chefette

French Buttercream 1 egg (large) 5 yolks (large) 400 g sugar 80 g water 700 g unsalted butter cut into cubes weigh sugar and place in samll heavy saucepan then pou in the water do not stir it. Cover the pan and copok on high until the solution comes to a boil Remove cover and continue cooking to hard ball meanwhile in your handy stand mixer using the whisk start whipping the yolks and the egg if you start the eggs and sugar at the same time the yolk mix will be beautifully fluffy by the time the sugar is ready while continuing to wgip the yolks at high speed carefully pour your sugar in a steady stream into the yolks making sure you do not allow it to hit the whisk (use the side of the bowl if you need support and guidance. Once all the sugar syrup is in, just let it keep on whipping until the bowl feels merely warm to your hand when you touch the bottom While continuing the whipping start tossing in the butter cubes once all the butter is in if you want to flavor it mocha, I would add melted chocolate directly to the buttercream then add in a paste of instant espresso with just a bit of water. Probably 2-4 ounces of chocolate and about 3 tablespoons of instant espresso for a strong mocha taste Keywords: Dessert, Topping/Frosting ( RG517 )

Napoleon=Millefeuille (millefeuille means thousands of layers referring to the puff pastry) No, bavarian does not belong in a classic napoleon - pastry cream does. The classic is a layer of puff, a layer of cream, puff, cream, puff smear extra cream on the sides and coat with crunched up puff pieces then top with fondant. While still damp, pipe rows of chocolate across the fondant and "thread" them by dragging a toothpick in a perpendicular line through the lines of chocolate - down, then move about an inch to the side and go up, then down, etc. classic. At Le Cirque the caramelize the puff which makes it hold up better to the moisture in the pastry cream . To caramelize the puff you roll out a sheet and place it on parchment. Brush with corn syrup mixed with water so that it is more easily brushable then place in the oven 5-10 minutes until it starts to rise. Remove from oven, place a sheet of parchment and another sheet pan to cover the sheet of puff and flip, brush the now revealed bottom side and return to the oven to complete baking. You will want as nice even puff that is not too thick. Remove from the oven and cool then cut into the three equal pieces using a serrated knife. Many classic napoleons are 'tempered' meaning they sit and chill with the pastry cream an hour or so before serving. At Le Cirque to prevent soggy, unpleasant napoleons, we would pipe the pastry cream ala minute between the layers of puff And no, pushing the pastry cream through the sieve before lightening it with whipped cream is just one of several ways to ensure you do not have a lumpy pastry cream filling. Another way to do this is to place the cream in the mixing bowl and mix using the paddle to smooth it out and soften it prior to folding in the cream. The gritty graininess is just the reult of bad pastry cream possibly they did not cook it long enough to cook out the starch testure, or perhaps they let the eggs sit rtoo long in contact with the sugar causing the sugar to 'cook' the yolks which caises unpleasant graininess, or the butter problem Michael mentioned.

The traditional filling for the classic Napoleon is pastry cream lightened with whipped cream and flavored with a touch of Grand Marnier 2 cups milk 100g sugar 45g corn starch 1/2 vanilla bean (scraped) 4 egg yolks 75g butter whipped cream (about 1 cup) Grand Marnier Boil milk with vanilla seeds stir together the corn starch and sugar and whisk in yolks temper yolk mix with boiling milk (by adding about 1/2 the milk gradually to the yolks whilke whisking the yolks) Add yolk mix back to milk and stir over heat with whisk until it comes to a boil then reduce heat and continue boiling while stirring 2 -3 minutes place in mixer with paddle and stir in butter until steam stops rising cover and chill the cream will become quite firm Whip cream to soft peak mash pastry cream through sieve to loosen and fold in whipped cream and Grand Marnier to desired consistency Spread between cooled puff pastry sheets

Moisture would not bead on the chocolate if you fill and serve ala minute, however, if you do fill and chill, you will get moisture.

