QbanCrackr

ok great, thats what i was hoping to hear thanks!

i did a quick search on google + eG and didn't really find anything helpful, so i ask you - whats the difference between pots de creme & creme brulee? to my understanding theyre both cooked custards, no? same base ingredients (eggs, cream, sugar) and both can be baked or cooked over the stovetop. is the only main difference the burnt sugar?

i just made some brulees and had trouble with them not setting up either my vanilla recipe is like this 4 yolks 1 cup cream 1/4 cup sugar 1-2 tsp vanilla i've gone with 1/2 cup cream + 1/2 cup guava puree (pulp + sugar) and its setup fine...but i tried the subbing the guava with passion fruit and it didnt set up in the middle as it should have =/

hmm...to be honest it was a while since i made it..just kind of gave up on it to be honest...frustrated me a bit not knowing what was happening in any case, i don't really remember using both yolks + whole eggs. most recipes i've tried from the joy of cooking have come out good for me, and even their lemon curd recipe takes just yolks this is the recipe from JoC 1-2/3 cups yield 3 large eggs 1/3 cup sugar grated zest from 1 lemon 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice 6 tablespoons buter 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

so the title says it all...i made a lemon curd a couple of times--one using stainless tools (bowls, whisk) and another using wood & glass. both times i followed the recipes exactly and when it was on the stove cooking (double boiler) it started smelling very metallic. when it cooled, the taste lessened a little bit but it was still very strong...to the point that 1/6 people liked it (and the following day that 1 person backed down) used it solo as a topping for fruit and also as an ingredient in other recipes (lemon mousse)...its not just lemons but limes as well (key lime juice + eggs for key lime pie and same thing) anyone know why this is happening (so i learn the reasons) as well as any tips for it not to happen (if this is even possible)? thanks

hmm, i think i'll try adding it off the fire. should i add a little more corn starch or flour to compensate for the extra liquid? i did this once with an apple puree that i added to the cream...it had a fantastic taste but it was too thin to use as anything other than like a topping or poured sauce (it wouldn't hold up in a sliced tart)

So by no means am i a professional at cooking...this is something that I'm learning every day as i go mainly with books and the help of eG & google =P Anywho, I've been fairly successful making pastry cream (only had 1 problem in the past and i figured out how to get it good again) This is my basic recipe (taken from the joy of cooking) 4 egg yolks 1/3 cup granulated sugar 2 tbs flour 2 tbs corn starch 1-1/3 cup milk (i use heavy cream in mine) 3/4 tsp vanilla My process is as follows - while heating 1 c of the cream i beat eggs & sugar + flour in a mixer until theyre thicker & paler. dissolve the corn starch in the remaining 1/3 c of cream. when the cream is up, temper the egg mixture and then combine with the corn starch mixture over heat and cook it until it thickens and then add vanilla at the end, removing from pot and into a clean bowl. With this recipe there was 1 time which I'd blame on my technique where it looked as if the cream separated in the pot. it got thick, but it also looked oily/greasy (it was sliding all over the place in the pot. This was resolved by just taking a whisk to it and it came back together. Today I tried getting adventurous and adding some guava puree that i had laying around, but I wasn't sure when/how much to add to it (i basically just added it to taste) and it was coming along nicely, but towards the end it "separated" on me again and no amount of beating would bring it back.. Did it have anything to do with the acidity in the fruit? I did notice in one of the bowls i had it in when i was going to toss it out that there was a little bit of a golden colored liquid, almost like clarified butter....was this the cream that got heated too much with the corn starch? I've heard/read about cooking the corn starch too long/hot and it does wacky things. Well in any case, any help you all can provide will help me alot in my quest for the guava pastry cream haha. Thanks!

