lebowits

Event Update A proposed agenda has been added. Please offer comments and suggestions. Event Information Event: 2010 Candy & Confectionery Workshop Dates: Friday, 16 April 2010 - Sunday, 18 April 2010 Location: L'Academie de Cuisine, 16006 Industrial Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 2087 USA [map] Note: This event is not sponsored or endorsed by L'Academie de Cuisine. Fee: USD $150.00 This fee is intended to cover all facility rental, required staff labor, and materials (edible or otherwise) for the event. Any leftover funds at the end of the event will be donated to the eGullet Society. Accommodation Reservations should be made by Friday, 12 March 2010 in order to guarantee the group rate. Links have been provided for each hotel below. The links to the first 2 hotels will take you directly to the hotel web site with the appropriate group code. Springhill Suites - USD $64 - $104 including breakfast [map] Courtyard by Marriott - USD $64 [map] Homestead Studio Suites - USD $69.99 (kitchenette) [map] Call the hotel directly at +1-301-987-9100 and ask for the "eGullet Workshop" group block when making a reservation. Agenda (tentative as of 12 November 2009) Friday, 16 April 2010 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm Albert Uster Imports with Corporate Pastry Chef Drew Long Albert Uster Imports is a provider of pastry and chocolate products for the professional chef. They are located next door to L'Academie de Cuisine and have a long history with the school. Chef Logan and his staff will spend seveal hours with us discussing and demonstrating a topic as yet to be determined but which I believe will be fun and educational for us all. Chef Logan assumed his position at AUI in November 2009 after leading teams at a number of 4 and 5 start resorts. 7:00 - ??? Evening Social & Chocolate Tasting Show off your work! Bring a little something to share. We'll find a nosh or two and some wine and drinks and spend a little time getting to know each other better. Saturday, 17 April 2010 8:00 - 8:30 Breakfast and Introductions 8:30 - 10:00 "Bean to Bar" - Grinding Cacao and Nuts @ Home - Andal Balu of Inno Concepts/CocaoTown 10:00 - 10:15 Break 10:15 - 11:45 Introductory Chocolate Techniques (tempering, ganaches, molding, etc.) - Kerry Beal a.k.a. "The Chocolate Doctor" 10:15 - 11:45 Flavor Dynamics - A discussion crafting and combining flavors into your products - Leader TBD 11:45 pm - 1:00 pm Lunch 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm Lab Work - Putting Theory into Practice 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm Cleanup 7:00 pm Group Dinner - Proposed Roundtable Discussion - Starting a Business - Lessons Learned (All) Sunday, 18 April 2010 8:30 am Breakfast 9:00 am - 10:30 "Decorating your Products, Color, Texture, Fluffy Bits on Top" - Either open discussion or speaker TBD 10:30 - 10:45 Break 10:45 - 12:00 Lab Work - Continuation from Saturday & Decoration Techniques 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm Lunch 1:00 pm - 3:30 pm Lab Work - Continued 3:30 - 4:30 Final Cleanup Attendees as of 18 November 2009 Yes lebowits beacheschef David J. chocoera Marmish Kerry Beal RobertM psantucc tammylc pringle007 Linda S Desperately wanting to Darienne Lior Maybe emmalish Beth Wilson Desiderio cmflick MelissaH

While I can't comment on the comparison, having never been to "Fat Burger", I simply have to say that anyplace that lets you order a burger "animal style" gets my vote.

I received my copy a few days ago. At first glance, it looks to be a good introduction for someone who wants to do candy making at home. Many of the techniques are the same as in his first book, but the formulas have been scaled down to smaller, more manageable sizes for home kitchens. Further, each topic and formula discusses the "level of difficulty" on the 3-point scale; easy, medium, and difficult. While many of the confections are in the first book, there are a number of new twists or variations as well as some updated discussions of some of the topics. My first summary thoughts were that this looks like it would be fun to work through some things in these smaller batches with the new descriptions of the methods. I'm expecting that I may pick my first project this weekend.

If you have a stick blender, you may want to simply try that before adding yet another ingredient. Emulsions which are blended at high speed tend to stay that way for quite a while. Using the stick should get you there until you turn the custard. Not to mention it will save you from running all over the place looking for your emulsifier of choice.

I've never made ice cream with mascarpone but if were going to do so, I would put the whisk the mascarpone into the a custard base until smooth. An immersion blender should help with smoothing the mixture. After the custard cools, I would suggest straining it to get out any last bits that didn't melt/blend in. Good luck. Let us know how it turns out.

The place looks great! I hope everything comes in on time for you. I especially love the pictures with the commode in the hallway! What kind of sign-off do you need from the local government before you can open? Do you need to have the "kitchen" inspected for a license?

