minas6907

Heres a new one I just tried, sort of an experiment. Blueberry Swirl Rock Candies.

Nice chocolates up there, all of you. Heres a bunch of taffies I did recently. It's Lemon, Peach, Strawberry, Raspberry, and Chocolate.

You know, I was wondering the same thing. I'm sort of betting right now that you don't. I added it because in Leon's recipe, he has both cream of tartar and glucose. I've made his recipe excluding the cream of tartar and did not notice any difference. And the recipe I was going off of was from his new book, its Turkish Delight using native starch. It truthfully doesn't matter which on you use though, this recipe has the exact same proportions as in the at home book, its just multiplied by 3 so it fits into a 12 inch frame. Just add half as much glucose as there is sugar. Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2

Ok, so heres what I did. Previously, my best Turkish Delight was made from a recipe you gave me, Kerry, from the book by Leon, that formula included corn syrup in it. They many other delight recipes I tried did not have corn syrup, those truthfully always turned out poorly. So when I did Leon's recipe, it gave me the best delight I had thus far, but it did lose the soft texture after a week. It wasnt too horrible, but still noticeable enough, when you squeezed it, it would stay squashed, it wouldnt spring back to shape. So the corn syrup made the difference, and additionally I always wondered why in Grewelings book the Turkish Delight formula made with modified starch contained glucose, while his regular native starch formula did not. I've made his recipe for Turkish Delight with native starch enough to know it wasnt what I was looking for, it came out ok, but the outside seemed to crystallize very quickly, so when you ate them, there was an ever so slight crunchy feeling, and that got worse as the candies sat. In my personal opinion, I really hated that, even what I considered low quality lokum, none of them had that characteristic. Anyways, the idea came to me to just see what the texture would be like if I added corn syrup to Grewelings recipe for native starch delights. I added half has much corn syrup as there was sugar. I didnt make the full recipe for delights as on page 351 of the new book, but divided everything by 3. So I had 16 oz sugar, and added 8 oz corn syrup. As for procedure, I got inspired by this video: The guy boils his sugar syrup, then adds the starch slurry, then procedes to boil his candy the rest of the way. This is different then what Greweling has in both recipes, but Leon has the same method. So with Grewelings recipe for Native Starch Delights, I combined the starch with the given quantity of water, then boiled the sugar and water, along with the entire amount of cream of tartar listed in the recipe. I let that boil for a few minutes, turned off heat, stirred in starch slurry, back on low heat, and kept stirring and stirring. It gelled, and I just had to watch my heat the whole time. In the beginning of cooking the delights, I've found I can go at a higher heat, you just sort of have to eyeball it. Then as the candy thickens, I lower the heat slightly, I do this probably three or four times through cooking. Its sort of difficult to say when its done, the very best way I can describe it is (I'm using a silicone spatula btw) while stirring, I sort of see it all stir in one big blob. Haha, I dont know if that made sense, but it was like I didnt feel like I'm stirring a sticky liquid anymore, it felt more like one blob that I kept moving around the pot. I'd say from start to finish, I was probably stirring for 30-45 minutes, and that was a 1/3 recipe, so I assume it will be longer for the full recipe. Btw, I was using a 2 qt sauce pan. Anyways, I was comapring the Grewelings formula to Leons, and I think the biggest difference between them is the amount of starch, Greweling uses less starch, and with the addition of corn syrup, it really did make the best delight I've had (home made that is, the very best came from abroad) After a few days the texture inmproved, they dry out a little bit and firm up. One week on they sort of have that distictive look of being dried out, the candy sort of contracting on itself, but still have a nice supple texture. When you squeeze them, they spring back into shape. I just finished them tonight, but I think tomorrow I may make a larger batch to keep for a longer time and see what the shelf life is on these, but so far these have lasted the longest with a desirable texture. Sorry about the super long explaination, Turkish Delights have really seemed to be the most difficult candy to make. There are so many recipes I've tried, and many more I've come across and discarded because when you reduce down the proportions, they are all basically the same amounts of sugar and cornstarch, just different quantities given for different sized batches, so I've been able to weed though many recipes knowing they would produce the same exact candy. Anywho, if anyone else wants to give this a try, I would love to see your results! Happy stirring!

Heres a few things I've done lately. Orange Turkish Delight. I added corn syrup and cooked it a little different then the Turkish Delight formula using native starch in Grewelings new book specified. My only regret is obviously adding too much color. The orange flavor is nice, but more importantly, the candy has a much nicer texture. If you follow the recipe properly, it makes a candy that isn't very good in my opinion. It crystallizes after a day or so, and is not pleasant to eat, it loses that supple texture quickly. I've grown up with Turkish Delights, so I'm rather picky when it comes to them, theres basically only one brand I'll pick at the Arabic stores here. But I'm surprised with how nicely these turned out with the glucose added to them, its been a little over a week, and they have firmed up, but they still remain a nice soft gel. If anyone's interested I can post what I did different. And next we have some Watermelon Salt Water Taffy I made, came out nicely, just want to see how the texture does in the next few days or so.

