Natho

It's 2:13 in the morning for me and I really should have gone to bed 2 hours and 13 minutes ago but I have been unable to. The last 22 pages have been too fascinating..

I read or heard somewhere (probably on the internet so it MUST be true) that goat is the most eaten meat in the world.. I guess a lot must get eaten in the poorer parts of the world. I haven't had dog myself but my dad used to live in Indonesia and he ate it there, he said it was disgusting and that they made very hot curries out of it to mask the flavor, so I would agree with the previous statement that it is probably a meat of necessity. My next goat expedition will be braising some in red wine with olives. And then probably the harissa pizza again..

I love goat. It's great. Who else out there loves it? Whenever I mention it to people they always screw up there faces as if I am eating slug poo or something. When asked what the difference between goats and sheep are, the answer generally is "um... it's a goat! Thats disgusting, I can't believe you eat that!" Such prejudice.. If anyone has a favourite goat recipe I would love to eat it. My favourite so far is goat marinated in harissa for a couple of days, quickly fried and stuck on pizza. Yet to be topped for me.

Cool, thanks for the advice. I think I will try add more chocolate to it. It won't need much, it is just not quite solid enough. I strained my cream after I had heated it to remove all the seeds pulp etc, but I did wonder if it would have been good to have had some fruity bits in it anyway.

Question - I made some white chocolate and raspberry truffles, well i started to anyhow. I had a tin of raspberries (out of season here and couldn't afford the frozen ones for what was essentially an experiment) and drained them and then cooked them in with the cream, before straining the cream and adding the chocolate. However, the raspberries released rather more liquid then I anticipated into the cream and now the mixture is too runny to roll. Can I re-heat it and add more chocolate to thicken it? Or is it best too make some shells and use it as a filling?

My folks have just taken off overseas for 6 weeks leaving me to fend all for myself. Being the busy type (work study etc) i was thinking that the crock pot looked like it may be a good friend for the next month and a half. So if anyone has any good crockpot recipes I would love to hear them, especially anything hot/very spicy! Lay it on me.

I live in brisbane (unfortunate, I know) and we DID have an Essential Ingredient but it closed down. I know a few places that sell Callebaut couverture so I will see if they have any. No Simon Johnson in qld Thanks for the tip I will track it down somehow.

I believe the terminological (is that even a real word?) lines are a bit blured with these things depending on where in the world you come from. I have often seen one thing labeled as something in a book or website only to see it named something different somewhere else. Nougat and praline are chief offenders..

I have a really snooty chocolate book that has a large collection of recipes involving nougat paste. In this book, all the nougat is a mix of ground nuts, sugar and chocolate and according to the authors, comes in various nut/chocolate combinations and is readily available. Now seeing as this book is a reprinted german book, and I live in australia, I can assure you that this stuff is NOT readily available as far as I can see. All the nougat here is the white stuff with whole nuts in it. Does anybody know of a recipe/technique with which I could make this stuff? It sounds like a great ingredient to use.

I have heard heaps in various places about combining pepper and chocolate, so tomorrow I am going to make dark chocolate, black pepper and cinnamon truffles. My question is, how much pepper should I use? I will be using about 250 gm of chocolate (just a small batch) and I will add the cinnamon and pepper to the cream when heating it and leave it to infuse for a while. Also would whole peppercorns work fine or would cracked be better? I am scared of not being able to strain all the pepper out if I use cracked pepper. Any idead would be fantastic! Thanks.

Apple and caramel is a great combo.

Caramel cakes are so good.. I have a bad habit of making this caramel mud cake which is basically butter, brown sugar and white chocolate melted together and then made into a cake. Best cake ever. Better then a pie by far..

Do you mean the polycarbonate are good because they have 20 cavities and the plastic are bad because they don't have enough or vice versa? What kind of molds are you after?

Tooheys Old. The best.

Thanks heaps for the info everyone, I'll be checking it out for sure. Unfortunately I'm a student so the budget is a bit tight. I do however have access to 3d CAD printers and plastic vaccuum forming equipment at university, so I am looking at making my own molds. I'll be trying that avenue out some time soon..

They're just a fairly simple mold for the chilli ones (although I think I got a good temper this time - nice and shiny) and the hazelnut ones are just a standard ball, not much to look at realy. I am still working on flavors and techniques then I will go on to decorating better. I'll post some if I get a good batch crackin. I live in australia so it his hard for me to get hold of good hardware like quality molds etc. All I can ever find in kitchenware stores are crappy thin plastic molds with uber-cheesy shapes like love hearts with bows tied on them and a billion holiday themed molds. Still searching..

Hey peoples, I'm newish to the chocolating game but I'm keen to expand on my skills. This forum is a smashing place to do it.. I recently knocked up a batch of hazelnut and frangelico paste balls in dark and also tried my hand (as a result of a dare) at the chilli chocolate thing, I made a cream filling for molded chocolates out of coconut cream, grated root ginger, crystalised ginger, lime zest and juice, lemongrass, a fresh birdseye chilli and a kaffir lime leaf. The filling was great on it's own, nice flavours and plenty of bite but I don't think it sat well with the dark chocolate. Other people love them but I am unconvinced. Next stop Chilli, black pepper and cinnamon dark chocolate truffles..

If you are after a fondant for using in confectionary centres, heres a recipe from a candy book I have.. Approx 1 tbsp butter to grease pan 2.5 cups sugar 0.5 cup corn syrup 1.5 cups water -Lightly butter 9 x 13 inch baking pan and dampen slightly with water -Combine sugar syrup and water in medium saucepan over medium heat stirring ocasionally with a wooden spoon -When sugar dissolves cover pan for 5 minutes to wash down sides of pan with steam -After 5 minutes remove cover, clip on candy thermometer (make sure tip doesn't touch the bottom) and cook to 240 degrees -Remove from heat and pour into the greased pan -Lightly sprinkle water on top of fondant and cool at room temp to 125 degrees (about 40-45 min in a 72 degree kitchen) -Place fondant on a marble slab and work with a metal scraper by folding chopping and refolding until opaque and crumbly, normally about 7-10 min.