Tri2Cook

Not that it's really any of my business, but you're not going to risk an oops batch on somebody's wedding cake, are you? Unless you baked enough to be able to sacrifice a layer for tasting, there's no way I'd take that risk even knowing that it will probably be fine. Or maybe I just have some residual paranoia from my catering days caused by dealing with brides, best friends of brides and mothers of brides. But I'm guessing it turned out fine since you caught the mistake pre-oven.

There are no St. Patrick's Day corned beef bargains where I live either. The corned beef they usually bring in at the local grocery store this time of year is small, not all that wonderful looking and expensive. Makes it real easy to convince myself to make my own. Of course, brisket is never available her either so I have to use other cuts. But I cook it sous vide and I'm not a big fan of chewing on fat so using other cuts is fine with me.

Then I'll definitely have to get an order together soon. The temptation to order from the other site came from wanting, even though I'm a bit behind the curve on it, to try the Peru Ucayali River nibs. But Bhavhani has enough variety to keep me entertained.

I have no problem with taking the same lunch to work every day from home. As mentioned already, it's generally a matter of convenience and preparing in advance. What's strange to me is the people who go to the same restaurant and order the exact same meal for lunch every day. We have some of those where I work. I mean, yay for regulars and yay that they enjoy something we serve enough to eat it every day but I can't think of any meal at any restaurant that I would want to eat for lunch every single day Monday - Friday every week. Well, maybe a good taco place...

Your skills are plenty up to it. I know there are still a lot of tricks I can learn for getting even better results but to be honest, the basic task of making chocolate from nibs using the melanger is really simple. I've learned a few things along the way just through trial and error but the first batch I made turned out great... and it required some thinking and adjusting on the fly to achieve it. The cheap generic nibs I used as my first test run because I didn't want to risk the better ones at that point turned out to not produce a very pleasant tasting dark chocolate so I turned it into a high percentage milk instead by figuring out what I needed to work into the batch with what was already in there to reach that goal. I had zero experience whatsoever with making chocolate at that point and the result was very nice. I even managed to do it without having to pester Kerry with 10 billion questions like I often do. You'd be able to handle it just fine.

Very happy and I'll be getting more from him probably in the not too distant future. I see he has the Morogoro back in stock which is the only one I haven't tried, it was sold out when I ordered. There were just a couple specific varieties I wanted to try that I found at the other place. Bhavhani's stuff is awesome quality but there are only 6 varieties to choose from, the other place has 34 so I felt kinda like a kid on Christmas morning looking at that site.

Hmmm... not that it necessarily automatically translates but I was considering ordering some cocoa nibs from him in a couple varieties I'd like to try making chocolate with. Rancid cocoa butter could suggest not a lot of turnover which could also prove to be the case with the nibs. That would be a shame, I haven't had a lot of luck finding sources for nibs in a wide range of varieties outside of his site and I'm not really set up (with equipment or desire) right now to start working with whole beans.

For me, shorter is better... but this isn't for me. I just find me, alcohol and taller or top heavy glasses don't always make a good combination. Especially when drinking with others and not giving full attention to where my hand goes when reaching for my drink.

That's the primary chocolate I work with other than the stuff I make myself. If you're getting sticker shock from the Callebaut, you probably don't even want to look at the prices of the stuff most of the others here prefer to work with. I happen to live in an area where Callebaut is a far better chocolate than anything else sold locally so I can get away with it. And just in case you're going to ask, nope, making your own chocolate is not more economical than buying it. But it is more fun.

That looks amazing.. Awesome job!

Exactly that... and make those couple or few initial molds one design that you like and then, if you want variety, add more later. One thing I learned very quickly is that not having enough molds for the batch size you want to do sucks. I have enough of my primary mold to do the batch size I like to do but now I'm wanting enough of them to be able to shell batches in 2 or 3 different chocolates all in one shot so I can just fill + cap it all in another round and be done. I've already accepted that the correct amount of chocolate equipment to have is always going to be whatever you have now +1. And at whatever level you're able to add the EZtemper to your arsenal, you'll be glad you have it.

After grabbing a bottle of the Quarter Cask and then discovering just how much I did not like it, I was hoping mixing would be the secret for me as well. But that did not prove to be the case, I just couldn't find a way to like it. I tried a cocktail that I can no longer remember the name of that combined the Laphroaig in equal parts with 3 other ingredients and initially thought I was ok with it but a second attempt convinced me I was wrong... so I gifted the bottle to a friend who actually enjoys it.

That's really cool. I don't have need or desire for something like that but I'm looking forward to seeing what you get up to with it. And once you get settled in with it, I'll know where to go if I ever need something custom. Rather spend the money with you than elsewhere if that need arises.

