curls

It would also be nice to have a discussion/session where we all share what we do with scraps, extras, re-work, etc.. What have people done to recover from mistakes? Have those turned into new products!

I woud like to learn about any of the following: hard candy - where you jacket the colors to make two color twists or decorative patterns filled hard candy - jacketing nut butters in hard candy blown sugar / decorative sugar work making fudge, not the kind that uses marshmallow

Great! So far we have: curls Kerry Beal jbates

Unofficial Thursday dinner at Bulrush... if you're interested, I have created a separate topic for planning.

There will be an eGullet Chocolate and Confections workshop in May organized by @gfron1 of the soon to be open Bulrush. I'm flying in to STL Thursday the 16th and will try to get a reservation at Bulrush (once that system is in place), anyone else interested in joining me for dinner?

Found Vaquform's YouTube page, looks like you can thermoform tons of stuff (just needs to be solid enough to retain its shape under vacuum).

What type of sheets will you use? Is it easy to get 3mm polycarbonate sheets (saw that 3mm is the thickest material this unit can handle). Very interested to see what comes of this experiment and hoping we get to try it out at the workshop in St. Louis. Will have to come up with some shapes to bring with me and thermoform! 🙂 Wondering what materials are best for making the item to be thermoformed that I have the ability to work with... aluminum is out but wood, 3D printing, and plaster may be possibilities. Or, maybe join a maker group and start experimenting myself! I see this as potentially very useful for making custom molds of small quantities. @Kerry Beal thanks for sharing your experiments with us.

Interesting concept, thanks for the link.

Buttermilk quick bread with dried cranberries, candied orange peel, and walnuts. Baked in a decorative loaf pan. Still waiting for it to cool so I can do some quality assurance and decide if it goes into the office or stays at home.

@chefmd that sounds wonderful! Will have to wait until after the Easter chocolate production but maybe another eGulleter will join you before then. Happy thrifting! Nick's of Calvert looks like a wonderful place to shop.

Here is a photo of my Diepenbrock & Reigers (DRU) pot. It is yellow but it does not have the tulip, just the "leaves". I wonder if mine is newer or older than the one @chefmd found.

Can I go thrift shopping with you? You’ve been finding some amazing stuff. Or maybe tell me which stores you’re visiting. I have a small enameled yellow pot made by the same manufacturer and it originally belonged to my oma/grandmother. 🙂

Have you checked with @tikidoc? She might have a master class slot to sell.

Very interesting technique and it would be nice to figure out how it is done. Yet, as a chocolate it is not at all appealing to me -- looks too much like an eyeball. For a chocolate, I prefer the Halloween eyeballs done by Chocolat/Ruth.

@minas6907 thank you so much for all the information and the encouragement. Starting with the oven & just a stripe sounds like a great way to start. If I start down this path I'm sure I'll have tons more questions for you. 🙂

Beautiful confections @minas6907! Whenever I see your work I ‘m inspired to try some sugar work. Did you need to keep things warm or rewarm the sugar while you are working? If so, what is your process / heat source?

I was thinking that a cooling tunnel (along with perfect temper) would be the answer but didn't want to look like a smart aleck for suggesting it. Especially since my reply wasn't going to be a through as teonzo's answer.

@JoNorvelleWalker which egg mould did you get? How many would you like to ship per box? There are many sizes of cellophane bags, perhaps there are some that are big enough for your chocolate eggs. If that doesn't work, you can get sheets of cellophane wrap -- wrap & tie around the egg. If your shipping, try putting the egg in a box with lots of packing material.

Beckykp27 hopefully you'll get a few more people answering your questions now that the Valentine's day production if over. As far as not getting shiny chocolates... can you post some pictures of your work? What kind of moulds are you using? What chocolates are you using? How do you temper your chocolate? How are you planning to apply colored cocoa butter (manual application / airbrush)? A lot of questions but with more information, we can be offer better solutions.

Dinner only or lunch too?

@Beckykp27 have you considered a more classic aesthetic and not using any colors? You can still achieve beautiful chocolates with moulds, natural garnishes, using a contrasting chocolate for marbling/striping/accent, etc.. I know the siren call to airbrush and transfer sheet is strong but you don't have to go in that direction -- you could market on the beauty of natural & organic.

@pastrygirl they look great and sound delicious. I hope the weather doesn't affect your sales too much. Hoping the same for myself (wintery mixed precipitation coming to my area Monday & Tuesday).

Vietnamese Food Any Day by Andrea Nguyen released 5 February 2019 https://www.vietworldkitchen.com/blog/2018/11/vietnamese-food-any-day-cookbook-preview.html Vietnamese Food Any Day: Simple Recipes for True, Fresh Flavors

If it is tempered, I just wait until it sets up and then I scrape it off. If it is untempered, I wipe it up with a sponge or towel. Thankfully all small spills, so not much to clean up. One shop that I visited made a floor scrapper tool by attaching a metal scraper to the end of a broom handle; thought that was rather clever.

Kenji to the rescue --> https://www.seriouseats.com/2016/02/the-food-lab-guide-sous-vide-sausage.html. I use this Serious Eat article, The Food Lab's Guide to Sous Vide Sausage, to decide time and temp for sous vide sausages.