I like attractive saucing, don't get me wrong. There is nothing like the tiny jewels or lines, or pools of color from beautiful sauces, but are they there to support the food or dessert, or are they just there for good looks? Lots of times it seems to me that chefs (and pastry chefs too) use sauces purely for decorative ends even to the detriment of the food on the plate. For example, I sometimes go to meetings at a hotel where they sauce the plate with some really bad strawberry sauce regardless of what is on the plate. Annoying Other times there is a really great sauce that is mentioned on the menu but when the food arrives, the sauce is just a few tiny drops off to the side, hardly supporting the flavor direction of the food. In this application it is hard to get any on the food, and there is rarely enough for saucing more than a single bite. Annoying Is this just a reaction to the pools of anglaise or other sauce that chefs used to fill plates with in restaurants? Are these sauces so difficult to make and so precious that they can only be spartanly applied? So, do you feel that sauce should be an integral part of the dish it is gracing so that you can enjoy it with each mouthful, or do you think that it is like a sprig of parsley or mint - pretty, but best left to adorn the plate?

1- Night's chocolate bowl is one good option, and one frequently utilized in some fashion at restaurants although it seems that diners feequently fail to recognize and consume consumable conatiners (with the possible exception of tuile cups which are normally quite delcate and break when you are consuming the contents leading you to eat the cup. I expect many dishwashers could have huge collections of chocolate shells, cups, tubes, whatever... if they so chose (but who would?) 2- The sprayer option is probably the easiest and best way to get a thin edible coating of chocolate on the outside of your mousse, but not unless you get a paint sprayer and have cocoa butter on hand 3- One thing no one mentioned that you could try would be to use molds, mold the tempered white chocolate shell and allow it to set, unmold, fill with berries and mouuse and invert on the plate, or mold the chocolate, fill, chill and unmold. However, the filling will quickly cause the chocolate to bead with moisture. As Steve mentioned, you can cut the mouuse into flat circles or other shapes and then place a thin flat piece of shiny chocolate onto the plated round of mouuse just prior to serving. Oh, and about the whipped ganache, sometimes the ganache proportion is so heai;ly cream weighted that it is very liquid. We used to do a whipped ganache mousse that you had to allow to sit overnight then you whip and serve the next day, but you have to be very careful about overwhipping since the chocolate triples the sensitivity of the cream to overwhipping resulting in a grainy unpleasant mousse.

Regarding Jacques Torres' Chocolate Stove dessert: The actual dessert in the oven is a very nice piece of Opera Cake (Almond Cake, Dark Chocolate Ganache, French Coffee Buttercream). The squares of the floor and the pots are filled with raspberry and mango sauces. The stoves are created by molding a chocolate rectangular box in plastic. The chimneys are poured white chocolate cut in sheets. The pots are chocolate cups. The stoves are individually assembled, handles on the pots, and handle on the oven door. It is actually a pretty nice dessert although I am fairly certain it ends up as a complete waste of good chocolate. But the presentation is part of the ambience of Le Cirque. Sort of over the top and special - showy. The Haas desserts reflect a different school of thought.

Of course, maybe the real answer to your question -- if you have tried these methods and found them too difficult -- is that there is no easy way, no magic shortcut unless you want to go to the dark side and use the - ugh - coating chocolate-like substance. This, you just make liquid and use, but then it isn't chocolate, and you didn't temper anything, so it isn't what you asked.

To address the point that you and Lesley are discussing about private labels, I heard that in Japan they are taking this to new levels creating really amazing products based on mixes of other finished couvertures. I thought I heard this from the Valrhona rep, but I might be wrong about that. I wonder why we do not see more Japanese product in this area - or maybe the question is I wonder when we will start seeing it ?

Of course no one has even touched on the issue posed in the initial question of where is the breal even point. Even if it was more readily accessible, how much chocolate would you need to be able to manufacture each day in order to justify the expense of doing it in the first place. Since there really aren't too many people out there manufacturing it on a small scale I would assume that you really have to be able to make a lot of chocolate to justify it by price. So maybe the question we should be talking about is what does it cost to produce/manufacture chocolate? What are the cost items even? Beans, fermenter, roasters, crackers, sifters, cleaners, concher, heater, mixer, temperer, people, location, operations & maintenance, sugar, packaging, sales, distribution... I'm guessing that if it isn't cost effective to make artisanal wines, chocolate is WAY WAY WAY outta sight in terms of cost. Anyone here qualified to help figure the breakeven point - how much chocolate, produced at what rate, assuming $6 per pound price point to break even? How much to make a profit of 10%?

