Chocolot

Dominique Ansel Bakery. Special case. GWBYLS and Tandem chocolates at the Grove. Cronuts Chocolot and Gwbyls at Smorgusburg. Notice our Dominique bags. We each enjoyed a Pork belly taco. Messy and delicious. Then, it was off to Grand Central market in downtown. We had to walk around to find room to eat again at Eggslut. This is my Egg salad. The other two got the Eggslut—soft poached egg over mashed potatoes with slices of baguette. Then it was back to the hotel for a meet up with Bob and his wife Barb.

Is that Romina's eyeball?

Yes on the hand. I tend to pick up chocolate with my fingers, and "wipe" it into my palm. Place center on finger tips, close, and open leaving center on finger tips. Then, deposit on the parchment. You can keep this up all day. You only have to temper the small amount you are working with. Have chocolate cooling on the marble, and add it to the working chocolate as needed. Then, take warmer, untempered chocolate from the melter, and allow it to cool. It is really hard to explain!! You basically have three temperatures of chocolate you are working: warm, cooling, and cool and tempered. You just keep feeding the slightly warmer chocolate to the tempered choc. You will be putting on a much thicker layer of chocolate than when you fork dip. If you are trying to mark with a design, remember to "lay" the string, don't dig a trench with it. Keep your left hand as clean as possible. Good luck!

I hand-dipped for years. I was a palm dipper rather than a finger dipper. Yes, there is a difference:). I put tempered chocolate in the palm of my hand, then pick up the center to be dipped, and placed on finger tips. Close hand and open hand. Piece should now be on your finger tips and ready to deposit on piece of parchment. You can dip off marble, or out of a machine. I was very fast, but I prefer an enrober:). You have to use a thicker chocolate to retain the mark you place on top. Pretty hard to mark with a fork. Fork makes a much cleaner looking piece.

Just buy some freeze dried fruits and put in food processor. Drying your own, unless you have a freeze drier will work, but not as well.

Have you looked at a Savage? https://www.savagebros.com/p.25/artisan-chocolatier-small-batch-chocolate-melters-temperers.aspx They are a bit pricey, but I have 3 of them and wouldn't be without them. They are simple to operate. You can temper in them, or get an EZTemper. My enrober is a wheel (Perfect). It gets the job done, and has paid for itself many times over. It just takes some work and experience to get it where you want it. Before investing, I would try to see the equipment in person. The thing with the Savage, it has a guillotine drawoff. You can place your molds under and control the amount of chocolate that comes out. Tap excess back into the top. Great for production. Another consideration is where you are, and if you have the electricity necessary. All my equipment runs on 110. Most equipment can be ordered either 110 or 220.

Yes Passionfruit ganache. Probably the combination of Iphone and fluorescent lights changing the color.

Why is it that in person, your chocolates look pretty good, then you take a closeup and post them and all the flaws show up?? Square is a new flavor--Browned Butter in Dulce, Green is Caramel Apple Caramel, and heart is Passion Fruit, with a loose PDF and ganache. I'm sure I could have found thinner bottoms, but didn't want to waste them all trying to find it:)

In my experience, there is no need to lower the temp to 88 after seeding with Mycryo. Just put in the seed, stir, test temper and go. If chocolate cools too much while using, add a little warm untempered or tempered chocolate to it and continue. Using heat gun and not stirring really well, could be part of the problem.

I think it does both, but it might just be my imagination:)

Jim, Bob has a brilliant solution. He uses a large Presto electric cooker. They are only about $30 at Walmart. You can control the temp. I use it when I only want a few hundred pieces. When I need more, I use the large copper kettle.

To get the color darker and flavor stronger, just cook it longer. So when the temp goes too high, add a little water to drop it down. Try to not let it stop boiling when you do this. You can keep doing this for a long time and get it to the color you want. Glucose interferes with browning, baking soda increases browning. You can cook caramel for hours this way. Just remember that the longer you cook it, the more sugar is inverted.

I think there is a base that people who own a "fudge kettle" buy and do their own add-ins. It is probably specific to their brand of kettle.

Sounds like a great venue!! Would it be possible to get RJ or NR to teach a class? Definitely want to visit their stores.

