-
Posts
2,161 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Everything posted by tammylc
-
Hmmm, if i were making these, i'd probably make caramel and pour it into caramel rulers or a lined pan. Let it cool, then spread the top with melted chocolate, and use that to adhere the banana slices to the caramel. Once that's set up, cut around the bananas (I wonder about a cookie cutter that's the right size - that could make it faster) and then dip in tempered chocolate and roll or sprinkle the nuts. You talk about using a toothpick - I'm guessing that's to keep it together and also as a dipping tool? Skip the toothpick and find some of the forum posts on dipping technique using a fork - you don't need to "spear" things to dip them (and get better results if you don't). I wouldn't pour the caramel over the bananas, or put the bananas on when the caramel is hot, as hot caramel is very hot, and would cook the bananas.
-
Can you explain a little more about the crimping and holding of the bag?
-
This is really interesting. How do you think the Sumeet would work for making a praline paste? In Schotts, he makes a praline filling by caramelizing sugar and pouring it over toasted hazelnuts, then grinding in the food processor. It's good, but pretty sandy in texture. Would the Sumeet handle something like this, and generate smaller particles?
-
I just ordered one. I didn't get any "out of stock" messages, just a note to allow 3 weeks for shipping. So I guess I'll let you know in 3 weeks... I'm excited to have a new toy to play with!
-
Kerry, thank you so much for such a thorough experiment. Your gianduja looks beautiful... I want some! It seems by what I read that the Sumeet Multi Grind isn't available anymore. I will call and ask to be sure. It seems like the Asia model is just a more complex and bigger unit that will do just as well as the Multi Grind. Would you have any idea of how a Vitamix would work for this purpose? It has a very powerful motor but I don't think it has the proper blades to get the smooth effect that the Sumeet gets. Thoughts anyone? . ← The website Kerry linked to let me add the Multi Grind to my cart, although I didn't finish paying or anything. Where are you reading that it's not available?
-
Thanks Mark. I've sent off a request for information.
-
I am still doing it. Tonight, in fact, so I came back to the thread to look up an old meal that I'm re-running tonight. I rarely cook anything new these days - just rotate through a menu of staples and favorites, so I never feel inspired to update the thread! Tonight is pecan-crusted tilapia with brown butter sauce, cajun rice, and green salad. I mostly don't cook this one anymore because it's so labor intensive to fry all that fish. But cooking on the 23rd of December I figured people would be out of town and I'd have a small group, so it wouldn't be too bad, and that was indeed the case - only 29 diners (19 meat eaters, 3 vegetarians, and 7 kids).
-
Another Wybauw class is coming up at the French Pastry School, and I'm trying to decide whether or not I should go. It's 4 days this time, and $1200, so it's not a casual decision. Is anyone else from eGullet thinking of going? Details are here: http://www.frenchpastryschool.com/guest_ch..._03_wybauw.html And, just as ChristopherMichael asked to start this thread, will it be worth it? Will I feel like I'm learning enough, or will I be bored? Any thoughts/opinions?
-
← How does it unlevel the playing field? They put a ridiculous amount of hot food in the reach-in. That's Food Safety 101. All 3 should have been sent home. ← I think it would be more appropriate to blame the inadequate cooling equipment provided to the contestants. The should have a proper walk in, not wall fridges...
-
Have you tried switching thermometers? Maybe you're not really hitting the temps you think you're hitting? (I can imagine how frustrating this would be, so I hope that you've figured out something by now!)
-
You may also want to add a little liquid when you are using the stick blender - a liqueur or even water - my guess is that the fat content is too high and is breaking the emulsion, adding liquid can help repair it.
-
I also use the Grewling spiked egg nog recipe, substituting brandy for rum and piping into a white chocolate shell.
-
I agree - there's certainly no reason not to at least broach the situation with them.
-
what do you mean by the DIY model? i also don't have a fancy vibrating table...i just fill, tap tap tap tap, pour out, scrape, tap tap tap, scrape and set upside down. it might just be my molds, but for every 200 pieces, i might only get 6 air bubbles... ← Here's the thread on making your own. Cheap and easy. http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=88503&hl= You must not be using flat top pyramid molds. I can vibrate and smack those around all I want, and I still get bubbles in the corners!
-
There's less variety in the natural colors, and no shimmery jewels. And, they are about twice the price. I have one bottle of natural red now, and may switch to the others as I run out of things - but at my current pace of use, that's probably not for another 3 years. A little goes a long way.
-
ChefRubber has them too - they call them FDA Approved Pearl Dusts.
-
There's a small chocolatier here in town who has a setup much as ejw50 describes. Her store is a single room in a gourmet food and wine shop. She does all her enrobing by hand, with no guitar for cutting pieces. Last time I talked to her about it, she didn't even have a vibrating table for molds - I was telling her about the DIY model, since it's so cheap and easy. But like ejw50 says - she knows what her margins are and what she can cover.
-
The ChefRubber colored cocoa butters are FDA approved. I'm not sure what makes the Jewel ones sparkly, but the Artisan colors are just cocoa butter with artificial FDA numbered colors (ie. red 40, yellow 2, etc). Now, people may have all sorts of concerns about artificial colors, but they are FDA approved (for now, anyway).
-
I second the "food police" comment below. Get yourself a copy of the IA food code as soon as possible. Has the space been used as a commercial kitchen before? If not, you might face significant renovation costs to get it up to code. Good luck!
-
I just sent out my Christmas email to my mailing list today. I'm making egg nog, mulled cider, blackberry, and cardamom filled chocolates. Plus dark chocolate dried cherry pecan bark and white chocolate peppermint bark. Also, peppermint marshmallows, and hot fudge sauce. It's my first sale doing this many products (usually I just have chocolates, and maybe on other thing) but I decided to add some variety this time around, particularly with longer shelf-life and less labor intensive items like the barks and hot fudge sauce.
-
I almost always end up using my stick blender when i'm making butter ganache and adding fruit puree or other liquid, so your method sounds reasonable to me, Lior!
-
i think the texture of a putting the grounds into the ganache would be rather off-putting. You could use espresso powder and mix it with a small amount of water - perhaps that would be enough to add the flavor without adding too much moisture to the ganache. You could try just infusing the butter with coffee flavor by putting a stick of butter and some coffee beans/grounds in a closed container for a while. Butter is well known for picking up flavors, so that might work...
-
Out of curiosity, what makes it more difficult to work with? If it is just that there is less alcohol content, I’ve used other liquid flavorings than liquors and have not had problems. I just rework my chocolate amount to maintain my ratios. ← IME, the intensity of flavor in wine is much less than a liqueur like Grand Marnier. So it's difficult to get enough wine flavor into the ganache just by adding wine in the same way you'd add a liqueur.
-
Unless you think higher business volume will dramatically reduce your costs, then I think you shouldn't undercut yourself. It's really hard to raise prices later. And you're right that packaging is huge, both from an expense and time perspective. I can offer pretty competitive pricing if someone just wants individual pieces which they could package themselves (or even that I could provide inexpensive ballotin boxes for packaging). But good packaging that's able to sell the product drives the price up a lot - I could save a lot of money using non-window boxes, but I think people need to see my product.