chocoera

i'm sure that would be smart to consider, not sure on how much room i might need for that? i'd look at both options

hey chocolate lovers! so....i'm going to bite the bullet and buy a tempering unit for christmas season. currently we use 3 table top mol d' arts, 2: 5 lbs and 1: 10 lb. the unit i'd like would be a 10 lb at minimum, if i could go up a little more i would, but not sure how big they get before they get "massive" anyone have thoughts on where to buy a unit and what brand works best for a professional kitchen? we currently temper every day and sometimes several times a day depending on production schedule, so i'd need one that's pretty reliable and keeps a good temper. thanks for thinking about this!! PS- if someone has one they don't need because they are upgrading in size, let me know!

love those port truffles bob!

i would just like to say "kudos" to bob who is working like mad on this way to go!

i really hope to come! once you nail a date and i can give a better answer...but these conferences are always great and this time i'll get a flight for late sunday

thanks for the tip kerry, i will contact them, and i will bring some odds and ends as well if anyone is interested

remember last year when we were talking about molds or pieces of equipment, favorite spatula etc with each other? and we thought "huh, we should try to do an eG farmers market of equipment next year...." so, didn't know if we still thought we'd try to do something like that? very casual, but bringing molds you don't use anymore or the size isn't right for you etc (hobby or commercial grade) and maybe you have a ton of transfer sheets and you don't like one particular style anymore, infared (sp?) thermometer or tempering unit you don't use anymore.....anyway, didn't know if that was of interest to anyone? cookbooks are like my novels, and used equipment or molds is more exciting to me than going clothes shopping...yes...for real we could do a swap/market during social hour/night or over lunch in between sessions.. and on that note, does anyone know of a good site to get a tempering machine from? i normally temper by hand with the seed method with 2 smaller and 1 lg mol d' art, but was looking at a machine to speed production time to use in addition to us tempering by hand....was hoping for a machine to do at least 10 lbs of chocolate minimum...larger would be considered too i saw a choco TT, a semi automatic temperer...looked cool, but open to anything, or if anyone has one they want to sell, i'd be great with that too! let me know what ya'll think!

some of the items we've made for the store lately chocolate cupcake with caramel sauce inside, salted fudge icing, and caramel cage oreo snowcap: a request by a customer to turn the "oreo fluff" dessert into something a bit cooler, oreo crust/starbucks liquor mousse, rough chop oreos, white chocolate cream and chocolate covered oreo ontop roses nutty cheesecake: an employee wanted this one: chocolate crust with chocolate amaretto cheesecake with a layer of caramelized nuts on the bottom topped with choc glaze with fleur de sel and more caramelized nuts lemon semifreddo (courtesy of my hero- david lebovitz- ready for dessert!) but made in square molds and cut into rectangles. components: sponge with lemon soaking syrup, homemade amaretti cookies, and lemon curd lightened with cream...and repeat xoxo to my eGers....keep up the inspirational work

wow, good suggestions so, majority is, yes the granita idea is really great, and could be put on a rotating prep schedule so we always have some frozen, because isn't the key with granita is to freeze only a couple hrs till pretty much frozen, but not super frozen through? then you scrape and then could you just keep in the freezer? is that how that would work? as for the passion/strawberry frap, that sounds awesome!!!!!!!!!!!! i'm assuming you have a pretty loose ganache as a base? 1:1 maybe? and just keep in the fridge with a scoop for the drink? but wow, thanks so much. i was really on the fence with this, but it seems that a cold blended drink is "way in" and if you don't mind, i really like that shakerato term....mind if put that idea on the menu? and would that be pronounced "shAke- er- Atoh? or shAke- er- ahtoh?" unfortunately i'm very not foreign, exotic or mysterious, so i should probably pronounce it right and with the vitamix...is that better than a blend tec? anybody have any used ones they know of? or should i probably buy *sigh* full price/new?

Hi there! I am most often found in the pastry section, but i have a small chocolate shop in iowa and am having a hard time coping with what to offer in the summer. besides chocolates and desserts we offer a small traditional coffee bar menu (white, dk choc and caramel for hot or cold lattes) (capps, americano, red eye, mighty leaf teas, brewed coffee, chai, "real" hot chocolate and a blended hot chocolate (what we call an arctic chocolate, or frozen hot choc) well, we don't want to have to get into gelato (or lord, the start up with that!) but thought about going the route of frozen fruit smoothies (no boxed crap) and sadly, my husband thinks frappuccinos are the way to go. do you find that frappuccinos are still "hip" or do you think they are cheesy? to make a frap do you have to buy a powdered mix or whats the big deal with fraps anyway? to do smoothies, we are thinking about going the thermomix route or just getting a blend tec blender...any suggestions are very welcomed! thanks so much-

hey kerry- working on some arrangements with kelly for lodging, so i think we may have it covered

YEA!