Glad you are enjoying the book. I can’t believe it has been more than 34 years since we wrote it. I have changed most things, but the caramels are the same😀. My mother would be amazed to see what we are doing today.

The electric fry pan was used only to hand dip from, never melt. The idea was to turn it on only for a few seconds to get the edges to melt back in. It was very limited to hand dipping literally with your hands, not a fork. Kerry came up with a great way to keep your melted chocolate melted, using a warming tray from the thrift store and a lamp dimmer from IKEA. Once you get your initial chocolate in temper, you can feed it with untempered chocolate and work all day. No need to stop and retemper when you run out.

He is coming to Salt Lake to teach two classes. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/amaury-guichon-masterclass-tickets-47623730861?aff=eac2

What about using a silicone mold instead? https://shop.chefrubber.com/products/155/Caramel-and-Ganache-Moulds/

Kerry's link shows it in operation. That one looks just like mine, although the die is smaller.

Ah, the beautiful Lab model Friend machine. Mine didn't have the embossed name on the side. Not sure if that was a newer or older addition. Yes, the plug is for the hopper to heat up so that the cream fondant will move and deposit easier. I never once used the heat. I sold mine years ago, because I just didn't need it any more. It holds 20# of cream fondant in the hopper. You place a latex rubber mat on top of the fondant, and crank the lid down on top. The fondant squeezes out sort of like toothpaste out of the tube x 48. There should be a raised tray under the die on which another tray with parchment or waxed paper sits. As the fondant squeezes out, the wire harp (which has to be adjusted for each die) cuts the fondant at the same time the operator drops the tray away from the cutter. You slide out the paper holding the fondant balls and repeat. Once everything is adjusted, you can deposit a lot of fondant in a short time. The dies come in different shapes and sizes. Each time you change a die, you have to manually change the wires on the harp. Like a guitar, you don't want to break one. Once it is all deposited, then you get to clean the beast. It was a beautiful piece of machinery, and I loved it, but just didn't need/want it anymore. I think I paid $400 for it very used, 50 years ago. Sold it for about the same maybe 8 years ago. The dies are expensive, especially if you have to have them made. Mine came with a too small round, an oval and a large easter egg shape. I had to have the larger round made. It is the only one I ever used. Do you need it? Probably not. Not unless you have a way of making 20# of fondant at a time. How do you do that? With a 2 ft cream beater. How do you fill the cream beater? With a Savage furnace and a large copper pot. See where I am going with this?:). An old time candy shop that still makes cream fondant centers would be about the only place that would use it. I can't think of a use for ganache. It also weights a ton. Typing this up brought back a lot of memories. My arms could still operate it. Muscle memory is still there. Let us know if you get it.

So, Kerry and Anna, what can we expect for your last few days? Cleaning out the fridge? Any adventures planned? As always, it has been a delight. Thanks for taking us along. It's my only "vacation" this summer:)

Looking forward to it. The weekend after Mother's Day has been good, so we can get our production done and then play. Would love to meet and learn from some new experts. I second Kerry with the money. Set it up online and when you are full, you are done. No refunds. The money becomes a huge challenge. Knowing what you have to work with is a big help. Kerry has subsidized the workshops for years, and she shouldn't have to. Provide a list of sponsors with emails, so that attendees can send a thank you to them. It really helps for the next time we approach with our hands out. You have Gaylene and Erika sorta close:)

Not exactly sure what you are looking for, but I will assume you want a deep chocolate flavored fondant butter cream you can roll and dip in chocolate for a bon bon. Having a good thermometer is most important. I might cook it about 2 degrees less if adding chocolate. It tends to be a bit drier. I also add some vanilla. The cooler the fondant is when you start to stir, the smoother it will be. Don't go crazy and wait too long, or it will be miserable to get it to move. You can add more chocolate if you want. Also, adding a bit of coffee tends to boost the chocolate flavor. Use it as part of the cooking liquid. You can also add butter if you want. I usually used 40% cream and figured I had enough butterfat.

So excited to go North with you again!

I have no experience with this, but I would think that this is serious stuff and you should get a paid consultant for it.