Is this whole concept being generated by false impressions of accessibility created by the movie Chocolat? Before I saw the movie several friends were telling me how the woman 'makes' chocolate. I think that they actually did have a scene or two where it appeared she was doing something that was intended to indicate she was actually making the chocolate. Steve, I am not saying that I think its a particularly good idea or that this concept is even valid, but... Instead of looking for cocoa beans to pursue artisanal chocolate making, could a woud-be chocolate maker procure large quantities of good nibs and go thrugh the conching process using those? I imagine it would be an incredibly expensive undertaking that would make your probably inferior chocolate incredibly expensive. Note that Sharffenberger is very pricey. I am not saying it's bad, but given its quality, it is at a relatively high price point and takes advantage of the absence of readily available couverture for the home chocolate hobbyist. But, if you somehow were able to get conching equipment, how feasible do you think it would be to make chocolate from nibs?

Seawakim, has this discussion helped you? What methods have you tried, and why were you not satisfied? Are you failing to achieve temper? What chocolate are you using, and what are you doing? Enrobing? Molding? piping? dipping? spreading and cutting??????? Personally, for small quantities and experimenting at home I live by the microwave method (turntable in microwave) and a plastic bowl. I really like using the infrared thermometer and find that it works just fine for me, but no thermometer of any sort is required. I generally aim for direct warming - where you melt the chocolate carefully to prevent taking it out of temper in the first place. This requires that you melt the chocolate in spurts. Here is how I would suggest it. Assuming you have about 2 pounds of chocolate and are working with dark chocolate couverature. White and milk work at at lower temperature. 1- Chop up your chocolate and reserve about half of it. Place half in a plastic bowl 2- Using a microwave with a turntable and using high power microwave 1 minute then remove and shake (your chocolate will still be pretty much the same as when you put it in the microwave. 3- Microwave 45 seconds on high and stir (some of your chocolate will have melted and it will be a tacky lump 4- Microwave another 30 seconds and stir (alot of your chocolate should be melted by now - but there will probably be lumps). At this point test the temperature by whatever means you have available then decide if another 15 are required. Temperature testing: Your goal in direct warmin is to not exceed 92 degrees F. (I generally stop at 90). If you are relying on touch to test temperature, it should feel cool to you. Temperature testing can be done without aid of a thermometer (home use only) by touching the chocolate on a spatula to the bottom of your lower lip. The chocolate should feel cool to you. It is also likely that there will remain unmelted lumps in your chocolate that you can fish out, smush patiently, or use force and whiz with the imersion blender (avoiding whipping air into the chocolate by keeping the blades submerged completely). The chocolate should mound slightly on the surface when poured from the spatula. 5- Test your temper with a piece of parchment. Cut a piece of parchment about 1x2 inches and touch one end to the chocolate to coat one side of one end. Set the test strip on a cool countertop and do something else for 1-2 minutes to avoid staring impatiently at the strip. After 1-2 minutes the chocolate should be firm and set up. If at the end of this period, the chocolate is still wet , you should return to the microwave and will have to temper it. Actually tempering the chocolate using the microwave (assuming you still have your pristine chopped chocolate in reserve: 1- Heat the chocolate in the bowl until it feels almost stingy hot to you lower lip (120 degrees F) . Assuming you are starting with chocolate that is 93-95 this should only take another 30 seconds. 2- To conserve chocolate and avoid lumping, Add one handful of chopped chocolate to the hot melted chocolate and stir with the rubber spatula - this handfull will melt quite quickly and will reduce the temperature out your chocolate about 6-8 degrees 3- Continue to add chocolate by the handful until you have brought the chocolate down in temperature to 90 again. It will probably take 4 handfuls, and then test as above. If you have melted all your chocolate and do not have temper, or are starting with questionable or out of temper chocolate you will have to resort to tabling the chocolate 1- melt the chocolate to 120 degrees F 2- pour about half to 2/3 of the chocolate out onto a clean dry marble (you will want a bench scraper and a large offset spatula to aid in this job) 3- spread the chocolate over the surface of the marble using the offset spatula and admire it for a few moments, then use the bench scraper to move it from the edges to the center- scraping it off with the offset , then spread it out again. Depending on the temperature of the room and the marble, it may take awhile until the chocolate starts to crystalize 4- Scrape the cooled choloate into the bowl with your still warm chocolate and stir with the rubber spatula until it is smooth 5- test appearance, temperature, and conduct a temper test Perhaps the problem you are actually having is KEEPING your chocolate in temper over a period of time while you work with it. This is the most difficult task because tempereef chocolate will set up very quickly. To make your life easy, you may want to insulate your bowl by placing it on a towel, and not directly on the work surface, I have found that setting the bowl in the oven (gas with a pilot) can help extend the time, or keeping the bowl in the closed microwave has also worked. Of course, it is imperative that you are ready to use the chocolate when you get it tempered. This means that you have tour molds all ready to go, or your pieces ready for dipping, or truffles ready to coat, of whatever ready to roll. The microwave comes in handy to zap the chocolate 6-10 seconds when it starts to get really cold - but make sure you test the temperature and temper after heating - especially if you are molding. Tempering chocolate and working with it is all about timing and practice. As you grow more comfortable, you will be more attuned to visual cues about temper, and will be able to work more comfortably and confidently with it. Its a new skill and you shouldn't expect to just master it immediately. Good luck and we hope to hear about some of your chocolate projects soon.

