jrshaul

After doing some reading, I've found that Trader Joes' chocolate is manufactured by Callebaut. I suspect it's a cost-reduced formulation of some sort, but I'll be darned if I can figure out what it is. I'd really like to stick with Trader Joe's, especially given the 90-mile drive to the nearest distributor of industrial chocolate, and if blending the various varieties of chocolate (bittersweet, dark, extra dark, and chocolate chips) can give me the desired proportions it would save me a lot of time and money.

This sounds an awful lot like my mothers' noodle kugel. I ended eating enough of it following my Bar Mitzvah (we had pans and pans of leftovers) that I never want to see it again, and therefore don't have the recipe; however, there's loads of 'em all over the internet.

I'm not entirely sure how chocolate is measured, but it seems that the chocolate I've been buying from Trader Joe's has a high proportion of cocoa solids to cocoa butter. While this gives a very pleasant flavor, it's so potent that it tends to overcome whatever you put in it. Should I just shell out for Callebaut, or can I start adding cocoa butter and/or sugar to tweak the proportions?

I can't agree with you more. A few specifics to consider: 1. Noise damping. A little white noise in a restaurant is a good thing: it creates a sense of action and excitement, and prevents the adjacent table from hearing the finer details of your conversation. Too much, and people start yelling, which only makes the problem worse. Hardwood floors, concrete wall, and tile of any sort can make this a nightmare. Fabric on the walls or ceiling will help dampen the noise, and acoustic tile or "sound traps" (irregularly-shaped structures that diffuse reflected sound) can help a great deal. It's also possible to hide fiberglass batting inside a stretched canvas; while I wouldn't recommend turning a prized masterpiece into acoustic tile, every bit helps. 2. Speaker placement. Placing a speaker next to a boundary can cause a huge increase in volume at only a small fraction of a speakers' spectrum of output. Placed next to the wall can be problematic if the speaker is not designed for it; placing it at the boundary between wall and ceiling even moreso, and placing it in one of the corners of the room worst of all. It's possible to purchase speakers designed for wall or corner use, and they're sometimes fairly inexpensive. 3. In-wall speakers require professional installation, create code hassle, and cost a fortune. (A $1,000 in-wall speaker is often comparable in quality to a $300 "bookshelf" unit.) However, there are a variety of easily obscured setup options, including wafer-thin flat wires almost invisible under a coat of paint. Because they don't run in the walls, you can install them yourself - just unpeel the adheisive backing, and away you go. 4. Be prepared to spend some money. Buying basic-tier "audiophile" speakers will not only result in better sound, but a substantial increase in physical quality and longevity. The corners cut in cheap speakers can result in premature failure, especially under stress. I'm quite fond of Paradigm's "Atom" series, which I've seen used to great effect in a local bar, though SVS, Aperion, Bohlender-Graebner, and others all offer good value for money in a variety of form factors. While it is possible to purchase decent stuff from Best Buy, I would avoid it; most of their products are divided between low-end items like Boston or Klipsch designed for ostentatious appearance and shouty sound, and high-end items, often featured in a "Magnolia" center, that offer poor results for your dollar. Most important advice? Monophonic sound is usually the way to go for dispersed sound, and NEVER BUY BOSE. 5. Don't underbuy your sound system. A setup that sounds piercingly loud in an empty room may become lost under the buzz of a busy restaurant. A speaker working near the limits of its' capacity will distort heavily and have a shorter life, while an overworked amplifier will often burn out, taking the speaker with it!

My default for salmon is a glaze of two tablespoons maple syrup, two tablespoons bourbon whiskey, one teaspoon soy sauce, and a little bit of grated ginger. (It does help to buy good salmon, though.)

Presumably this stems from the cell walls in the fruit being broken down by ice crystals, which allows more of the liquid inside to leak out once they're thawed. I freeze all my berries before making liqueurs. Gunther Anderson swears by it, and so do I.

I made a batch of the "Egullet introductory course" caramel today with a few minor differences..and one very big one. I increased the vanilla by half and heated the final product all the way to 145, and added 500g of Trader Joes' chevre I had in the fridge. While the caramel on the cooking utensils was rock-hard as might be expected, the addition of the chevre produced a sort of pleasant caramel custard. It's very nice on its' own, but I think I'll try enrobing it in chocolate tomorrow to produce pralines so that it might be enjoyed at room temperature. Incidentally, can anyone recommend an affordable enrobing chocolate? Trader Joes' 72% is a bit brittle, while their milk chocolate goes soft very easily. Maybe their 53% dark chocolate, which includes more cocoa butter, would be more suitable? But buying commercially produced flavoring of a sort I might produce myself would be cheating. Where's the fun in that? I'll try the cold infusion next time.

