Chris Hennes

Yeah, that demo was very helpful. My problem was that I was getting a little too vigorous when I tapped the chocolate to the surface to pull the excess off and sometimes would lose balance of the chocolate on the fork. I was trying to place the chocolate right at the edge of the fork tines, overhanging a little to make it release cleanly when I put it on the parchment, and sometimes it was just overhanging too far to be stable.

I made a half recipe, so I just directly scaled the metric units by 0.5. Of course, I made the thickness the recipe specified, just cut the area in half (I used 8x9 instead of 12x12). I think after casualties and "samples" I ended up with about 60. Yeah, that's a good idea. I did pre-coat the bottoms (which was also a challenge, to spread out evenly before it hardened...), but I didn't think to try to identify the dropped truffles' bottoms any way but visually, which was a losing battle.

I love both, but when I'm making them at home, the real cheese is the only option. In my opinion if you really have to struggle to separate a chip, there is too much cheese.

Alas, living in East Nowhereville, I have no access to fresh tortillas or chips unless I make them myself, which doesn't quite fit the late-night snack food motif . I even make the taco meat ahead and freeze it. That said, I am really quite fond of the Tostito's Naturals Blue Corn chips - they are just the right thickness and saltiness for nachos, in my opinion. Of course, in my continuing quest for better nachos, I am willing to branch out on my chip selection...

Thanks - of course, I picked the one decent-looking specimen to photograph . I really appreciate all of your willingness to post your tips and tricks -- it's not like I'm really starting from ground zero here. I read through this entire thread before getting started, so I had a leg up. Lots off good info here and over in the other confections threads. Of course, no one mentions how hard it is to tell the top of a ganache when it falls off your fork after it's been covered in chocolate. I think several of today's attempts are sideways or upside-down .

That makes sense - thanks. The tiny air bubbles I was worried about are completely unnoticeable in the finished confections, but I will be careful when I am using the blender to do the mixing. I need to decide what to do next... I've done rochers, hand-rolled truffles, marshmallows, and slabbed ganache truffles. Obviously I need to keep working on general technique, but what should I do next in my progression through the techniques in the book?

I know, I know, nachos are junk food. This psuedo-Mexican pile of random toppings on stale chips probably doesn't belong in the lexicon of "perfect foods." But I must admit... I love the *idea* of nachos. Crisp salty chips, melted cheese, cold guacamole: it sounds like heaven to me. Add some meat at it's practically dinner. So begins the quest for perfect nachos. And I'm not talking about some high-concept lobster-and-gouda "nachos". I'm looking for your basic late-night junk food nachos, but with decent ingredients and proper proportions. The search begins here: Cabot monterrey jack, Cabot habañero, pickled jalapenos, Cook's Illustrated's recipe for taco meat, and Tostitos Natural corn chips (I prefer the blue, but the local Wegmans only has them in stock sporadically): Proportion is key: too much meat and the chips get soggy. Too many jalapeños and you can't taste anything else. Chips too salty? Same problem. Too much cheese? It congeals before you've finished and overwhelms the dish. Best served with homemade guacamole and salsa. While better than the garbage at the local sports bar, it's still not quite the stuff of legends. So, how do *you* make nachos?

I had planned on using the E. Guittard white chocolate, but chocosphere is out of stock right now, so I just used the Ghiradelli that the local Wegmans sells. I need to buy some cocoa butter too, for other projects, so then I will at least have some options. I finished the habanos this morning (photos here): While it remains painfully obvious that I need more enrobing practice, at least toward the end I figured out what the problem with the streakiness in my chocolate was: the heating pad, when cased into a bowl and wrapped around the chocolate, was simply getting too warm and untempering the chocolate bit by bit. Once I solved that the streakiness went away.

Do I need to be concerned about working air into the ganache? I noticed that the white chocolate ganache ended up with a lot more tiny bubbles than the dark, but I don't know yet how this affects the finished texture.

I started the Habanos last night - it's a slabbed ganache so it has to crystallize overnight, so no pics yet, I'm afraid. I was very careful to ensure that the chocolate for the ganache was properly tempered (I think I under-agitated the coating for my marshmallows), and it made a big difference in how quickly it set up - it was plenty firm enough for the second layer after an hour's rest. I have a newfound respect for those of you working with white chocolate - what a pain! It is so thick! I was trying to temper it using the seeding technique, which I have used successfully for dark and milk, but I could not get all the pieces to melt out, even after a lot of agitation at 86 degrees F. I was a bit disappointed by the lack of habanero flavor and heat in the dark chocolate ganache - I think maybe I misunderstood the recipe, or had a "dud" habanero - there is no heat to speak of. Oh well...