Maybe you are right, but personally, I don't think so. And, I don't want to presume on Jose's dreams and desires, but if what he is actively doing is any indication, those dreams do not run to the traditional 4-star really expensive high and mighty. I think that the competition that drives him is from within and is not as run of the mill. You are thinking of one model, but what is the 'dream' of most would-be restauranteurs? Is it not a tidy little place of their own where they cook their heart's desire simply because they love it and life is like an endless series of dinner parties? Of course, I am veering way off base from this thread I suppose.

Everyone may not fantasize about providing the ultimate high end experience ala Ducasse. Not everyone is interested in New York. Maybe some people fantasize-- like Conticni -- about freedom from rules. Doing fun creative food at a price point to open the doors of appreciation for a wider audience. being a zebra in a herd just doesn't look all that glamorous to some. After all, its just a matter of time until you are the slow one at the edge of the herd and get picked off by some lion.

Hi Night and 22- no idea if you are still having trouble with the Canelles. I have not actually made them myself yet, I had one once and didn't like it so... Anyway, I happened across a recipe from Herme so here it is if it is helpful. Looks like the key is keeping the molds and dough/batter quite cold, and chilling the dough/batter at least 24 hours. If they spring up, prick them with the tip of a knife. Here is Herme's recipe from Patisierre of Piere Herme 500cc milk 1 vanilla bean (scraped) bring milk and vanilla bean to biol and steep covered overnight - then renove the bean pod combine in this order: 50 g melted butter (cooled) 250g 10X sugar 2 Egg yolks 2 eggs 100 g flour (I assume AP) 15g dark rum the cold vanilla milk chill batter at least 24 hours grease molds and keep cold Stir batter and fill molds up to 1-2 cm from rim bake 200 degrees C 50 min for 3.5mm mold 60 min for 4.5 cm mold 75 min for 5.5 cm mold unmold and eat immediattely Flame out the molds before using the first time, only clean by rubbing with soft cloth. Sounds like a real pain - good luck!

Quote Stephany B: "Didn't she occupy a position any one of the blue and red people here would give their eyeteeth for?" I think that this is a key issue that Steve is trying to point out. It IS a very powerful and influential position. There are obviously alot of people here who WOULD love such a position, and who would probably be really good in it. I think that Steve is trying to say - in his own incredibly cranky way - is that many of the people here are eminently more qualified, and would treat such a position with greater respect if it were theirs. That anyone who cared about what they were doing would not use their position and power so snippily. That someone in that position might actually benefit from liking food and chefs. I think part of the cranky tone of the article is also generated by Schrambling herself in the lengthy quotes Steve uses. Not ALL the grumpy crank stuff is his.

When you say you used puree but that it has no intensity of flavor - exactly what puree are you using? Passionfruit puree is incredibly intense. Are you by any chance talking about those fruit smoothie mixes the Smoothie pack 100% fresh crushed fruit smoothie Passion fruit? If that is what you are using, that tastes primarily of bananas. Nice for something, but not if you are looking for a strong passion fruit flavor. Look for the passionfruit concentrate in a glass bottle (about 1 pint I think) use it straight in your ganache. As for the invert sugar - don't get yourself wrapped around the axel. The corn syrup will be just fine - really!