The Mustache Ride … and I did make the spiced maple simple syrup called for despite the suggestion that it may not be worth the bother. The suggestion was that it may not stand up against the allspice liqueur but I don't know how my homemade allspice liqueur stands up against the commercial stuff so I just went all-in with the recipe and did everything. It calls for Bulleit bourbon which I don't have so Maker's had to do. Refreshing, kinda like a grownup spiced lemonade. Goes down really easy (Perhaps the inspiration for the name? ), I was surprised at how quickly I was looking sadly at the bottom of the empty glass. A big pitcher of it on a hot summer day could lead to trouble.

Try both and see which result you like better. And get really comfy with contradictory advice because everybody does what works best for them and sometimes that ends up being the complete opposite of what works best for someone else. I've found chocolate work to be far more forgiving than I expected it to be... within certain parameters... if the chocolate gods are in a good mood that day... until you get too cocky about it being forgiving... and then it reminds you who's boss and doesn't do what it did every time the last 200 times you did it that exact same way. Keeps it from getting boring.

Fire in the hole... which is probably going to take on an entirely different meaning tomorrow morning. The packages of fresh Thai chiles at the store didn't look like they had much in them so I grabbed two. There was more in there than I thought, wound up with over 50 chiles and, well, you know, waste not, want not. So they all went in. Actually not as bad as I was expecting. The Thai restaurant I frequented where I used to live had an off-menu heat level for the curries you could request that they called "Thai hot" which the server would try to convince you that you didn't want if she didn't know you as a regular who'd had it before. This one wound up about that same heat level so I was happy with it.

I used to put my heat gun on medium and give a couple quick passes a few inches above the mold just to knock the chill off, not actually warm it. That is, until I started seeing all of the posts from people taking professional classes where they were instructed that the room temp for chocolate work should be much cooler than I would have expected. After that, I thought it seemed kinda silly to chill the room way down and then heat the molds up so I quit bothering. To be honest, I have no idea if the people who took the classes and are using those cooler room temps heat their molds or not, so maybe I'm flirting with disaster. I don't think I was ever actually heating them all that much anyway, I haven't seen any negative effects since I quit doing it. But don't take anything I say about how I do any chocolate and confectionery work as advice... there seems to be quite a bit of "you can't do this" or "must do that" things attached to the craft that I sometimes completely ignore without, so far, any consequences.

Well, we know at least one person won't be attending if I were to ever host an eGullet gathering at my house. You were apparently more successful with your experiment than I was with mine. Several years ago, I made a Thai red curry sweet potato ice cream thinking I could balance things out so that the shrimp paste in the curry base would just appear as a savory note without being overtly fishy in the final result... I was wrong.

I use 12/13 gram (depending which website description you believe, I've never verified them for myself) domes for the majority of my non-bar stuff. Small enough for a single bite if desired/required (runny fillings), big enough for layering or plenty o' filling.

I feel kinda dumb admitting it but I've never considered that aspect of it, religious reasons people wouldn't want any form of alcohol in the chocolates. The only time I worry about it is when some of the chocolates will be going to my sister-in-law. She's a 20+ year sober recovering alcoholic who takes zero chances even after that much time. I respect that and accommodate it.

That's a tough one. I still wouldn't call it blueberry perfection but I'm basically doing it like a water ganache. I'm just using puree (made from local wild blueberries and sugar), glucose, white chocolate and a touch of citric acid. There's a blueberry liqueur available here that I thought about working into the ganache but it's pretty pricey for a small bottle. Maybe if I try my hand at making my own blueberry liqueur someday, I'll give that a shot. I've also toyed with the idea of adding freeze dried blueberry powder but that stuff's really expensive so it may never happen.

I will defer to what is almost assuredly greater experience but with the disclaimer that I have not come across any textural issues as a result of simply omitting the very tiny amount of liqueur generally called for in his recipes. Maybe the result is very slightly heavier in a side-by-side as a result but I've definitely never had anything end up grainy or lacking in smooth texture. But I'll try tossing in some milk the next time I have need to omit booze, so thanks for that tip!

Unless it's a recipe where the booze is a large part of the flavor profile, I just leave it out and don't replace it with anything if I'm going for a booze-free result. I suppose there is the possibility I'm sacrificing some shelf-life by doing that but I'm not at a point where that's a major consideration right now. My stuff isn't sitting on shelves in retail locations.

The "almost" makes that the understatement of the month. That stuff tastes like somebody filled a doctor's office with a 50/50 mix of iodine and booze, let it extract what it could for a few days and bottled it.

Yeah! Bros before... err... never mind. Never actually been a fan of that particular phrase. To be honest, if I was in Amsterdam with a pretty lady, eGullet would be lucky if they heard a peep out of me 'til I got back... so I think he's doing pretty good.