id like to know about this as well

would you be so kind? just so that i can compare your recipe/methods to the way i did mine thanks! danny

could anyone be so kind as to tell me what a cremeux is? i tried googling it but just came up with recipes rather than descriptions =/

these truffles became hard enough to roll just at room temperature? i made some using a 2:1 ratio i put it in the fridge to be able to roll them but out at room temp you have to handle them pretty gingerly as the ganache isn't as thick as i'd like it to be

what would that 1%/.5% be based off of? for example with a fruit mousse would it be 1% of the fruit puree amount? or weight? i'm sorry for sounding like such a newbie at this but frankly with mousses and alot of stuff ive got a looong way to go, hehe

ok great, im probably going to try my hand at some strawberry mousse again in a bit, i've got both a cylinder mold and a pyramid mold but i'll try with the circular one lined with some parchment (as i dont know where to get acetate here in Miami). but in any case, i'll keep those tips in mind and make sure to jot down all my numbers (who knows if i get lucky with this batch!) thanks! danny

So I'm kind of new to this cooking thing but I"m diving in head first with desserts...I made a nice little milk chocolate mousse with Callebaut which tasted great. I haven't tried putting it in a ring mold or anything of the sort but I'm assuming that when it chills, the chocolate is what helps it set up to be real nice & thick and stiff. I really liked it so i tried to do a strawberry mousse...I did it a few times but it just wasn't getting thick (same with a raspberry mousse)...I want to try and form them in a little cylinder mold (I'm guessing line them with parchment or something of the sort and fill with mousse then chill?) Same goes for those little pyramid mousses...I've searched online but can't find much when it comes to using gelatin with mousse. The raspberry mousse gets kind of thick and the strawberry mousse doesn't set up at all. You can tilt the container over and it'll just slide down the side. Basically, is this what I would use? How much is too much? This is the recipe i used for the strawberry..found it online * 1 pound strawberries, plus 6 small ones for decoration if you wish * juice from 1/2 lemon * 1/2 cup sugar * 1/2 cup whipping cream * 4 egg whites * pinch of salt any help would really be appreciated

with milk chocolate would a properly tempered piece of chocolate end up being firm like a dark chocolate shell for molded? or would it still have the soft and creamy mouthfeel (not to mention it still melts pretty quick when my fingers touch it)\ and another thing--lets say this batch wasn't properly tempered. i have some left over chocolate from this process--could i melt that stuff back down to 40C and then seed that with some fresh stuff from the block?

so i took out the chocolate and made my double boiler...and then came attempt #1 @ tempering the stuff. took 2/3 of it, melted to about 112 then seeded with the last 1/3. temperature came down to about 83-85 then heated it back up to 88-90 and poured it into my mold (cleaned with warm water, polished with cotton let it set at room temperature and then popped it in the freezer real quick before i unmolded them i would say the vast majority of the chocolates popped out without a problem, had maybe 3-4 that i had to coerce out of the mold (taking off the magnetic back and push them out) im guessing the streaks on top of the chocolate are from my fingers when i was arranging them (im guessing i should use gloves for this?) mind you this is my first time tempering chocolate and i know its going to be a long road...i really want to be able to consistently do this by hand before relying on a machine for larger batches anyways...any thoughts? advice?

really? forgive me for being such a novice at this, i just started working with chocolate within the past couple of months (well by "working" i mean doing some reading & whatnot) so this chocolate i have doesn't have enough cocoa butter in it to be fluid enough to be a good chocolate for molding, thus the addition of extra cocoa butter will help this out

What would you recommend to do for the tempering then, just temper the chocolate (or try to, haha) then completely fill the mold and then let it cool?(of course after that pray to the gods that it went right)

another question if i might--what chocolate should i look for that would be best for molding/dipping/coating?

would it still be usable for it though? it was given to me as a gift so i could practice learning to temper and neither i nor the other person knew what to buy...we both figured it was just better to use than chocolate chips (which i've heard cant be tempered to begin with) if its usable to learn how to temper i'd be ok with it i think (id be using it anyways to make ganache and other sugary treats =P

hi kerry, thanks for your response. here are a couple of other pictures from the packaging of the chocolate

i too am using callebaut milk chocolate, i just bought a 11# block of it and i'm about to start playing around with tempering. is this an acceptable product for using as a mold/shell? or should i have bought the 60% and use the milk for making ganache and other treats? thanks in advance