats sit each time? They are radiant looking! I did mine whole and then had to cut them up to get out the seeds. However they pretty much all ended up in sauces and ice cream. Truthfully, I didn't even know they had such big seeds in them. Learn, learn, learn... Thanks, ← The method is outlined, albeit incorrectly, in JP Wybauw's Fine Chocolates book, p. 70. The correct initial sugar syrup is 1000g Water + 600g Sugar (not vice-versa). I think this is overkill for orange peels but hey, you can't argue with success.

Thanks John and Pastry Girl. I did the kumquats the same way...try them in vanilla ice cream. So good. I bet the candied Rhubarb would have much the same effect. I'll just wash the stuff, get the DH to slice them (my manual dexterity is blown), and then into the syrup they go. Friend back home...east central Ontario...has a ring to it, doesn't it?...informs me that green things are just poking up a tiny bit. It's been a cold April and we are up several hundred feet from the environs. Oh, John...you poured the syrup over the kumquat, but you didn't heat them at all? Not even on low in a crock pot? I did mine on low in my crock pot. ← Correct, not even in a low crock pot. Here's a photo of the quartered & seeded kumquats - lovely and translucent:

I recently made some candied kumquats and used a progressively sweeter syrup over several days. Syrup is boiled then poured over the kumquat pieces - no boiling of the kumquats. It's possible that would work for rhubarb without destroying the cell walls.

We did that in culinary school, too. And it seemed to work without problems. Seems like I read once that a point of metal, like the tines on a fork, will be induced by the microwaves to emit high voltage electric arc. So, don't put a fork (or aluminum foil for example) in your microwave.

And I guess it wouldn't be out of the question to actually measure the volume of my molds, via the mass of water they hold, and extrapolate to an amount of filling. Correct. The amount of filling you use will vary a bit each time you mold since it really depends on a) the type of filling you use and b) the thickness of the shell for that particular casting. I actually had a little bit of an issue with chunkiness. When I tempered, I did it in the microwave using the seed method, and I always wound up with some remnants of solid chocolate that never completely melted. Because I didn't have a whole lot of chocolate to begin with, I'd wind up with chunks in my mold that didn't always come out. I'm guessing that I either need to start with more chocolate to begin with, so I can avoid scooping out the chunks, or I need to make a point of pulling them out before I try to fill the molds to make shells. The chunks either stayed in the shells as solid lumps of chocolate (not necessarily bad, just not what I was after) or when I pulled them out, left voids in my shells (bad). BTW, my 8-cup pyrex measures are just a little wider than the widest of my molds. It was much easier to work in a square container over the weekend! The way I temper in the microwave is to heat it just enough to completely melt out all of the seed chocolate and end up right at working temp. I'd say you just need to use callets (or chopped chocolate rather than big chunks) and heat just a bit more than you did for this last batch. Do you think it's worth actually doing something to thin out the chocolate that I use for the shell, like adding extra cocoa butter to it? Although, given the tiny scale I work on, it seems like a waste to dedicate a batch of chocolate specifically to making shells. I'm guessing that part of my issue might be that the chocolate is setting before I get rid of the bubbles. My kitchen does tend to be cool (some might say chilly) at this time of year. (Have you warmed up yet, Kerry? ) Yes, adding cocoa butter is a good option for thinning out your chocolate. You can get scientific about it and always have the same percentage or just eye-ball it. I like the acrylic ones from the art store.

Melissa, I'd count on about 6g of filling per bonbon - a little more or a little less depending on your mold, of course. Don't be shy with the amount of chocolate you temper to make and cap the shells. You can always pour the remainder onto some parchment, allow to set, and wrap well in plastic wrap. It'll keep until you're ready to make another batch if you store it in a cool, dark place. As for air bubbles, the only way to get around that is to a) use really fluid chocolate and vibrate well*, or b) paint in chocolate first then mold normally. Your chocolates look great, by the way! *sometimes pre-warming the mold evenly to just below working temperature can prevent the chocolate from setting too quickly i.e. before you get a chance to vibrate out the bubbles.

That's a good link, Lior, Thanks! If I was making it though, I sure wouldn't put that big honkin' vibrator on top taking up half of my usable workspace. I'd find a way to put it below... What if you glued a small sheet pan to the top? Then you could put a mold on there and not have to hold it down so it doesn't slide off.