The peanut butter you are using may have a fairly high oil content. If you are using "natural" peanut butters, they tend to separate vs. some of the larger brands which are generally blended to prevent that. It's also possible you are seeing some "fat migration". My suggestion would be to make the centers a little "drier" than normal by adding a bit more powdered sugar and to pre-coat the product with tempered chocolate before dipping. Good luck!

I'm sure shelf life will vary by product, but once the bacon is WELL cooked and the fat rendered, there isn't much left to go rancid or otherwise spoil. The key is to get all of the fat out as that will spoil first as best I can tell.

I agree with you. My products generally do focus on "clean" flavors. In this case, when you have enough of your customers asking about something, it may signal the need to try it and determine if a market exists for something a bit more "exotic".

Tomric used to (and may still) carry a storage/shipping box with plastic tray inserts which have cavities to hold each individual piece. I can't find it on their web site (which despearately needs updating), but it may be in their catalog. If I can find it I'll let you know.

I saw this link today to an article at npr.org on how chocolate and bacon are making more appearances than ever. Anyone ever tried things like this? I dipped some bacon in dark chocolate a week or so ago after having a number of people ask me about it. I have to say, it wasn't terrible, but not my favorite result. Comments?

It is possible that you are "scalding" the chocolate by warming it in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time. Depending upon the power of your microwave, you could be burning some of the sugar in the chocolate which will cause small bits of burned sugar to "appear" throughout the mass. Try heating the chocolate more slowly. My rule of thumb is no more than 10 - 15 seconds at a time, stir, and then hit it again. Repeat the process until you have a smooth melted mass. I learned this the hard way, admittedly with white chocolate, but it took me forever to figure out what the little bits that would melt really were.

Did you need to make any changes to the formula or method? Do tell!

Since you're doing this at a beer factory, why not make a beer flavored ganache? Wybau has a nice formula for a "stout" (think Guiness) ganache that is rather tasty.

Perhaps one of your experiments could be to cook the sugar to a specific temperature, say "firm ball" instead of by time. I'm sure the combination of honey and brown sugar will give you the color, but the question is will the appropriate amount of water cook out at that temp?

Event Update Event Information Event: 2010 Candy & Confectionery Workshop Dates: Friday, 16 April 2010 - Sunday, 18 April 2010 Location: L'Academie de Cuisine, 16006 Industrial Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 2087 USA [map] Note: This event is not sponsored or endorsed by L'Academie de Cuisine. Fee: USD $150.00 This fee is intended to cover all facility rental, required staff labor, and materials (edible or otherwise) for the event. Any leftover funds at the end of the event will be donated to the eGullet Society. Accommodation Reservations should be made by Friday, 12 March 2010 in order to guarantee the group rate. Links have been provided for each hotel below. The links to the first 2 hotels will take you directly to the hotel web site with the appropriate group code. Springhill Suites - USD $64 - $104 including breakfast [map] Courtyard by Marriott - USD $64 [map] Homestead Studio Suites - USD $69.99 (kitchenette) [map] Call the hotel directly at +1-301-987-9100 and ask for the "eGullet Workshop" group block when making a reservation. Agenda (tentative as of 12 November 2009) Friday, 16 April 2010 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm Albert Uster Imports with Corporate Pastry Chef Drew Long Albert Uster Imports is a provider of pastry and chocolate products for the professional chef. They are located next door to L'Academie de Cuisine and have a long history with the school. Chef Logan and his staff will spend seveal hours with us discussing and demonstrating a topic as yet to be determined but which I believe will be fun and educational for us all. Chef Logan assumed his position at AUI in November 2009 after leading teams at a number of 4 and 5 start resorts. 7:00 - ??? Evening Social & Chocolate Tasting Show off your work! Bring a little something to share. We'll find a nosh or two and some wine and drinks and spend a little time getting to know each other better. Saturday, 17 April 2010 8:30 am Breakfast and Introductions 9:00 am - 12:00 pm TBD 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm Lunch 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm TBD 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm Cleanup 7:00 pm Group Dinner (TBD) Sunday, 18 April 2010 8:30 am Breakfast 9:00 am - 12:00 TBD 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm Lunch 1:00 pm - 3:30 pm TBD 3:30 - 4:30 Final Cleanup Attendees as of 18 November 2009 Yes lebowits beacheschef David J. chocoera Marmish Kerry Beal RobertM psantucc tammylc pringle007 Linda S Desperately wanting to Darienne Lior Maybe emmalish Beth Wilson Desiderio cmflick MelissaH

You've certainly offered a VERY generous contribution. My first thought would be do what you can as early as you can. The fundamental issue will be your work space, refrigerated space (if needed), proofing space, and most of all, oven space. You should consider the rising, resting, and baking times of each dough. If you can do retarded (e.g. refrigerated) rises on doughs, this will lengthen your schedule and allow you to start earlier, but you'll also need to account for getting the dough back up to room temp and letting it get it's final rise before baking. Make a schedule that tells you WHEN you need to be doing each task and work to that plan. If things deviate a little bit, don't get flustered, but continue to move through the list so you stay organized. Finally, don't setup everything Friday night. Take the bits that won't get stale and stake out your space. Then if you want to get up at "oh dark 30" (meaning VERY early AM), do so to bake off your breads and let them cool before taking them in on Saturday. You've got an ambitious week ahead of you! Best of luck, and most of all, DON'T PANIC!

