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tammylc

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Posts posted by tammylc

  1. I do something similar in terms of calculating quantities. I have an Excel spreadsheet with all my recipes in it, set up to recalculate based on the total amount that I want. I use 9 gram molds, and have learned that it takes about 225 grams of ganache per mold (give or take - single molds need a little more and multiple molds a little less, presumably because of waste issues). So depending on the number of molds I'm planning to make, I just plug in the quantity of ganache I need, and then print out the formula.

    I use the output from those formulas to compile my shopping list for any given production, subtotaling all the cream, for example, so I know how much to buy.

  2. I agree with Baroness--good thinking--you have to chose your tinned items carefully--for example avoid using a mint item in there that will dominate and envelope other items. But it would be great on a tray.

    Gingerbread and other heavily spiced cookies have a tendency to make everything in a tin taste the same, so you'll need to be careful about that too.

  3. I put my ganaches into disposable piping bags and heat seal the end.  Makes it easy to pipe without the filling squirting out of the back of the bag.  Leftovers get the tip end heat sealed - labeled and dated - then into the fridge.  Sometimes I'll combine two fillings in a molded chocolate when I don;t have enough of either - so mocha and liquid caramel might get combined.

    If I have scraps of jellies or guitar cut ganaches - they can go in a kitchen sink bark to take to work or give away to who ever looks like they need it.

    Thank you Kerry, for all your amazing tips and tricks. But the thing I am most grateful of all for is that you don't take chocolate quite so seriously as some of the rest of us (myself included). It's a good reminder and lesson for me!

  4. Toby -

    I know it should never be the intention to go to a bar to get completely blitzed out of your mind, but I have a feeling that if (and when) I ever get to enjoy your establishment, I may not know when to stop.  I see about 15 drinks I'd love to order.

    Every time you post these menus it just drives me insane with inspiration. 

    Another amazing looking menu, Toby.

    Thanks for sharing...

    Intention sheshmention. Sometimes inebriation happens in a bar. I would just say to make sure you stay 3 nights so you can go twice with a hungover day between. Then get on the plane on the forth day and head to Betty Ford, or some awful lemon juice/maple syrup/cayenne cleanse. Between the food and drink you will need it.

    Toby

    Inebriation at the Violet Hour? I would know absolutely nothing about such a thing as that. (Thanks Toby!)

  5. I do what Carol does and experiment at home, saving the kitchen for real orders. Usually I'm doing small enough quantities at home that I don't even bother with my melter, but I have been known to move it back and forth (and some other equipment that I don't have duplicates of, like my Thermapen digital thermometer). I leave all my big stuff at the kitchen, though (compressor, vibrating table, most of my molds, etc).

    For me, when I think about all the work and overhead that would be involved in getting my own space, I'm quite happy to continue with my rented kitchen. But I'm lucky that it's owned by a couple of great women that are fabulous to work with. And that my financial arrangement with them means I can take small orders as easily as large ones.

  6. The model you describe is how I run my chocolate business. I send out what my current offering is and in what form factors you can buy it, collect up the orders, do all my production in one or two rounds, then get it to my customers. This model works really well for me, given that I have another full time job - it makes the work very "containable" and sounds like a great way to test out the concept.

    As for the form factor to offer, it seems like offering both of what you describe would be a good idea. Selling whole pans minimizes your labor, so be sure to upcharge accordingly for materials and time if you are preparing mixed trays.

    Good luck!

  7. Thank  you ladies, I felt I over did it at the chocolate festival, but I guess I did ok then. I cut everything in small pieces, of all the production I had on display, I wasn't sure that was smart, because the crowd we got, but this time might be different, plus I need more people to know my products rigth? I hope I am not trying to chew to much for my jaws! Thank you so much for all the tips and help. I will report later.

    I think you do need to sample product to sell it. Especially when you're selling an artisanal product - people need to see and taste to understand why they should be buying from you instead of getting a box of Pot O' Gold.

  8. I know what you mean, maybe the creaminess of the milk marry much better with the creamy chewiness of the caramel. The sea salt I make are always in dark, because thats what my affecionados prefer.

    I do my sea salt caramels in dark as well. The contrast is perfect.

    When I've tried coating caramels in milk I find that the chocolate flavor pretty much disappears. Maybe my milk chocolate (Cluizel) just has a lot of caramely flavors...

  9. Thanks Desiderio for all the information.  I would not have used the 70%, but my friend wanted 85% which I could not get.  Also, at the time I had no choice in 70%...we live in a small city and I was lucky to get any 70% at all.  Our pretzel rods and turtles were done in 60%, medium viscosity, and they worked out very well. 

    Also last week I scarcely knew that viscosity was an issue at all.  I am the newbie amongst newbies...but learning quickly I hope.  All least all the errors are still edible and delicious.

    BTW, I never did recoat the caramels.  I completely botched the tempering process  :sad: and both I and the store had no more 70% couverture left.