I think it's fine. I usually do it but it depends on the filling. One of my pieces is a butter gianduja and any amount of heat gun would sufficiently melt the filling to make it a problem. * Just be careful not to heat too much or you'll throw your shell out of temper!

I’m a little recovered from my jet lag and travel back home (anyone care to lay odds on whether my bags actually show up?), so I wanted to share some thoughts about the conference. It’s gonna be a bit “stream-of-consciousness” but bear with me… First of all, it was such an interesting and diverse group of people. Everyone was so nice and hard working (and had a great sense of humor – B. I’m lookin’ at you!). It was good to finally put faces to names. And I’d been wanting to meet Anna N for such a long time – I’m glad you were able to be there; pleasure to meet you and John N! Art and Wilma, do you ship to the US? I’m looking forward to seeing your new web site when it comes online. Canada was really beautiful. All the vines and fruit trees were gorgeous – I bet it’s amazing in the Fall. We grow a lot of Pinot Noir out here in Oregon, and we have the Columbia River in place of Lake Ontario. I felt right at home. Kerry, we all keep saying it but you really are amazing. It was an ambitious program and you were juggling like a pro. Guess that’s why you’re an ER doc – good at multitasking (and lots of stamina!). Personal Highlights Kerry’s demo of drizzling dark chocolate over just enrobed milk bonbons - isn’t that gorgeous! Kerry’s demo of the silk screening technique and her really cute designs Seeing Kerry in action with the Fuji sprayer Seeing the technique for splattering using the strainer – yes, I think a coarser strainer would have worked better. the beautiful orange/yellow/red transfer sheets (did you do those, Melissa?) Chocoera’s beautiful chocolates – both the ones she brought and the ingots made during the class. ’Best of Show, I’d say Frankly, I loved the pyramids even though they didn’t want to come out of the mold Getting to meet Brian from Tomric the beautiful Canadian vineyards & wineries of the area – esp. Konzelmann Cab. Sauv. Icewine (I’m never gonna see those bottles again, am I. Thank you, Continental) Oatmeal Scones provided by Kristina (?), the student pastry chef at Niagara College And the big box of goodies sent to us by Lior - Aren't you SWEET! Unexpected gifts are the best!! Casa Mia Italian restaurant over on Portage Rd. and Gate House Hotel Ristorante Giardino , also Italian. All the beautiful blue-eyed folk that seem to be present in this part of Canada Now, it wasn’t all sweetness-and-light – there are some areas that need work e.g. prepping a slab of ganache for dipping and backing off a tray of filled chocolates. Prepping a Slab of Ganache for Dipping Lay out your rules. If you need to tape them down, you need heavier rules. Any little defect (like tape) on top of your rules will show up in the surface of the ganache when you go to smooth it out. Also, if your rules are taped down, you can’t adjust them on the fly which may be necessary the first time you make a recipe. The rules need to be the proper height i.e. the height you want for the cut piece e.g. ½” . For the amount of ganache that you have, adjust the rules so that the ganache will just fill the delineated area. The distance between the rules should be slightly smaller than the width of your palette knife. If Greweling says 12x12” for a ½” slab, and you only have an 11” palette knife*, change the dimensions to, say, 10 x 14.4” for the same area. You want your palette knife to easily cover the entire width, 10” here, so you can smooth out the ganache in one go. I usually pour in my ganache and spread it out with a small offset palette knife, then do the final smoothing with the wide straight knife, slightly angled, very light pressure. I use the small offset again to scrape my long knife over any low area and re-smooth the whole thing again. Voila! A lot of people seemed afraid to use their knife – get to be friends with your palette knife! Once the ganache has crystallized, pour some melted chocolate over the top and do the same thing: spread out with the offset and smooth with the wide palette knife. Work quickly! Or else you’ll end up with too thick a coat. With this method, you get flat slab with a very thin coat of chocolate perfect for the guitar. I saw several folks using an acetate sheet to back their slabs. I didn’t see a lot of value to that because a) I don’t want to spend money on an acetate sheet when I don’t have to and b) a glossy ganache backing is only going to be covered up by dipping later. But I say if you want to use this method to back off a tray of bonbons, then go for it; it least you get to see a shiny bottom on your bars or chocolates. *As you know, Palette knives are often tapered at one end so you may not have the full length to play with. Backing Off a Tray of Chocolates This takes not a little bit of dexterity to NOT make a total mess of everything but practice makes perfect. The key here is to WORK FAST! As soon as you start putting chocolate on the tray, it’s going to begin setting which will make getting a smooth surface impossible. Ladle on 2 or 3 dollops, don’t be shy!, and use a palette knife to spread out the chocolate somewhat evenly. Using the handle of your palette knife, tap, tap, tap the sides of the tray or shake a bit on the table to release any bubbles. Then take your broad chocolate spatula to smoothly scrape the excess chocolate back into your melter. You want to be just firm enough to get a clean result without chipping your molded shells. Then make a sweep around the sides of your mold to clean up any excess chocolate. Immediately scrape your tools on each other to keep them clean. If you don’t have a clean edge, your backs won’t be nice and smooth on the next tray. Steve Lebowitz demonstrated using a chocolate filled paper cone to back off molded chocolates when your filling is too soft**. See the pix -> here. **When your filling is too soft, you run the risk of dragging filling out of the mold and having it contaminate your backing chocolate. Not good. UPDATE: Hey, my bags just arrived – Yay! And my Icewine is present, YAY, YAY!