If you're feeling flush, spring for an LCD television. You don't need anything fancy - just purchase a fairly average display, turn it 90 degrees so that it's taller than it is wide, and connect it up to a PC set to operate in "Landscape Mode." The whole setup should cost you a few hundred at most, and unlike traditional cathode ray tubes or plasma arrays, an LCD won't suffer from fading or burn-in. I very much enjoy these in airports and convention centers - why not feature one in a restaurant?

What about it is not working out so well? I only have 2 books on chocolates, Chocolates and Confections and The Art of the Chocolatier. Both suggest boiling the cream and steeping the coffee for a few min. Maybe your coffee to cream ratios are a bit off? Like I said, what is it that isnt working out for you? While I very obviously used excessive coffee in my first batch, the acidity and sourness are unpleasantly high, giving a flavor not unlike cold espresso. I might use a very light roast instead of a dark roast; alternately, I may have simmered the grounds in cream for too long or at excessive heat. Kalhua would no doubt solve the problem neatly, but a bottle of kaluha costs an awful lot more than a few teaspoons of beans.

A question: How would you go about making coffee-flavored truffles? Simmering coffee grounds in cream and then filtering out the grounds doesn't work quite how I would hope. That's a fabulous website - thanks!

I really hate this sort of behavior. I don't care if I'm statistically undesirable; if I pay the same money, I should in turn receive the same product. While my tab is generally not large, the percentage is equal if not greater than that of the people around me. Another factor to consider: I've noticed that many of the more offensive eateries were those issuing the most coupons and discounts. I'm not nor have ever been a restauranteur, but this smacks of either poor business sense or desperation. Two days ago, I visited a gastro-pub and enjoyed a soda and some snacks. The total tab for two was roughly $11, and I left a $3.50 tip. I was a bit underdressed and a traffic incident meant I waited some time before my friend arrived, but received nothing but smiles despite two free refills. Honestly, I'm surprised I received the service I did - and I'm definitely going back! As far as I'm concerned, this is how things should be done. I get nice service despite a small order, and I leave a 27% gratuity. Fail to complete this arrangement, and I'll never return; do it consistently, and I'll come back again and again.

This anecdote brings forward once again the issue of payment. Bank tellers are paid by the hour: when times are good, they see no benefit, but when income slips, they do not directly face the consequences. Their business relationship is with their employer, not the customer, which can potentially allow for the situation outlined above. If the employer does not penalize indifferent service, no one else will. The alternative, however, is much worse. In a restaurant, the employees are dependent on the customers directly; as a result, it is profitable to snub less wealthy tables in favor of lavishing attention on the moguls ordering magnums of champagne. While encouraging the occasional whale is good business, snubbing the rank and file is catastrophic in the long term. During economic growth, income is steady and tips, even from less affluent patrons, are more than worth the effort required to obtain them. During recessions, it ceases to be a worthwhile pursuit. This, in turn, leads to the poorly dressed schmuck at the next table recommending to all he knows to stay away unless wearing Armani.

From what I understand, invert sugar is composed of monosacchrides - glucose and fructose - and usually produced by heating sucrose (table sugar) with a bit of acid? I may also speak blasphemy when I say this, but it seems pretty much identical to high fructose corn syrup, though I suspect the proportions and consistency are a bit different.

You'd be correct that I made some snarky comments in respect to Fuzzy's Tacos; with a name like that, they'd quite clearly earned it. I made similar if not greater digs on most of the restaurants I reviewed, usually followed with a glowing paragraph on the excellent food and service and an exhortation to go there as soon as humanly possible. I've yet to hear a complaint. My comment on "Is everyone incompetent?" may have been inflamatory, but consider that the events listed were in respect to two restaurants with the same owner. I'd been to both of them in the span of a few weeks, and both were rather unpleasant. It's a bit infuriating when the tastefully dressed forty-somethings next to you receive their requests without hiccup while some students with funny accents receive nothing. While one can take the position that visiting the restaurant once is statistically insignificant, such is the nature of editorial critique. Automotive journalists do not drive three thousand Hyundai Sonatas for several months in order to create a realistic and meaningful picture of ownership; they drive one, for about forty minutes, and write down that the seats were nice but steering pulled to the left under acceleration. If a restaurant provides poor service during one instance it is a strong indicator that others could well expect to receive the same, especially if the staff was noticeably friendlier to customers above the age of 40. If you're a student, it's of particular value.

If I recall correctly, red velvet cakes originated in using beets to improve the sweetness and flavor of chocolate cakes during WWII rationing. While I'm none to fond of the spheres of cake mix caterers dub "Red velvet truffles," I wonder if one could be produced using beets, buttermilk, cream cheese, and other elements of the traditional cake.