I think most of us, if not all, flew into Buffalo. There is an airport shuttle that Erika and I took back to the airport for something like $40 pp. excuse me marmish: i do not see your name on the roster you better be going! and a shout out to steve and betsy...what gives? i better see your names on there too, otherwise i will be extremely disappointed. perhaps steve can do a lil' demo on chocolate sculpture?! he did a WONDERFUL and very graceful piece this last week at a class. amazing.

thermomix....you can arrange to purchase one? what kind of cash we talking about? can i sell my husband? :0) or maybe rent him out? he's great with food photography!

I'M COMING TOO! sorry so MIA lately, opening a new location, so am a bit distracted. don't know if this was mentioned, but i would kill for any info/demo/notes etc on pate de fruit. i think it would be a great thing to discuss in terms of how different acids can affect outcome, different flavors to make that could compliment ganaches, perhaps even in layering the two for truffles (like your cigar truffle right kerry?) or how to do ganache/pate bars...things like that. i don't know about you, but sugar and pectin scare the s*** out me

great minds think alike. i do remember the AMAZING beef dinner! yum-o. and those fantastic little bites that kerry did, i wouldn't mind inhaling those one more time. i am also quite happy with sushi, as i agree with beth, not too much sushi in algona ia...i have to go 2 hrs for any sign of sushi.

wow...lots of info to sort through! i will google the suggested shows, and am making my husband read all the transfer ideas....i will let you know what he thinks we can do, sounds as complicated as i was expecting

You know how some cake decorators print edible images for cakes? Is this possible for chocolate transfers? i know of a wonderful company that makes transfers, and even has made logo ones for me...but i was looking into making my own for the mere fact that i have a lot of design ideas, but it might only take 5 sheets instead of 20.... question is, is there acetate paper and a printer and edible ink/cocoa butter that someone can buy to design their own transfer sheets? my husband is a graphic designer so it would be a great fit if we could do some things ourselves for certain projects....any thoughts on that? also, does anyone have a schedule or know of any chocolate shows coming up? or perhaps any chocolate trade shows or anything related to the industry that is happening in 2011? (besides our awesome eG workshop of course!) thank you!

yum-o! thanks will try to post something near V-day!

so happy for you! and so proud can't wait to hear all about!

you guys are great! got lots of reading to do with these suggestions

that is gorgeous! wow!

finally got something that looks like a mac i have been jinxed with bad macs...i have tried 8 times..yes, horrible to admit...but me+ macs= suicidal depression..... i used the italian method, i fail horribly with the french method....my sheet pans are very very warped, so don't look to close at the feet....but when i get three more batches to turn out normal, i will invest in pans just for the macs...till then, lopsided macs for me! reg macs with pink color, lemon italian buttercream and raz jam...

i personally love hot chocolate ( i blame france) but when i want something a lil' lighter this recipe does just great, especially with a good cocoa. i like e guittard cocoa rouge 2 cups powdered sugar 1 1/4 cup cocoa (Dutch-process preferred) 1 2/3 cups powdered milk 3/4 powdered creamer (can be flavored if you like) 1 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons cornstarch 1 pinch nutmeg and cinnamon Hot water *sift these ingredients together to get rid of lumps Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and incorporate evenly. In a small pot (or microwave), heat 4 to 6 cups of water. you can also do this with warm milk or do 1/2 milk 1/2 water, whatever you'd like, but the powdered milk and creamer should make for a creamy drink

ok, so valentines day is around the corner and i had a request from a very old man for tiramisu. he said he had some in florence that was just amazing...amazing! i was trying to get him to explain what was so amazing, and he just sighed and said "i can't even tell you what it was, it was just amazing" so, yes , that gives me a lot to go on question being, he wants tiramisu for his wife for valentine's day to mimic the trip they had when they were younger, but i don't know what makes an AMAZING tiramisu. what do you guys think makes one super awesome? i myself barely know the components, let alone ratios and trying to make it "indescribable" but this man is too darn cute not to try. so....thoughts? also, i would love to make chocolate boxes, or hollow chocolate heart boxes for V-day and have no idea how to proceed. is there a mold for something like that? does anyone know how to make something like that or where i could find a mold for a choc box or a choc heart box? thanks so much you guys!