I personally am incredibly weak in this area. I've only done it one (and poorly at that) several years ago in a 5 day class. The issue will be finding someone who is actually GOOD at this who can both demonstrate and coach others. Any volunteers?

I disagree to some extent with your conclusion that it is about "competition". I believe it is more about being a "game show" with all the fake drama of "Survivor". While I love cooking and have enjoyed cooking shows, I want to learn something. Maybe I'm a minority in this respect.

Welcome Linda! I hope you find the discussions here worthwhile. We look forward to hearing about what you're doing and helping with your questions.

I think the spray guns would be an excellent idea. I also appreciate the other folks offering to bring equipment. We'll have to coordinate that as we get closer to the event. While it's hard to have TOO MUCH, I don't want to ask people to carry a great deal only to have it sit on or under a table the whole weekend. Thanks for all the offers! I truly appreciate it.

Event Update Event Information Event: 2010 Candy & Confectionery Workshop Dates: Friday, 16 April 2010 - Sunday, 18 April 2010 Location: L'Academie de Cuisine, 16006 Industrial Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 2087 USA [map] Note: This event is not sponsored or endorsed by L'Academie de Cuisine. Fee: USD $150.00 This fee is intended to cover all facility rental, required staff labor, and materials (edible or otherwise) for the event. Any leftover funds at the end of the event will be donated to the eGullet Society. Accommodation Reservations should be made by Friday, 12 March 2010 in order to guarantee the group rate. Links have been provided for each hotel below. The links to the first 2 hotels will take you directly to the hotel web site with the appropriate group code. Springhill Suites - USD $64 - $104 including breakfast [map] Courtyard by Marriott - USD $64 [map] Homestead Studio Suites - USD $69.99 (kitchenette) [map] Call the hotel directly at +1-301-987-9100 and ask for the "eGullet Workshop" group block when making a reservation. Agenda (tentative as of 12 November 2009) Friday, 16 April 2010 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm Albert Uster Imports with Corporate Pastry Chef Drew Long Albert Uster Imports is a provider of pastry and chocolate products for the professional chef. They are located next door to L'Academie de Cuisine and have a long history with the school. Chef Logan and his staff will spend seveal hours with us discussing and demonstrating a topic as yet to be determined but which I believe will be fun and educational for us all. Chef Logan assumed his position at AUI in November 2009 after leading teams at a number of 4 and 5 start resorts. 7:00 - ??? Evening Social & Chocolate Tasting Show off your work! Bring a little something to share. We'll find a nosh or two and some wine and drinks and spend a little time getting to know each other better. Saturday, 17 April 2010 8:30 am Breakfast and Introductions 9:00 am - 12:00 pm TBD 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm Lunch 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm TBD 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm Cleanup 7:00 pm Group Dinner (TBD) Sunday, 18 April 2010 8:30 am Breakfast 9:00 am - 12:00 TBD 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm Lunch 1:00 pm - 3:30 pm TBD 3:30 - 4:30 Final Cleanup Attendees as of 16 November 2009 Yes lebowits beacheschef David J. chocoera Marmish Kerry Beal RobertM psantucc tammylc pringle007 Desperately wanting to Darienne Maybe emmalish Lior Beth Wilson Desiderio cmflick

In the caramel formula I use from Greweling, he calles for 500g sugar and 400g grams glucose to which 390g of sweetened condensed milk is added. Once you can account for the sugar in the milk product you have a ratio. I'm guessing that the total sugar in all that that (sugar + SCM) is on the order of 600 - 700g which would give 400/700 or 57%. You might try a couple of experiments with different ratios and see what works best.

I agree with Richard. Sounds like crystallization. The addition of glucose (or corn syrup) will inhibit this for a time. Invert sugar should work better and you can make it yourself.

Would those interested in attending post a reply indicating the type of chocolate(s) you use in your work? Additionaly, would you be willing to bring a modest amount of these chocolates so the group could do a "formal" tasting? We could also fill out a few gaps for some of the more well known chocolates by purchasing them for this purpose if we have enough projected funds.