R W, I have tried a Passionfruit concentrate that seems to be available in the 'Latin' international section of some grocery stores. This is a very strong passionfruit juice that is not sweetened. You might look for that. Also, check out Perfect Puree http://www.perfectpuree.com/ They might sell single liters of purees. As for the Invert sugar - try Light Corn Syrup that should get you by just fine. I was curious that you hadn't addressed this earlier but thought - hey, you must have your sources... When Lesley C says scrape she means scrapoe the external flat surfaces of the mold, never ever scrape the molding cavities. Glad to hear that your experiment went well too.

Well, I am glad to hear that you have at least tempered chocolate before, so that will not be such a hurdle. Will you mold with dark chocolate? What brand? what percentage? What tempering method are you planning to utilize? I am sorry that I was envisioning a potential debacle. I applaud your willingness to make your own chocolates and hope that it goes well and you are rewarded with lots of beautiful and yummy chocolates and that you will continue. I am sure we all wish you the best of luck and cannot wait to hear about your (hopeful) success. Of course, disasterous failure would make for a very amusing story. NSM, different people have different concerns regarding mold care. I had not heard anyone before rejecting soap though. The residual film of cocoa butter can build up and may affect the shine of your chocolates. A build up of cocoa butter in the mold cavities can result in a cloudy surface. The chocolate takes its shine from the surface against which it hardens so the more brilliantly smooth and shiny your surface, the more brilliantly shiny your chocolates. It also helps not to hurry too much in unmolding. To address this you will probably want to use hot water with a bit of soap, but rinse very well and allow to air dry. Then gently swipe each cavity with a cotton ball to get rid of any water spots. You don't want to get too vigorous because static electricity can build up and can be problematic. Generally, you do not want your mold to be too cold when you introduce the chocolate. It is a good idea to let the molds warm just a bit in the oven (with the pilot light) before pouring in the chocolate. A non-pastry acquaintance wanted assistance in making 200-300 chocolates to give to co-workers last Valentine's Day. By the end of a long hard day of work I think she had a much greater appreciation of hand made chocolates and their relative value. This is especially evident when you do not have a chocolate warmer to hold your chocolate at the proper temperature and must continually keep track of it, warm it up, and re-temper as required. I would recommend always using test strips to make sure your chocolate is in temper prior to pouring it in the molds. This helps prevent huge waste of chocolate and wasted time cleaning the molds.

Or are you thinking of fondant creams and pralines when you say nougats and nut fillings? Or do you mean 'nougat' as in Three Muskateers Bars? or 'nougat' as in the italian confection made with egg white, honey, and nuts (ala Charleston chew)?

The recipee should produce about 1K of ganache. Assuming the average chocolate contains 11g filling, you should be able to make about 100 chocolates. Is your question how many pounds of chocolate should I expect to use to mold (coat and close) 100 chocolate candies? If this is your question, I would work with about 3 pounds of chocolate for coating. This is not to say that there will be 3 pounds of chocolate actually coating your ganache, but that to do the filling you will need approximately that much. Have you ever tempered chocolate or made molded chocolates? You might find that you are getting yourself in deeper than you anticipated here. You might also find that you value your time 'slightly' more than you think since this will probably take longer than you might anticipate if you have not done it before. I am DYING to know all about this. Just wish we could have it on video tape.

So you place almost no value whatsoever on your time I assume.

Of course if you really like his Alize hearts, it is probably cheaper and easier to just go buy them instead of attempting to make your own. But I assume that you are seeking the adventure of it all.

So, the Alize is the milk chocolate truffle with passionfruit-flavored ganache using Alize passionfruit liqueur in addition to passionfruit puree or syrup in the ganache. Assuming that you can hold your own on tempering chocolate to mold the candies, I expect that the effect at least can be achieved several ways. You could try this recipe. 300g passionfruit puree 600g milk chocolate 80g invert sugar 100g butter 30g Alize passionfruit liquer

Hi Michael, I actually used a product called "Just Bananas" which seem to be some sort of flash freeze dried banana slices. They do not seem dessicated or tough in any way. They make a really great powder but are sort of expensive - a pint size container (2.5 oz) cost about $4 but they really pack alot of flavor so a little goes a long way. If you go through his whole process let me know how it works. It just seemed to me that unless you were using making and using most of the items (dried bananas, banana butter, banana sable, sugar macaroons) he tosses into this recipe in other desserts so had a stock of them on hand it makes this a pretty expensive offering. The nougatine I produced was really tasty, has a nice banana taste, and is pleasantly easy to snap. It is really tasty with chocolate fudge cake and caramel mousse.