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Ok,... finally made it back home. Took me 30 hours to get back to Portland thanks to the big storm on the East Coast. And for those of you who may be wondering, Newark airport is a pit at 3am in the morn. But all that time with my teeny-tiny laptop allowed me to do a first pass at processing all of those pix. Let me know if I've made any errors in captioning or if there's a photo missing that you'd like to see. Big, big hugs go out to Kerry for all of her hard work, and to all of you who helped to make the conference a success esp. Anna N, John N the photographer, the Staff and Students at Niagara College - you guys are the best! Kerry's Chocolate and Confectionery Conference 2009

My dictionary says that this is a 'chocolate pot.' Does your dict. say also that this is a female chocolate maker? I've never heard the word used this way but that doesn't mean anything,,,

Simply SPECTACULAR, Ruth!

You guys are amazing!

Can't you just spin the bowl's top edge on a warmed cookie sheet? I think that Lisa mentioned it up-thread. Maybe modifying an old turntable with an LP sized metal platter would work.

Hi Lior, This might help: Demo: Molding bowls and containers with chocolate

I think that all she’s saying is you can use the percentages of the original recipe to make any quantity. For example, say you want to end up with 500g of ganache. Cream.....= 500 x 31% = 500 x 0.31 = 155g Chocolate.= 500 x 63% = 500 x 0.63 = 315g Glucose...= 500 x 6% = 500 x 0.06 = 30g Total.....=........................= 500g

Thanks John, I'll give it a try (although yeah, the thought of de-tempering the chocolate is a bit intimidating). Cheers, Chris ← I use one of my 6kg Mol d'art melters - nice even heat. Might be possible to use a heating pad covered with 1 or 2 tea towels.

I've been trying this, but I find the chocolate sets pretty quickly and I don't get a very even coverage of the shells (sometimes it sets so quickly that it doesn't cover the entire shell). Even vigourously shaking the molds doesn't seem to move the chocolate. I'm considering filling the two halves separately, dumping the excess, and trying to put the halves together before they set (and hopefully without losing too much chocolate from the top half). Does anybody have any other advice on a good way to ensure the mold produces nice shells? Cheers, Chris ← You could try pre-warming the mold to a few degrees below the working temperature of your chocolate e.g. 27/28C for dark. You just need to be careful to avoid hot spots in the mold which would de-temper the chocolate.

It's a show about drinking customs in different countries. You can see it here: Three Sheets on Hulu.com.

Wow, what a variety of flavors! That's certainly a lot of work, but very beautiful and well presented, Lior. I did not know what Fejoya is so I looked it up: a mixture of Banana + Guyava + Pineapple + Paciflora flavors. Now I need to look up Paciflora...

Not very many! Maybe 120 grams. ← I'm making 150g Sachets of caramels in various flavors. The thing that's so difficult and takes so long is the packaging - very tedious.