sote23

Never with pure fruit juice. I've used a neutral puree as the base, then wine or other non viscous liquids in the second stage. 112ºC for first stage 107º C and 75 Brix for second stage. ← I do it that way as well, but if I were going to use just fruit juice what would be the formula? I may just do an experiment tonight. That reminds me, I need a good refractometer. you said you bought one on ebay, and I took a look, but there are many different ones. Which model did you wind up getting? Luis ← Here is the one I got. It's for honey - brix is 58 to 90. I got one defective unit - but they replaced it with no argument. ← thanks kerry, that's a great price. Luis

Never with pure fruit juice. I've used a neutral puree as the base, then wine or other non viscous liquids in the second stage. 112ºC for first stage 107º C and 75 Brix for second stage. ← I do it that way as well, but if I were going to use just fruit juice what would be the formula? I may just do an experiment tonight. That reminds me, I need a good refractometer. you said you bought one on ebay, and I took a look, but there are many different ones. Which model did you wind up getting? Luis

I would use the cream. It turns out better in my opinion, but still not perfect. Wine ganaches are very difficult, and I've only seen it pulled off by one company. Luis

Has anyone made pate de fruit with just fruit juice and no puree? How would I addjust accordingly? Luis

Andrew Shotts did a panning demo in the class I took. Didn't seem all to difficult. If I remember correctly, he panned almonds. You just keep adding small amounts of chocolate to build up layers. While we're on the subject, has anyone panned candied fruit? or is that something you can't use? Luis

Hi, The pineapple top is made with putting a layer of white chocolate on top, then drizzle with dark chocolate, it makes great patterns. Luis

sorry everyone, I never saw this thread. Thanks for the great comments. That chocolate on the wedding page is made with a custom stencil. My wife designed it in Adobe Illustrator, we sent the file to a stencil company and a week later the stencil arrived. To get the pattern, we used luster dust applied with one of those cheapy spongy paint brushes. It works like a charm. Luis

Serj, yes, time really does fly, and the older you get the faster it goes. Luis

Hi Serj, How's it going? are you still at the school? I haven't had any problems with pate de fruit with my induction burner. Luis

I've bought lots of things from ebay, including my Mol D' Art 12kg melter. Never had a problem with anything I've bought off of there. Luis

Do you have a website link for elenka? I'm not familiar with them. Luis ← http://www.elenka.eu ← thanks

Do you have a website link for elenka? I'm not familiar with them. Luis

you should try making some from scratch. It's not that difficult to do. You also don't need a commercial food proscessor. of course they are much better, but I get acceptable results with a cheapy $50 processor. In fact it's the same model we used in the schotts class. I think it tastes much better made from scratch in my opinion. luis

I used the same sheets i use on my boards to put a foot down. http://www.papermart.com/templates/47-0-15.htm you need to do it a few times to get the hang of it. what i do is scrap off excess with an offset spatula, then put just a little bit of chocolate over each piece then put the acetate sheet down then scrape. that way there is not that much excess chocolate to worry about. Luis

I've tried a guitar sheet and a thin piece of acetate, and the thin piece worked much better. the guitar sheet seemed too thick. Merry Christmas everyone. Luis

Thanks. Luis

One quick question. I'm heading over to my kitchen in a few hours. When you put the acetate sheet and scrap it with the scraper, do you leave the acetate on while it drys or do you pull it off right away? Luis

looks good. Luis

I also freeze the leftovers, and when you have enough, just warm up and you can make another batch. Luis

so you put a transfer on the bottom. Interesting. any pics? Luis

Lior, Thanks for posting the pics. your chocolates look great. I'm going to try that technique in the next few days. Luis

This presentation was held in South San Francisco. I know he made a number of stops, another being in Los Angeles, I can't remember where the other ones were. I think it was his first trip to the US. I found out about it from the distributor that brought him over. www.in2food.com Luis

Hi Alana, Glad to see your getting the book. what is it with those mounties? lol yes, he is super nice. Hopefully I can take one of his classes in barcelona. Of course at the end of the demonstration he let us eat everything he made. I can honestly say his cakes were some of the best I've ever tried. Luis

Here are the pictures from Ramon Morato's Pastry Experience. Ramon Morato Foie block with chocolate toasted corn and apricot Mango, milk chocolate, hazelnut chocolate, toffee, orange, 4 spices coconut, chocolate, and passion fruit black rice, with truffle and chocolate hazelnut, orange, and saffron praline

I went to a presentation over the summer by Ramon Morato. He did a few chocolates, but mainly pastries. If anyone wants me to post some pics, let me know. Luis