I was under the impression that invert sugar was standard table sugar (sucrose) heated with an acid to split it into glucose and fructose? Aside from the obvious difference in sweetening, I find that corn syrup has peculiar aftertaste that I quite enjoy in pecan pie but would prefer to avoid in my confectionery.

I found some Callebaut extra bitter for $5.27/pound online before shipping, though the going rate at most places is about 20% more. I suspect ordering any before October at the earliest is asking for eleven pounds of separated goo, but the price is only a hair over Trader Joes' and the quality, I would presume, somewhat better. http://www.amazon.com/Callebaut-Extra-Bitter-70-Block/dp/B001U5GWWY Does anyone know if invert sugar is preferable to corn syrup for making truffles? An awful lot of recipes call for the latter.

Apologies for double-posting, but I just found out that carrageenan can be used to make a pudding without getting particularly hot. This "raw" recipe seems to contain a fair few non-raw ingredients, but it could no doubt be tweaked to your employers' specifications. http://gliving.com/cinnamon-marshmallow-mousse-and-an-adelaide-dessert-class-by-greenchef-heather-pace/

...yeah, that's pretty much it in a nutshell. Thanks for pointing it out! I actually added quite a bit of bourbon to my first batch of truffles, a roughly 2:2:1 ratio of chocolate to booze to cream, and they came out wonderfully. However, I'm a bit nervous of using this quantity in the future, as liquor is mostly water and water can reputedly break an emulsion. Lecithin seems to make this somewhat less likely, but I'm wondering if I'd be better off adding it to the cream and steaming off the excess liquid. Or am I missing something obvious? While Trader Joe's chocolate is obviously less than ideal, it's the cheapest stuff I can buy that doesn't have dairy solids or waxes or other nonsense in it. I'm not averse to buying large quantities of chocolate, but anything over $10/pound is out of my price range, and at $4.54/pound the TJ's stuff is cheap enough I can afford to make mistakes. On a related note, I'd really quite like to try a green tea flavored confection. I've had a few that appeared to be made of some sort of combination of cocoa butter and fondant, but I'm a bit lost on this one. Any suggestions?

In respect to Fuzzy's Tacos: The food was terrible. The service was terrible. The prices sucked. The name is funny. Why would I write any differently of them three years from now? Welcome to eGullet! This sort of animosity is the exception and not the rule. From the secondhand descriptions of my Spanish professor, European waiters - especially in Spain - take their job quite seriously. Service is reputedly on par if not better than ours despite the absence of gratuity, presumably due to increased competition. I'm going to take a stab at the current problem as we have it today: 1. Cheap people don't tip well. 2. Skilled waiters, responding to poor compensation, compete for top restaurants. Those that cannot find such employment rapidly become apathetic. 3. Apathetic waiters stop working as hard. Reduced salary also results in less competition for waitstaff positions, reducing quality of new hires. 4. Irregular service further depresses gratuities, leaving us back at step 1. I might be making a bit of a stretch here, but working as waitstaff in the top 10% of restaurants by price should be equivalent to at minimum forty hours anywhere else. Even if you're effectively only waiting tables between the hours of five and eleven for a total of thirty hours a week, the compensation - assuming consistent 15% tips at an average of $50 per diner at an average of five diners per hour - is better than that of some entry-level software programming jobs. I'm quite obviously fudging the numbers here a great deal and the absence of health insurance is a killer if you're over the age of twenty-five, but this is not the sort of part-time job that should be done in the manner of reshelving books at Borders. In so many words: If you're getting paid as much as a software programmer, you should do the work of a software programmer. As wages dip to Wal-Mart greeter levels, things may not be so rosy.

After mucking about with some time with pseudo-truffles and other cheaters' confections, I finally broke down and learned the process of tempering chocolate. The end results were even better than I expected - a delightfully crunchy tempered shell on the first try, filled with a wonderfully soft ganache impossible for an un-dipped truffle - , and I'd like to figure out where I can go from here. The main areas where I have questions are: 1. Ingredients. I'm quite enamored with Trader Joes' 72% dark chocolate due to the $10/kilogram price point, but I'm a bit stuck as to where to go from here. I can obviously modify my ganache proportions with respect to butter, chocolate, or cream, but I'm a bit lost as to where to go from here. While fresh ingredients are always nice, there are an awful lot of cases where extracts are more effective, and I learned the hard way that Penzey's orange does not a pleasant truffle make. I'd also like to try non-chocolate truffles and candies - is there an easy option on these? 2. Equipment. Call me pedantic, but I hate the time, effort, and inconsistency required for making large batches of hand-rolled truffles. I've seen lots of inexpensive chocolate molds, but I'm a bit lost with respect to plastic or silicone. I also suspect that my use of an instant-read electronic meat thermometer for chocolate is not entirely ideal. And maybe there's something else I'm forgetting? 3. Books. I'm on a tight budget, but the city library system is well-stocked and Google Books has myriad options. Can anyone recommend some literature, or, better still, YouTube videos? 4. Ideas? I'm hoping to make some mocha truffles next by simmering coarsely crushed coffee beans in the cream, then straining before making the ganache, but I'm pretty much stuck after that. Chili and orange truffles are both promising, but where do I go from here? 5. This is a highly specific question, but does anyone know if homemade fondant will keep at room temperature? What if I add a little everclear?

