Chocolot

You are adding the fruit to the ganache, rather than using it as part of your liquid? I think you need to get a good formula and work with that.

Do they crack immediately or after a few days?

Can anyone tell me the traditional texture of Greek lemon rice? Is it like risotto, pilaf or sticky-like?

I need to make lemon rice for an event tomorrow. I have a basic recipe and made it, but not sure what the final dish should look like. Mine was a bit like risotto. Wondering if that is correct, or should it be individual grains more like pilaf?

Mark, You bring up an interesting point. I have used Mycryo for years and yes, it does work, but no where near as well the the silk. You have to be very precise on temperatures and amounts. I have never been fully happy with the residual unmelted lumps. The EZ is pricey, but it is so easy to use. The temps are not as critical nor the amounts. I have been using the EZ since May and REALLY like it. Today, I am making 6 1500 gm batches of ganache. With the silk, I will be able to cut the ganache and have it ready to enrobe in hours, not days. With Mycryo, I would be fighting lumps. Is the EZ necessary to produce tempered chocolate and ganache? No, but it is so much easier and foolproof, especially when you need something quick. I am a fan!

Anyone do whole cranberries? How did they do?

I think you need it to be firm to cut. If the ganache is soft, the nuts will drag, not cut. IMHO.

That ratio will be pretty soft. I usually go 2.5 to 1 on milk chocolate. I would think the nuts would just squish through the ganache if soft. Also, tighten your wires if you are afraid of breaking. I like them to all play the same note, but I'm strange that way:)

Kerry, Was the chocolate liquid when you put it in the ez? Liquid and in temper, or solid and in temper?

I use thermometers from Thermoworks, either their handheld thermocouple or Thermapen and haven't had a problem.

Sounds like a good pan. I will be at Disneyland from October 12-19. Other than that time, you will be welcome.

Willow, you are welcome any time! I have three Savage 50# semi-auto tempering machines and I won't be getting rid of them, but the EZ is really amazing. Tuesday, I had 50 molds to back. I had set my melters to about 5 degrees over ideal to hold over night. Next morning, I thought (wrongly) that if I lowered the temp and turned on the agitation, that by the time I was ready, the chocolate would be in good enough temper to back the shells. I tested and it was not ready. The temp was ok, but the choc was spotty. I opened up my trusty EZ, and not knowing how much chocolate I had in each machines, I guessed. I mixed the silk with some of the chocolate then poured into the machine. I did this for both dark and milk. By the time I had cleaned up the bowls, I retested, and both were perfect! I backed over 900 pieces in less than an hour. While my photo is less than stellar, you can see that the top one in milk choc is spotty, second one ok. Second set is dark, and you can possibly see that the first one is spotty, but not the next one. These were taken less than 3 minutes after adding silk. I had about 20# of choc in each melter. Come on down and we will get Casino Cassidy and Romina to come play.

I see some wonderful Beehive Cheese:)

Hey Cowboy, The CB was totally melted and then allowed to set up. When it was in the EZ, it was very soft, but worked. What do you think is going on?

Kerry asked me to experiment, so I did. Each sample is from the same block of cocoa butter. The red spatula is from cb that has been in the EZ for several weeks, blue is from tempered cb that I did a few days ago, green is from untempered cb from a few days ago.I poured the cb into glass jars and allowed them to set up. Yesterday, I put a jar of each tempered and non tempered cb in the EZ. Stirred them once last night and again this morning. I measured the chocolate and put the same amount of silk in each one at the same temp. This only took a few minutes. Stirred a few times and spread out. I can't tell any difference between the cb's. Untempered did as well as tempered. Interesting that the spatulas still have areas where the seeded chocolate didn't get. Shows dramatically the difference between tempered and non tempered chocolate. From this very unscientific experiment, I don't think the EZ cares what shape the cocoa butter is in. Tempered or non tempered was the same.

Do you want me to put them in now, or wait a few weeks?

Todays fun was with old cocoa butter. Kerry got me thinking. I bought 55lb of cocoa butter at a very good price, but it was several years old. It was all in one block and I had to chip off what I needed. I hammered off about 10 lbs and put it in a black bucket with a lid and paced it outside in the hot sun. Periodically, I poured off what was melted. It was 98F when I started to play. I cooled down to 93, added 2% EZ temper silk and stirred until 91F. Poured into old jelly jars. After about 5 minutes, put in fridge. Second batch, before I seeded, I poured one jar without any silk. I really didn't think there would be much difference, but as usual, I was wrong. The jar that wasn't seeded, set up, but as you can see, it did not contract away from the jar, and is mottled. The jars that were seeded with silk, are in beautiful temper and will even slide out of the jar. My plan is to just put the jar of CB in the EZ temper and leave it for a day or two. I think it will be an easy way to get silk.

Since the kids and grandkids will be over tomorrow, I decided I needed some treats for them. I've been playing with the Eztemper, but mostly with dark chocolate. Today, I made some crackle bar by adding Rice Krispies to milk chocolate. It only took 15 minutes from 100F degree chocolate to finished bars. The Eztemper silk is a beautiful thing. Less than 5 minutes later Finished 15 minutes total!!

The reason you can find glaze and not polish, is all about shelf life. The glazes last forever (almost), while the polish is only good for a few weeks or months. Get some samples, because you can't buy in small quantities. Store in refrigerator.

Where can I get an inverter for the car?

No, they don't need a precoat. They do tend to stick together, so you have to keep them separated. Jean Marie had us roll some fruits into balls so they coat more evenly. Have fun!

It is really just that easy. Every time I use it, I get ready for a fail. Just the pessimist in me, I guess. It just seems so unbelievably easy!! You still need to melt out any bad crystals, but then you can walk away and wait for the temp to drop. Since you are working a few degrees above the "normal" temps, you have that much more time to work with the chocolate. You will still have to warm it up occasionally, but it seems to last longer. I think Kerry suggests you add more warm, untempered chocolate to warm it up. With the ugly mess I played with yesterday, (above) I really thought I would have some problems. Nope, just followed the same plan. Just stirred in the silk, waited a minute and poured into the pan. Easy!!

So, a few weeks ago I cleaned out the pan on my enrober. It has been some time since I did this. There was a thick goo of chocolate that I scraped out. Not wanting to waste this, I decided to try to salvage it. I heated it up to over 120F. Stirred and stirred. It was thick, so added some melted cocoa butter. I got the temp down to 93F, added 1% silk from EZtemper, stirred a few times and poured out. I am more than happy with the results. Considering the volume (2300 grams) and the latent heat, I thought it turned out great. I can now use it for ganaches. I just can't believe what the silk does. I have seen it many times, but I'm always surprised when it actually tempers the chocolate so easily. Thanks Kerry!!!

What you have made is a gianduja. It will always harden. Try making a ganache and adding peanut butter.

So did you have to do anything but shake the bottle? Just put in the EZ and walked away?