I realize this thread is a little long in the tooth by now, but around these parts that doesn't seem to dissuade anyone, so here goes... Last night I tried the Fernet Branca Cocktail from DeGroff's "The Craft of the Cocktail" -- 2 oz gin 1/2 oz Fernet Branca 3/4 oz sweet vermouth Flamed lemon peel for garnish (surprise, surprise...) Not a "beginner's" drink by any means, but by the end of it the thing was growing on me... Edit: spelling

That's good advice - I could have used it last night . I knew I was forgetting some piece of information I have gleaned from these forums over the past weeks... the chocolate started to build up on my fork and the tines quadrupled in size... it made the last truffles a bit unstable.

Doh! Why didn't I think of that? I hate to waste leftover chocolate, but I have been just pouring it onto a sheet of parchment and spreading it thin, then breaking it up and returning it to the box! Using it to make something like mendiants (or maybe rochers) is a great idea - thanks!

Thanks - I promise, you do in fact have the "right tools" - I took an old dinner fork and bent the middle two tines back to give a two-pronged fork, which I then used to dip the marshmallows. I kept the chocolate at the right temperature by setting the bowl on a heating pad set to low, but I don't think that is even really necessary. I still have much learning to do, but at least I feel like I'm making progress, and the mistakes are edible!

I'm a little surprised by how few people here on eGullet have tried making hard cheeses - I would have thought that since the basic ingredients and equipment are easy to come by that there would be more experimenters out there -- it's a fun thing to tell other people you make, as well. I get surprised looks when I mention that the mayonnaise or the marshmallows are homemade, but when people find out the cheese is homemade, that's a whole different level. Plus, when it works, it tastes great!

They are cut out with the tiniest biscuit cutter I have - they are about the size of regular jumbo marshmallows, but have scalloped edges. It was a pretty wasteful way of doing things, but they do little neat . Ah, that could be it. The chocolate was a blend of some leftover Ghiradelli I had, which I brought to 120 F and then seeded with the E. Guittard I have been using of late. The chocolate was definitely thicker (at least, in the bowl) than I was used to using just the E. Guittard, although the coating on the finished marshmallows was perfect - not too thick at all, but not so thin as my previous attempt at hand-coated truffles (these were dipped, obviously). Do you all pre-bottom the marshmallows?

OK, I thought since I'm just learning confectionary that I would jump on the bandwagon with Nightscotsman's marshmallows (the vanilla variety, since my wife looked at me quite suspiciously when I suggested the strawberry...): The had a wonderful texture that I figured must be great covered in chocolate, and this seemed like it would be good enrobing practice, so here they are: I'm not sure if the streakiness on top is a flaw with the tempering or a result of getting potato starch in the chocolate... any thoughts? I've got more photos up at my website.

I picked up the Carroll book a year or so ago and tried to make the Monterrey Jack a couple times, without much success. At least, it doesn't turn out looking, feeling or tasting anything at all resembling supermarket (I'm going by Cabot here...) cheese. It wasn't bad, it was just useless for its intended purpose (Nachos). I've got a small wheel of cheddar aging right now, as well as another wheel of the MJ in an attempt to see if a much longer aging helps, but has anyone else tried this so I have a basis for comparison?

I have yet to meet a white that really improved with age beyond maybe a couple years (actually, seems to be true of many reds as well...), but as long as it was stored well and wasn't corked to begin with I would think it would keep drinkable for the decade or so it has been. Then again, most "thank-you" wine I have received has been, er, less than drinkable to begin with...

I used the wine cork that comes with the Vacuvins as an "adapter" of sorts. It works OK, though for only $10 the Reynolds gizmo is worth every cent. I just put the wine cork on the bag valve, held it there by lightly pressing down on the bottom section of the vacuvin, while pumping the vacuvin with my other hand. Takes a bit of finesse...

I can get it in the 36% fat content variety at the local Wegmans, but I have no access (that I know of) to 40% butterfat. As for what to make with it... you want something where the ultrapasteurization and subsequent denaturing of proteins doesn't matter, and the fat content will be helpful. I don't know much about ice cream, but it seems like it might be a good option.

Why on Earth do they ultra-pasteurize the "gourmet" product? That doesn't make sense to me... I would have expected the opposite.

I've got a long way to go before I can think about selling things... I have seen the quality of the chocolates produced by other eGullet forum members, and maybe in 5-10 years I can approach it, with a lot of practice. For now, I will try to avoid getting really fat by only making small batches .

Gift? You think I'm giving these away? These things taste GREAT... such a shame all my friends are out of town for the holidays. I will try to keep my perfectionism under control... thanks for the encouragement.

Nice, I see it now. Definitely on my list - I guess I have the second edition, not the first, and it is a superb textbook, though it sounds like they will be adding a lot of preparation photos to the new edition. CIA's books always have great photographs of the finished dishes, but as someone trying to "follow along at home" I appreciate photos of the steps along the way as well.