curls

Looking forward to your texture reports but this sounds very promising! Would be nice to be able to make this without needing the elusive thin boiling starch.

How do the two compare? Can you make good Turkish delight with regular corn starch?

Since they are having a wine & cheese, I would bring flowers. I know you mentioned that you don't care to deal with cut flowers but perhaps this couple does. It also gets them out of any obligation to serve what your hostess gift. Good luck, hope you have a nice time!

Ok, will stay tuned! Looking forward to it. Think he might bring some bread and pastries with him? Loved the meals he made for us when the workshop was in Toronto.

So @Alleguede what are you planning for the second master class...?

I guess it is all a matter of what you are used to. I am much quicker at dealing out paper cups for chocolates than separating a stack of plastic trays. Also, find it super easy to drop chocolates of many different shapes and sizes into those paper cups. I love being able to select from so many moulds — rounds, squares, flowers, windmills, hedgehogs, bunnies, hearts, etc.. Since I don’t airbrush or use a lot of colored cocoa butter, the mould shape is important for determining the chocolate flavor.

Another thought on the packaging front -- it is also an option to not use the plastic trays and to put your chocolates in paper cups. This gives you more options when picking molds and can allow you to make pleasant chocolate arrangements in your boxes based on the customer's selection of chocolates. Have a look at Chocolat's website to see some gorgeous tray-free chocolates in boxes https://chocolot.com/. Disclosure note: I do not use trays in my chocolate boxes and prefer the candy cup route.

I took the corned beef out of the packaging, rinsed it, dried it, cut it into ~1 pound pieces, sprinkled it with the included picking spice (because it was there — not sure it had any impact on the final product), bagged each piece, sealed, and sous vide’d Was worried it might be too salty and wondered if I should have given it an over night soak in water but it was delicious when done. I think the manufacturers are salting the pre-prepared corned beefs less than they used to. If you’re sensitive to salt, I would recommend an overnight pre soaking in water.

Not the best picture but this is the best corn beef I've ever made! @rotuts thank you for all your corn beef posts -- I couldn't resist any longer. So, one ~3 pound Wegmans flat cut corn beef brisket was split into thirds, bagged, and sous vide'd for 57 hours at 60C / 140F. Was going for a 48 hour cook but realized that my schedule would not allow for that. Found this post (https://anovaculinary.com/great-corned-beef-experiment/) and decided that pulling the corn beef after work vs. before work would be just fine. Yum!

A Selmi and no enrober! Still, no need for you to bring it -- we have hand dipped and fork dipped before and we can do it again. But... if a lot of people are going to be making bars... an enrober is a nice thing to have. Hmmm, maybe that is why I hardly ever make bars (I don't have a Selmi or an enrober). Kerry, thank you so much for all you do! I am looking forward to this year's workshop.

Kerry, I was just re-asking the question for Anna but I would encourage you to NOT lug a bunch of equipment to the college for panning. There will be plenty of other things for people to work on and learn about. Hoping you aren’t going to have to bring any equipment at all this year — except for an EZtemper and a Fuji.

Hi Anna! Glad you are going to be able to attend this year. I haven't had a chance to figure out what I would like to work on during workshop time but I'll come up with a few things before I get to the workshop. Will probably practice one or two of the things I learn at the master class. Aside from panning, what would you like to work on? @Kerry Beal Anna (Eat.Choui) mentioned an interest in learning to pan -- does the NOTL college have the appropriate setup for panning?

Found some prepared corn beef briskets (flat -- no points available) at Wegmans for $3.99 per pound. Maybe they'll be marked down further this week.

Very interesting @pastrygirl and the shine on those "chocolates" is impressive! Are you selling these as part of your regular Easter selection?

Bob, you may want to get a few extra bowls -- your students might want to have bowls of their own after your class. ;-)

Very cool idea @patris! I'm definitely interested in a bowl if I can remove the wire for microwaving and the ability to use the pretty bowl for other stuff. Can I let you know which colors I prefer or would it be easier for you to make that choice and have us pick from your selection at Tomric?

@JoNorvelleWalker thanks for the melanger endorsement. Another way for you to think of it -- the only way to get this discount is to also pay for the chocolate workshop -- unless you planned to go to that too, your melanger is cheaper. ;-) Do you use the tilting feature a lot? What advantage is there to tilting vs. non-tilting? What is the smallest quantity of nuts that you have successfully ground?

It will be interesting to see how much the pre-payment for the master classes and the workshop cuts down on the drop outs.

Kerry, please sign me up for the workshop, both of the master classes, and the Saturday night dinner. Do the countertop diamond custom machines work well for making your own gianduja? If so, do you know what the min and max yeilds are? What will these machines cost if we buy them at the workshop? As previously mentioned, will you and Rodney be teaching the master class or will it be someone else?

Thanks Kerry, that would be very helpful for making plans!

Kerry, when do you expect to have the agenda finalized for Thursday and Friday?

Interesting, Valrhona Caraibe is my main dark chocolate for shells and ganaches and I have not had problems with over-crystallization. For me it is a great chocolate to work with -- great flavor, thin shells, and enrobes nicely.

The Bellagio chocolate fountain circulates dark chocolate, milk chocolate, and white chocolate. I suspect the colors in the photo are a tad "off" and the gravy is milk chocolate.

I do believe that @RobertM used one of these for a number of years. Perhaps he will answer your questions.

Kerry, such a beautiful sunrise, thanks for the photo! Glad you’re eating well at work. What did you do for meals before you brought all your toys in? Are you’re coworkers cooking at work too?