I'd probably end up adding a small amount of crushed pedals to my tea, otherwise a rose and toasted cardamom flavored ice cream sounds nice. Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2

Bumping topic! Kerry, where did you get those jelly bean centers before you coated them? They look a little too perfect, you didnt mold those yourself did you? I was just curious about this, I've seen this thread before, but never occurred to me where those jelly bean center came from. Nice panning demo btw, I love it.

I second cupcake wars. I leave it on while I make dinner, but it got replaced with Seinfeld reruns. Even though I hate that show, I always thought it was amusing because in the first round there is always a pair or morons who make the most disgusting cupcakes then get immediately sent home. I still laugh at the old baker man who though it was a good idea to, not only make a cupcake with tuna fish, but pipe a border around the cupcake with nothing but pure jarred mayonnaise, I was shocked he didn't make it into the final round. I'm not sure, but has Secrets of a Restaurant Chef been mentioned? Theres something I dont like about Ann Borell, I feel like shes trying waaaay too hard to be young and hip for her age.

Dont be afraid to boil some sugar, when you do it, you'll love it! Like Heidih said, you dont need very much special equipment, if you have a silpat your pretty much there. Just go and dive in! Be sure you have gloves though, gloves are good.

Heres a few things I made recently. The first is a heart lollipop for a friends 1 year anniversary, and the second are the pillow mints from Grewelings new book. They are very very easy to make, just like pulling sugar, except its at room temp and you want them to crystallize! If anyone wants to make this recipe, I would encourage them not to pack the mints in confectioners sugar like instructed in the book. Instead, when youve assembled your candy with stripes, dust your hands with confectioners sugar and start pulling a rope and cutting your candies, adding more confectioners sugar if you need it. The reason I advise against packing them in sugar is because after a day they get all clumped up on the outside with sugar, and the candy itself really seems to be way over crystallized, to the point where you could rub outside of the candy off just by squeezing it. But from the same batch of candy I dusted the rope with confectioners sugar and figured that combined with the higher moisture content and lack of glucose would be sufficent to crystalize, and it did. The ones pictured below were not packed over night in sugar (those got trashed) These had a much more even crystallization and nice texture when bitten into. I look forward to seeing what you all make from the new book.

Heres a few other things I noticed. Greweling covers crystallized centers. I saw this on a YouTube video one time, but basically he pipes a ganache and submerges them in a super saturated sugar solution, then dried on a screen, leaving a crystalline layer over the centers. Also, where as in his previous book he only had a page or so that discussed panning, he now has a detailed section on how to go about the chocolate panning process.

Ha, yeah no kidding everything is modern. I think everyone will hate me after I say this, ahem, but I got my book today and am returning it. It wasnt really what I was expecting, It was slightly too modern for me, and most of the plates were things that I would never attempt. I'm obviously rather picky about my books, and I cant have this large of a book on such modernist desserts, I know I'll seldom look through it. Sorry guys! I did like the 'Earth' entremet, that was amazing, very playful, but overall, not for me, I'm more into old school pastry.

Not sure if the threads will be combined, but I'll post my thoughts here. Just got the book today, and as Chris said, it is noticeably larger. The sections I mostly refer to are the crystalline and non-crystalline sections. I noticed it includes information that was previously only in his at home book, such as the simple procedure for making cast lollipops, where as the previous professional book primarily spoke of making lollis from pulled sugar. Something I almost started a topic about here, but the new book now covers it, is how to make those small pillow after dinner mint type candies. When I look at the instructions it was a 'duh' moment for me. I love how simple they are, and sort of 'old timey.' I saw a large bag of those mints at the store a while back and though "Why cant I just make those?" Well now I can haha. In the non-crystalline sections, there is a new laminated candy. Its a hard sugar base that is laminated with a chocolate filling...never heard of this, but looks nice. The finished pieces are then dipped in chocolate. Not too sure if I'll try this, perhaps after I make leaf croquant, but still the idea is cool. One thing I was saddened about was the Turkish Delight recipe. I remember in a thread a while back Kerry said there would be a formula for Turkish Delight using regular cornstarch, and there is, but I was sort of hoping it would not be the same formula from his 'at home' book. That formula I would say only makes an ok delight. In a short time the outside crystallizes, and it loses the supple texture. I might give it a second try. Another little change I noticed was in the formula for frappe. I does not list dry albumin anymore, which is better for me. Maybe I'll make some of this stuff up and add it to the taffy, see if I really like it included, otherwise I'll continue to omit, I dont really enjoy adding the jet puff stuff. I'll post more thoughts as I read the book further.