Your employer is quite clearly mad. I'd suggest some sort of chilled fruit soup of melon and citrus juice. You do realize the agave has been very heavily cooked in order to modify the sugars into more palatable forms? It's about as raw as scrambled eggs. In fact, the same applies to the following ingredients: 1. Cocoa powder. By the time you receive it, cocoa has been ground, chemically separated, recombined, and in general had someone process the bejeezus out of it. You can get cacao nibs at Whole Foods, but even these are roasted. 2. Carob powder. For much the same reasons as the cocoa powder. 3. Vanilla extract. Aside from the obvious presence of alcohol, vanilla must be heated a great deal during processing. 4. Cashews and cashew flour. I'm not a botanist, but if I'm not mistaken, cashews are a member of the urishol family, which includes mangoes and the Rengas tree famous for sap that can melt your face off. Cashews aren't quite as bad, but failure to denature the enzymes will make you really, really ill. EDIT: It seems you can buy unprocessed carob and chocolate. Vanilla and cashews are definitely denatured, though.

If I'm not mistaken, the addition of copious amounts of CO2 to water produces small amounts of carbonic acid. This tends to make the end result taste awfully funny.

On a semi-related note, can anyone comment on my use of alcohol in truffles? The recipe I used calls for the addition of 1/4 cup liquor to a mixture of 4oz cream and 8oz chocolate. While the end result was fabulous, I'm told that the addition of water (of which most booze is at least 60%) can break the emulsion very easily. While I suspect I was saved by the presence of lecithin, I'm wondering if I would be better off adding the alcohol to the cream before mixing and simmering away the extra water and ethanol? You can pipe truffles without worry or you can mould them - both will take time and practice to learn though The problem I had with piping is that I ended up with very irregular shapes with extremely coarse sides. The chocolate would not separate from the nozzle, instead hanging there until I shook it off. Aside from being unsightly, these irregular lumps also meant that the truffle agglomerated up a lot of chocolate during dipping. I admit my Ziploc bag piping apparatus is not the best, but it's much easier than hand-shaping ganache that goes liquid at body temperature. On a related note, I highly recommend Trader Joe's "pound plus" milk chocolate for idiotproof dipping. I suspect I may have done the whole procedure in a highly un-optimal fashion, but the stuff has enough emulsifier and cocoa butter to make it a non-issue. It tastes pretty good, too, and at slightly less than $4/pound, I can afford to make mistakes.

One thing recently brought to light by my father (who worked as a waiter for roughly a decade) is that several of the issues I've run into may not be the fault of the waiter at all. Being sat under leaky plumbing sucks, but it's likely the fault of the maitre'd. And, as angry as I might be if I'm repeatedly served raw hamburger when I order medium well, I probably shouldn't take it out on the server. (The health department, on the other hand....) I will in fact do so, yes. The restaurant in question - Los Gemelos, at 244 West Gilman street in Madison, Wisconsin - is another nondescript budget taqueria in a district of largely rubbish student food. It's in an undesirable location - were fail, it would be the third in that venue to collapse since I moved back to the area - and, to be honest, is about as visually appealing as a bowl of lukewarm oatmeal. The food, however, is very good. I won't pretend that I'm a magical savior solely responsible for the restaurant's success, but I genuinely do feel I've helped. The student paper isn't very popular, but it doesn't need to be; with a student body in the thousands and a campus two blocks from the restaurant in question, it's an easy sell. Enough have been persuaded that they've framed the review and put it on the wall, which is always slightly embarrassing for me as the writing is not particularly good. Los Gemelos is still running strong despite economic conditions that crushed many of the restaurants around it. However, many venues fail despite their relative merits, and a really solid review can do wonders to get those customers through the door that all-important first time. On the subject of useless schmucks trying to cadge some free confectionery, I can understand your anger. Objectivity is a joke if you're dependent on the service reviewed; while receiving the odd freebie is fair enough, there's a very good reason Consumer Reports insists on buying all items reviewed at retail. I'm a mediocre journalist at best, but at least I'm honest. And can you really fault me for burning a place called Fuzzy's Tacos?