rebgold

How much chocolate would you add the milk? Can you combine them when they're melted or temper them together? My fondant turned out grainy. Apparently I shouldn't have touched it while it cooled. I made some enrobed mint patties with it anyway and added invertase hoping that it would smooth out the graininess when it started converting the sugar, but just a small batch in case it's garbage.

I made your fondant recipe today. I think it turned out fine, but I have nothing to compare it to. I stirred once while it was cooling and it crystalized, but you didn't mention anything about not stirring so I assume that doesn't matter since you paddle it anyway? I'm going to use it for the dipped mint patties and maybe lemon logs from Greweling's book tomorrow. I guess I'll be able to compare the finished product with his pictures.

Our corn syrup comes in 50 lb buckets and has almost no water in it, and no flavorings, so I assume just about the same thing. The consistency of heavy glue.

My next question is; Is there an advantage to using glucose instead of corn syrup? If they're interchangeable what makes one better than the other? Is glucose less expensive?

Ok, so when you table you're just sort of moving it around back and forth with bench scrapers? How do you know exactly when you're done?

True! So, our recipe book of ancient recipes has a fondant that calls for sugar, corn syrup and boric acid. Is that candy making fondant? If not, can anyone share a recipe with me for fondant for candy? Greweling's has fondant in it, to seed it I assume, but can you make fondant without fondant? lol Thanks, Rebecca

I stopped it when it stopped streaking and was slightly thickened but not setting up on the sides of the bowl. I'd say about 10 minutes. On another subject, is the fondant in Greweling's recipes the same thing as the fondant you roll out for cakes? Hope that's not a completely stupid question, but I'm new to candy making and pretty much learning on my own.

Hopefully it wasn't just beginners luck that the Hobart worked so well, lol. I've never been taught how to table properly, just trying to copy the technique in the book, but I feel like it takes so long and I worry that I wasn't doing right. Do any of you have an opinion on whether using a paddle accomplishes the same thing in an acceptable way?

Deep fried hamburgers are really good, season heavily and mix it all up before forming into a patty. Those lemon slices are one of the more interesting things I've heard of lately, definitely going to try that!

Unfortunately I can't afford foie gras, or a polyscience smoke gun, but it sounds AWESOME! I hope someone has tried it and describes what it was like so I can imagine tasting it.

Oh yeah, do you know a whole sale supplier of coconut fat? Can't find it in the Albert Uster catalog, we're getting it at a health food store, retail price.

I don't think it's soft enough for long enough to do that. Once the whipping agent is added they firm up in about 5 minutes in the ball mixer. We'd have to reformulate the filling and I don't think they'll want to do that. Our shop has been open since 1882 and we're using the original recipes. But, say they would be open to it, could it be as simple as lowering the temperature the sugar-corn syrup mixture is cooked to before it goes in the ball mixer with the fondax?

So while we're all here, thought I'd ask you two another question. At our shop we make the crem center mix, dry it a bit for a couple of days, then cut off strips, roll them into little balls and the dippers hand dip them. It all takes a very long time and during the busy seasons they can't keep up with all the dipping. This strikes me as a very antiquated way to get the job done. We don't have any new fangled equipment and I doubt that it's in the budget right now, but is there still a better way? What about coating the inside of bon bon molds with choc, letting it set, dropping the cream ball in and filling the rest of the way with chocolate? How is it usually done? How do you two do it? Thanks, Reb

Actually I discovered today that you can throw it in the Hobart on number 1 with the paddle and keep an eye on it until it's not ribboning any more then throw it in a pan in the freezer and cut it within an hour, woot! `

I would never use Merckens and decent chocolate in the same sentence, lol. In fact, I really don't like eating something that shares that name,(different spelling) with that other item, lol!

Has anyone made the Meltaways from the Greweling book? What is the purpose of tabling the mixture? You can't temper peanut butter, and they're covered in powdered sugar for handling so you can't tell if they're perfectly shiny. I was wondering if it's just a question of agitating the mixture while the fat molecules are doing their thing in the cooling process, why can't you just put it in a mixer with the paddle on low speed? Wouldn't that essentially do the same thing? I was wondering the same thing about a small batch of cream centers, instead of using the giant ball mixer which takes 30 minutes to clean, could you add the whipping agent and cool them while they thicken in the Hobart? Thanks, Reb

New question, same topic; This Merckens chocolate we use, found a website for it and it's called coating, but the boxes come with tempering directions. It doesn't say couverture anywhere. Can you actually temper non couverture chocolate? Maybe that's why it's never shiny? It tastes like cocoa powder but everyone thinks it's delicious. I don't know how I can be the only one who thinks it's awful.

Right, real chocolate. I don't know what we can spend exactly, but I know the Merckens is cheap. The people I work for just bought the shop and none of us are chocolate experts. I'm a pastry chef so I've done simple truffles, and lots of sugar based candies but chosing couvertures, tempering machines that I don't think are working correctly, is a bit over my head. I've always used the regular Callebaut our supplier carried, 2 or 3 drop semi sweet, and really never tempered for the simple chocolate work I've done in the past. I guess I'll be learning as quickly as possible, lol.

The shop I work in uses Mercken couveture. It doesn't taste good, lol. Looking for opinions on the best tasting couveture at the low end of the price scale. We're a small, old school candy shop not a cutting edge chocolate boutique so super fancy expensive chocolate isn't in our range. What do you guys think? Thanks, Rebecca

We pulled it at our slab table. It came out pretty well, we were actually doing icicles not candy canes, but a portion of it became too hard to work before we could get to it. I used the Grewelling formula. He suggests a heat lamp to keep the portion not in use pliable but as we don't have a heat lamp I was wondering if I could find the exact temperature range to hold it so I could try coming up with something makeshift, like a sheet pan over our copper kettle with hot water in it or something like that. Maybe the oven at the lowest setting with the convection off? I need a temp range to get an idea of what would work. Thanks, Reb

Does anybody have any tips on doing pulled sugar candies like candy canes and icicles? What temperature can it be held pliable at so I can split the batch? I can't get it all pulled nicely before it hardens. Thanks Rebecca