aguynamedrobert

Hello Everyone, I am in need of some assistance. I was wondering if anyone knew of some Fine Food Stores and upscale grocery stores in the San Francisco Bay Area? Thanks in advance for the help,

You major different will be the amount of Heavy Whipping cream in each recipe...The one that needs to be lighter should have a lot more than the dense one. That is my suggestion.... Have a good one,

Sorry for the extremely long delay! But here is a great recipe.... 27 oz - Almond Paste 20 oz - Sugar 20 oz - Butter ----------------- 25 oz - Eggs ----------------- 9 oz - All Purpose Flour 1)Start with the Almond Paste...Cream that in a mixing machine(you can soften it by adding just a small quantity of the eggs if necessary). 2)Cream the sugar into the almond paste and then cream the butter into that mixture. 3)Add eggs in 1-2 at a time as to not get lumps...wait till it incorporates and then add more. 4)Mix in the flour until everything is incorporated and then you can bake. Bake at 400 Degreees F on a flat sheet pan. You can then cut the different petit four pieces from that sheet layer. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Enjoy....

Which percent do you use? or do you use the two darks as well as the milk chocolate?

Hey Everyone, I just got a hold of a chocolate that isn't as well known. It is in the El Rey Line of chocolate. It is their Rio Caribe line. One of their chocolates in a 60.5% and it was fantastic. I usually don't like to go that low with percentages but this one really brought out some flavor at the low percent. Anyone else tried this line yet?

Hey Everyone, I put together three tough chocolate questions at this link: http://chocolateguild.com/vb/showthread.php?t=194 It's time for fine chocolate trivia...See if you are a Chocolate Wiz!!!

Yeah I agree...probably 5 days to keep it in the fridge...Try making some Cream Puffs....you can make some quick shells, fill them, and presto....you got another dessert...

Usually when tempering white chocolate you want to bring it down to a lower temperature. If you are doing the "seeding" method you want to leave the chocolate chunks in the chocolate until around 86 Degrees F.... What is your procedure right now?

I just looked that product up and it would seem that they don't Roast their beans. This will leave a flavor that is not a great chocolate flavor as we know it but should contain some chocolate flavor....I would be eager to try it to see if their was any taste or if it was just for health...

Yeah I have seen a few people look into raw cacoa products but I just don't see it. First it must be fermented which brings up the temp(but not sure if it is over the limit). Then it must be roasted which brings it way over the "Raw" standards...so this one is tuff. We would really have to see the procedures. If they didn't Ferment and didn't roast the beans then it isn't even going to taste like chocolate anyway.

Has anyone made their own "Maraschino cherries". So have you actually pitted cherries yourself and made a simple syrup with whatever flavor you want and marinated them for a few weeks? I am very interested in doing this and making some cherry cordials out of it... I know how to do this but I was wondering what flavors people had tried...

Even if you boiled all the water out of the sugar mixture it wouldn't matter...just for the fact that the sugar pulls moisture from the air(hygroscopic) so it wouldn't matter what is still left in the sugar candy. It matters what the humidity of the air is... Have a good one,

Hello, First off, the reason why your caramel is getting sticky is because sugar is "hygroscopic". Meaning it attracks sugar from the atmosphere around it to itself. This will happen when you have a candy that primarily sugar. Since a caramalized sugar piece is almost all sugar this is why it gets sticky quick...there is no way around it unless you use different types of sugar(which are not as good or as good for you). I would just suggest making the caramel pieces close to when serving...Just be in the least humid place you can be and store them air tight if you ever need to store them. Hope this helps....

Just a heads up for everyone....Cost Plus World Market is going to be expanding their chocolate selection this fall to include a 3-4 great new brands...They are not all set in stone so I won't list them yet but they are all fine chocolate. That will make them one of the best places to get fine chocolate after that... Just keeping you guys posted...

The cake looks good...very clean. No big mistakes or anything...Looks very nice. Are you in culinary school right now?

Ummmmm Kerry those Pate de Fruit look good...I'm a big fan of those...More people should really try those...

I have not taken his class personally but I have known of the man for many years now. He is extremely famous not because of just being in his position but because he is one of the most knowlegeable people when it comes to making chocolates. I would say that the money is very well worth it...

Thanks for everyone's responses so far...I am going to be doing some testing soon to see if this whole idea even works together or if they are just not a good match... Thanks again...

Well I was feeling like I needed to make some truffles since I hadn't for a while...so I got my thinking cap on and tried a nice batch of raspberry truffles...I used real raspberries and reduced them down and then added that liquid to the cream and then formed the ganache...I coated them, old fashioned style, in cocoa powder.... So I thought I'd post some pics...

Hey Everybody, Is anyone watching the Season Premier of Hell's Kitchen tonight? I'm hoping this season turns out good...A lot of times these shows just go for drama so I am hoping this season has some good chefs with good attitutes... Anyone else watching?

Whole milk in the USA is 3.25% butter fat and I think the Europe is the same or very very close.

The one hard thing when making Gelato is the texture...You can make the flavor very good but without the proper machine you can't make true gelato. Gelato's air content in much lower than ice creams so you need a different machine that usually costs A LOT more money... Just my two cents... If you ever really get into gelato making then try an Emery Thompson Machine.

I'm not very familiar with the Olivier brand...could you tell me a little about it?

Well I just tasted the first Askinosie Chocolate bar which is from Ecuador. It is a 70% with 2% added cocoa butter(within the 70%). It definitely had the Ecuador flavor that is common. They didn't destroy the flavor at all...the flavor is ver potent and noticeable. I am not the greatest fan of this flavored chocolate so I didn't like it a great deal but the overall quality and taste is there. So someone that likes more of the Ecuador flavors will really enjoy this bar!

Oh woops...I haven't been on this post for a little bit...I will try to get that recipe tomorrow or the next day and post it up for your guys...Delicious!