ejw50

l'epicerie sells atomized glucose for $4.60 lb. or $33.95 for an 11 lb. bag. chefrubber has the glucose powder for $3.50 for 500g or $25.00 for 11 lbs. or $70.00 for 50 lbs. bulkfoods.com sells dextrose for $3.49 lb. or $7.91 for 5 lbs. or $33.40 for 25 lbs. but they don't carry the glucose powder. ← L'epicerie subbed dextrose for Atomized glucose in my order, then tried to claim they were the same. They cited Greweling. On the advice of his former student on egullet, I emailed Greweling, who replied (as HQAntithesis said) they are not the same, it depends on the DE. Still didn't get my money back, still couldn't get an exchange set up. L'Epicerie does not reply to the BBB either. Buyer beware.

I agree with Jeanne, who does great work by the way. She returned (or was going to return) a package of white chocolate to her vendor because it smelled old. I think a lot of companies would not take that return. At my company, we do a lot of purchasing, computers and otherwise. Our purchasing department has learned to live with a few extra dollars of cost in exchange for no hassles and no hassle return policies. The time you lose (and opportunity cost you lose) in mistake purchases is just not worth it.

very interesting and great find!

Essentially it's a tube within a tube, chocolate in the outer tube and filling in the center tube. As it comes down it deposits chocolate, then deposits filling, then finishes with chocolate. This results in a filling surrounded by chocolate. I suspect if the viscosities were very different that issues of leakage would ensue as the filling might try to float on the still liquid chocolate. ← so it's used for shell molding? With the difference between that the shell doesn't harden first before filling?

can anybody who has seen these explain how they work? For example, why do the filling and chocolate have to be close to each other in viscosity?

great thread and explanation, totally new to me.

OK did a quick check: jbprince 71.55 (63.70 + 7.85 shipping) PIE website 46.23 euro(book) + 2.77 euro (VAT) + 10euro (shipping) = 59 euros = 83.68 I'll prob try to pick up a copy when I get on a more reliable connection.

Latest issue of Dessert Professional (the fusion of pastry arts+Design, chocolatier and one other) lists funkin as selling these too. Shelf stable unopened for 1 year, 7-10 days opened according to the ad. www.funkin.us Note, I know nothing about this product or their service, just noting another example of this type of product.

I'll be waiting for Rob's review!

Sweet! If you make foiegras pop tarts, be sure to come back with pics and a taste report!

I'd be interesting in hearing from somebody who used them too. I can't believe they'd perform the same as frozen. If I were guessing, I'd guess they're like UHT milk you buy in Europe, or drink boxes you'd buy here. I could be totally wrong of course.

For home, I do this (except with a foodsaver) and stick in freezer. For trips, I do this plus bubble wrap. I take the boxes with me and put in boxes there.

My opinion is no. - For a small one, it's not enough capacity to do molded chocolates, unless you do as Lior does and constantly add melted chocolate to it. The 'container' is not big enough to dump your excess chocolate directly either. Any speed increase or streamlining helps, especially in a long day of making chocolates. - For a big one, it's way more expensive than the mostly equivalent Mol D'art melter. - ACMC (which I also have) works great, and is cheaper. Maybe a little less glamorous or fancy, but it does the whole temperature control thing and is rock solid reputation. - Once you get better, I don' t think the temperer does anything a mol d'art doesn't do except for filter out the little chunks of seed chocolate better (IMO). To put my opinion in context, I am not a pro and my output capacity is 12 molds of chocolates/day (or else 24) when I do it.

Finale in Boston is a small chain (3-4 or so) and is mostly dessert http://www.finaledesserts.com/ I don't think they do courses, but they do have a few items ($30 or so) that have 7-8 things on the plate and are meant for sharing. They also have a few sandwiches/pizza and little things like that. But mostly desserts. They also have take out bakery. Location for the main branch is key - it's in the theater district, so people go after they go to the shows. Same for the second branch - it's in Harvard square where there's lot of (rich) students on dates looking for this kind of thing.

Pretty pics! Did you study chemistry in school? I was a chemist in undergrad. I find that I can put my ganache in vacuum bags in the freezer. Then I put the bags in warm water and they'll heat up to 86 or so, without breaking the ganache. Cut a corner out of the bag, and there's your piping bag. The cold room actually helps with chocolate crystallization after coating or after filling the mold. I think the thing here is to either use a hair dryer to melt out some of the crystals in the 'shelling' chocolate, or else stick a tiny bit in the microwave at a time.

I scrape them one way - then turn them over on the other side. It balances out - they are never thicker on one side. ← What is the advantage of putting them on their side? ← I think better cooling might be one factor. And of course I saw JP Wybauw do it that way - and I've been doing it that way ever since. Molds placed face down on parchment can trap heat. As the chocolate fully crystallizes, the latent heat of crystallization is given off. Probably not a huge problem with little molds, but enough heat can be generated in an easter egg mold to throw the chocolate at the top of the mold out of temper. ← David asked Wybauw about this, and he (Wybauw) also recommends the face down parchment technique http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=95787

I've tried it but could not get it to work. It would not go through the sprayer. I added some cocoa butter; same non working. I've also seen Chef Friberg's recipe; if that works please let us know!

Chef Rubber has round and oval stencils http://shopchefrubber.com/home.php?cat=154...ection=0&page=1

I might suggest some baking favorites - fudge (the staple of tourists everywhere) - caramel corn Probably would stay away from strawberries, which will deteriorate in heat.

The way I do it when I see it is to measured it out by teaspoons (2.25 t = 7g) and then doubled and gone to the next unit of water. This is when the recipe gives in 'leaves' and you need to convert to Knox powder. That is, 1t gelatin + 2T water, sit, stir, heat in microwave for 15 seconds. I got this by comparing equivalent recipes from 'desserts by pierrer herme' and 'the patisserie of pierre herme'

along these lines, saw a neat technique in one pastry mag - first do this technique. Then do it again. Now you have a tube of mousse/coulis/whatever inside another tube of mousse.

thanks all for the pics!! Question for anybody who was there - can anybody give their thoughts on the alternative spatter techniques on John's page http://www.depaulaconfections.com/CandyConf.html? Like it more? Less? different effects?

These are really cool places, have you been to any of these restaurants? ← Yeah, red bean paste. You see it in a lot of desserts in China/Taiwan/Hong Kong. I went to Hutong. Thought decor was awesome, their signature dish (deboned crispy lamb ribs) was great, but the rest was just OK. The waiters did not speak that great English and did not understand very well. Yan Toh Heen was terrific. My wife and I took a Dim Sum class with Chef for $200 total (not each, total). We got 2 hours of his time and it included lunch afterwards. It was a ridiculous steal. Can you imagine going to NY and getting 2 hours of time with the head chef at a top restaurant? Well that's what this was. At dinner, food was outstanding, view is incredible, service was impeccable.

I got mine. They were out of Icoa in the discos, so they sent it to me in bars. They were going to unwrap it and break the bars into squares! But I said it was fine as is. I got about 1.6 lbs bonus. I'm a new buyer.

haha that is pretty funny! Sad but funny.