Canola is commonly used in cooking because of the neutral flavor and high smoke point. Its common in restaurants to use a 75% Canola/25% olive oil blend, that way you get some olive oil flavor but still a high smoke point then if you were using oblige oil alone. You can cook with any other oils, but it will impart those flavors, which one may not always want. And it would be more problematic to sear a piece of meat in an oil that has a low smoke point, you wouldn't get as much color as if you were using something like Canola. Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2

Bah! I'm still waiting for my shipping notice! I'm amped about this one! Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2

Yes, i have been reading a lot on all the possible ways to create a plaque that will not melt easily. I found on wilton about marshmallow fondant, will be interested to give it a try over this weekend. Do you do plaque or work with pastillage often?? I cant say that I work with pastillage on a regular basis, but I've made and used it enough times to know how durable of a material it is. You certainly will not have to worry about it melting, and it is less fragile then chocolate, as it dries rather hard. You can easily roll out a sheet and cut your plaques with a pastry wheel, and just set them aside to dry, allowing you to make many in advance. If you chocolate piping is not all that great, you can do cocoa painting/stamping, as the pastillage will give you a very smooth surface. Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2

I think those photos are all in various CIA books. I recognize some from The Professional Chef and The Modern Cafe for sure (ans obviously Chocolates and Confections), and I'm going to assume also Garde Manger, and possibly The Art of Charcuterie. Not able to pinpoint them all though.

Not sure if anyone cares, but when doing a google image search for chocolates and confections, I saw the photographers web site, Ben Fink. There are six photos mixed into other pictures that look like they will be in the 2nd edition, including the cover photo. http://www.benfinkphoto.com/index.php#mi=2&pt=1π=10000&s=25&p=14&a=0&at=0

Ok, just preordered Elements of Dessert! I did look at the Modern Cafe, I dont think I really noticed it before since the cover looked kind of plain. Was slightly worried when I just saw recipe after recipe, but realized that many of those were individual components that make up a beautiful dish. Anyways, I like the format of the book, and further like what he makes. I used to think that Bo Friberg's books The Professional Pastry Chef and The Advanced Professional Pastry Chef were the epitome of beautifully thought out and plated desserts, I think I'm going to be pleasantly surprised with The Elements of Dessert. The site I saw a few pics on was located here: http://www.thequenelle.com/2010_11_01_archive.html http://www.thequenelle.com/2010/12/behind-scenes-elements-of-dessert-pt-3.html

I could see that. They probably just want to have enough ingredients on hand, but when your cooking you sort of get a feel for how much of an item you want to have inside your dish. If I wanted to make a salsa fresca and cut everything up and divided into separate bowls, it would be a little harder to figure how much of an item I need, but when I start combining everything, I might find that I dont need all the onion that I cut, or all the cilantro. I would think that if one is doing a tv show, the measurements aren't always so exact, they may just have enough ingredients in their bowls and give approximate measures while speaking.

Just got an email from amazon that the release date is sooner then November, should have it by the end of this month! Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2

Ok, well if you guys wouldn't mind saying a word or two about it if/when you get it, I'd appreciate it. I checked out his blog and found some pics that will apparently be in the book, which look beautiful, plated desserts that go beyond anything I've seen in person. But aside from that, I don't know much else about the book. I haven't seen The Modern Cafe and Frozen Desserts (pardon me) because the subjects don't seem to capture me, but a in depth text on all aspects of dessert with creative techniques, not just a recipe book, appeals to me more. Over all, I generally like the textbooks from CIA, but I purchased Garde Manger a while back and was very disappointed, it seemed more like a giant recipe book with all the same techniques and pictures that were already covered in The Professional Chef. Anyways, I'm guess I'm just a little more cautious now haha. Thanks guys. Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2

Has anyone seen this book? I've sort of been eyeballing it the last few weeks, and just saw today that its apparently not on pre-order anymore, but available to ship from Amazon. Looks like a nice CIA text on dessert, heres the table of contents: Ch1 The Basic Elements 1 Ch2 Pre-Desserts 105 Ch3 Plated Desserts 163 Ch4 Dessert Buffets 261 Ch5 Passed-Around Desserts 331 Ch6 Cakes (Entremets) 381 Ch7 Petits Fours (Mignardises) 449 Anyone have thoughts on this one? I'm tempted, but dont really know much about it. LINK

Have you considered making plaques from pastillage?

Hey man, dont take it so personal. In all fairness, I'm also having a difficult time discerning what your looking for. Do you want to be a chef? Truthfully, any chef in the industry will tell you that spending two weeks doing some prep and dish washing is certainly not enough to decide that you want to go head on in the culinary field. I think most individuals would need to give it a few years.