Tri2Cook

This course discussion has done nothing to reduce my ever-increasing pull towards just doing plain shells and calling it good enough. I've done chocolates during every season, warmer or colder than ideal, humidity higher than ideal, and had very little trouble at any point along the way as far as shine, snap and release go. So my mind is slowly starting to cast the colored cocoa butter in the role of the villain.

For some reason, I always automatically think "bleh" when someone mentions pickled herring. I've never been able to figure out why that is because as far as I can remember, I've never had it. I don't remember there ever being a pickled herring incident in my childhood that would have caused pickled herring inspired trauma to be buried in my subconscious... so I'm not sure where that comes from.

And the peanuts are much more salty than those in an O Henry.

Happens to me too but usually only when I try to be cheap and get more out of one pad than I probably should. If I switch them out as soon as they start looking a little ragged, it usually doesn't happen. Edit: Ok, just realized you said "cotton balls/pads and alcohol"... I've never actually done that. I just use the dry pads.

I've never tried to make soy sauce... but if I did, I think mold-encrusted "really really bad feet" would probably be somewhere in the neighborhood of where I would drop out.

Exactly. Payday is only worth eating when they're fresh. Which is why it occurred to me to try to create something similar. So that, if I get a hankering, I can make it myself and it will be fresh and with peanuts that are even more salty than those used on the commercial bar... which will make it even better. While I don't mind a Baby Ruth, it's not a viable replacement for the Payday. There's no chocolate involved with a Payday.

100% sure on that one. I've never even heard of the "Salted Nut Roll" until now. They were definitely Payday bars I was eating. I'm just assuming at this point that I'm less correct than I originally thought I was on the center. I was thinking about the pecan logs I sometimes ate when I was younger and whether the nougat center in those would work when it occurred to me that I'm mistaken on those as well. They didn't have a nougat center, it was divinity. So I think I'm just going to do a little experimenting and see what works for me and not worry about what's authentic.

See, that's what I remembered as well. And then the picture above showed up which prompted me to do a google search to see more pictures and they're all a darker color like the picture above as well. So I'm not sure now if my memory is faulty or if the Payday has changed.

So it is a darker color than I remembered. I really didn't remember a Payday being that dark inside so maybe I'm remembering it incorrectly all-around. I do know for sure there was no peanut butter flavor in the center so the copycat recipe isn't going to be accurate. Edit: I'm thinking a nougat would work just fine. I'm not trying to make a Payday, just capture the general idea of one. The center just needs to be tasty and able to support the caramel and peanuts, it's not really the star of the bar in my opinion.

Not sure because I've never noticed anything caramel-like about the center itself. It's white and doesn't have any caramel flavor that I can distinguish. But that's keeping in mind that the center is dipped in caramel and then coated in salted peanuts so the caramel coating may overtake any caramel flavor in the center itself. Edit: actually, the more I think about it, I'm not sure the center is white. I guess I need to order a couple to refresh my memory, that may make this a lot easier.

I'm wondering if the center for the pecan log in Ruth's book would be similar. May have to give that a try.

I don't know if it's actually considered a nougat or not, just the closest thing I can think of that's similar. It's soft but firm enough to be dipped in caramel and coated in salted peanuts and still maintain it's shape. There's no chocolate in it anywhere, center or coating. I have very little experience working with nougats so I'm not real sure what to try to compare it to. I haven't had one recently but I think it may be a little more firm than what's in a Snickers. I could be remembering incorrectly though.

Anybody have suggestions on which nougat or nougat-esque confection would be a good match for what's used as the base for the Payday bar? Edit: Payday bars are impossible to get where I live other than by mail order and, as anybody who is a fan of that particular bar knows, they're only good when really fresh which is never a guarantee when mail ordering. Plus, it could be entirely my imagination but the current Payday seems like it has much less salt on the peanuts than I remember them having when I was younger.

Ribs in the smoker was the plan for today until I finally accepted that the forecast for rain all day wasn't going to change and went with Plan B. Tossed a chuck roast in the crockpot, mixed a small can of tomato sauce and an even smaller can of tomato paste (infinitely superior to the fresh tomatoes available right now where I live) with some seasonings and an entire head of sliced garlic and poured that in, topped it with sliced onions, bell peppers and pepperoncini and a little of the juice from the pepperoncini jar and let it go on low all night last night. Shredded the meat this morning and put it back in the pot. Just going to leave it on "warm" and have sandwiches whenever the mood strikes today. Nothing exciting to look at but it's pretty tasty...

Absolutely beautiful. And that filling sounds really interesting as well.

I'd like to have room for inclusions but I want to use the same molds for everything, inclusions or not, so I don't want to get too thick. Not worried about fillings, hadn't considered layers but most of the molds I've been looking at are in the 7 - 9 mm range for depth which would be plenty for a couple layers if I decided to do that at some point. Kerry gave me a nice list of places to check, so I'm still looking through those. I found a couple I like on one site she suggested, a bit pricey compared to getting them on this side of the ocean but not unreasonably so. I'm waiting to hear from them regarding shipping. Their site isn't set up for calculating shipping to Canada or the US but apparently they do, just have to ask for a quote. I still have a couple more on the list to check out as well. Packaging isn't going to be an issue at this point. I know what I'm going to use just to get started and it's nothing fancy or costly. I'm not even close to a point where I'm going to be trying to get things in stores or anything so labeling beyond what it is won't be an issue for now. Just going to be word-of-mouth sales and local markets and craft shows and the like, so I'm not going to invest too heavily in anything until I see how it goes.

Something I'm learning as I start into a new (to me) area of the chocolate experience... simple, not elaborate or artsy, polycarbonate bar molds in the 60 - 75 gram range are incredibly difficult to find other than the break-apart-rectangles type, which isn't really what I had in mind. I'm close to admitting defeat and using that type anyway.

No, I do not expect an answer and I understand completely why I won't get one... I know full-well that this is from an online course that is not free that several here are currently taking part in. But with all the impudence that I can muster... In all honesty, I wouldn't need the answer even if I could have it. I'm quite sure that's above my skill level. But I felt like somebody had to be the smartass that asked.

That's pretty cool. I'm not into doing showpieces mainly because I don't seem to have much of the sculptor side of artsy in me, didn't do too well during the phase where I attempted to learn cakes that look like something besides cakes either. But I like seeing the showpieces those with the talent to do them create, they're always impressive and somewhat jealousy inducing.

Small, simple and cheap combined with fast, accurate and sturdy. I think you may have pick one... but hopefully somebody knows about a machine that will fit those needs.

That doesn't even sound like it needs recommendations... just go to the ol' Mart de Wal and pick one up for next to nothing. If it burns out in a couple years or so, go grab another for another next to nothing and onward and forward you go.

That's a beauty. I'm sure I could pull off the "whooooooole lot of swearing" part... but that'd be about it.

Must be a theme for the evening. I didn't take a picture but me and the kid made pizza tonight. Pepperoni for her. Mine was mushroom, Vidalia onion, red bell pepper, habanero and cashews.

I'm not too keen on the idea of pineapple in my crawfish boil. But I'm not big on having it on pizza either. Having said that, a crawfish boil with friends and good beer is one of my all-time favorite things and crawfish in any form are not available where I live so, as HungryChris said, if I found out someone was having a crawfish boil locally, pineapple wouldn't keep me away. The closest I've come to seeing what I considered unusual was a friend who used to toss some hot dogs in with everything else for anyone who didn't want crawfish. That's probably not all that unusual but I've never been to a boil that strayed far from the usual suspects.

Yes, please!