    Soon I'll be in Utah, using E. Guittard for the first time, thanks to Ruth Kendrick.  The best news is that we are going to meet!  :biggrin:

    For future reference, Darienne, you could have used some of your 60% chocolate as seed to retemper the 70%. And you can also temper without any seed at all, by bringing your chocolate down to the bottom of the tempering curve (82?) and then carefully heating it back up to working temperature.

    Have fun with Ruth!

  10. I agree with Kerry and Rona. When I do events like this I cut each piece into 2 or 4, depending on how much I have and how generous I'm feeling/how likely I think the audience is to buy. I'll usual offer samples of everything I have, and if I'm cutting small pieces, then I don't mind giving multiple samples either.

    Good luck!

  11. I suspect it would.  I always buy the ginger in syrup rather than the sugar coated.  When I want it in a ganache, I put it through my garlic press.

    Good idea Kerry!! Where do you buy it in syrup?

    We have a store close by called the Punjab market. The owners bring in all the things that the european customers want. They sell me whole pails of the australian ginger. It's a beautiful thing.

    Of course you could always use Andiesenji's method to make your own ginger, just keep it in the syrup rather than dipping in sugar at the end.

    Is there a link to Andiesenji's method? I'd love to try it.

  12. I am sorry to be argumentative but I have never heard of corn syrup having water added to it.  As I always knew it to be glucose syrup that had its sugar chains broken down farther than the product labeled glucose syrup and then a percentage of high fructose corn syrup added into it.

    As far as I know, the ingredients for KaroLight syrup is corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, and vanilla.

    If you have documentation of where and how water is added to the corn syrup you buy at your grocery store I would love to read it.  I would find it very interesting, because I have never heard that before.

    thank you.

    My documentation for where and how water is added is the ingredient label on the back of the bottle.

    Ingredients: Light corn syrup, water, high fructose corn syrup, salt, vanilla.

    For comparison purposes, the ingredient list on my glucose syrup:

    Ingredients: Corn Syrup

    Most glucose syrup in the US is going to be corn syrup - corn is plentiful and cheap. European glucose is - as you say below - more like to be from another grain like wheat.

  13. Grocery store corn syrup is simply glucose with a little additional water and often some vanilla flavour - so if you are ever stuck - they are pretty well interchangable.

    At least here in the US, grocery store corn syrup also contains high-fructose corn syrup, which is - as someone mentioned above - sweeter than regular glucose.

  14. I might very well have served someone their last meal.  I just found out that a lady who attended the dining program on Thursday night, died on Friday morning.

    I sure hope it wasnt all that processed food they love so much :sad:

    Well, if it was her last meal at least it was a meal she loved!

    And I'm sure it wasn't your fault. But quite the shock to find out about, I bet!

  15. So, in the end, the amuse was two items. The first was crostini with smoked trout topped with a quail egg and garnished with some chives. The second was a plantain chip with a schmear of apricot-mango stuff, topped with smoked goose breast, julienne Asian pear and a little dill. The trout-and-quail-egg one came out as we imagined it would. The plantain-with-goose, when we did a preliminary taste test, was too sweet and not salty enough. This even though our whole premise had been to minimize the saltiness of the goose. So we wound up asking Kris to salt the plantain chips and we added the dill to the ingredients list. In the end this part of the amuse was not, in my opinion, fabulous but it was pretty good and it met the ethnic challenge. I loved the trout and egg, but there were some little bones in some portions that made it difficult to navigate.

    Maybe someone can supplement with a photo.

    Thanks for the rundown, Fat Guy. I think the trout and egg would have been even better had we remembered to season them. A little salt and pepper on the eggs would have totally kicked it up a notch.

    Oh, and actually, it was dill on the trout and eggs, and chives on the goose and fruit. Which I agree was too sweet and not as fabulous as I'd hoped. Ah well - it was worth the experiment.

  16. A few other 'before-the-meal' items that didn't make Tammy's official recap:

    Deep-fried bacon and corn bread-wrapped chili 'bombs' brought by gp60004 (Wiener & Still Champion)

    Mini hotdogs in pastry from Romanian Kosher Sausage Co., hand rolled by G Wiv

    Spring Rolls and Vegetable Pancakes brought (made?) by prasantrin

    Assortment of high-end iced teas brought prepared by white lotus

    Great assortment of cheeses brought by nyokie6

    I was outside tending the smoker for most of the afternoon, so there could be a few others, I'm not sure.  These were some of the items that a few folks were nice enough to bring outside for me during the course of the afternoon. :smile:

    =R=

    edited to add a few others

    Thanks, Ronnie - I knew I would forget things from the pre-dinner noshing, so I figured I should focus on the dinner menu and leave somebody else to create this list!

    Did HOLLY_L's chicken liver pate ever make it out?

  17. And I want to add kudos to LAZ for putting together an excellent ethnic market tour. There were full-color printed guides to each shop, with recipes even! And crazy Korean etiquette videos. And a million wacky ice cream flavors, like mangosteen, maiz, queso, and - my favorite - avocado. It was a great trip, and she (and Dick) put a ton of work into that I really appreciated.

    Thanks, to everyone for a truly wonderful (and exhausting) weekend.  It was great seeing old friends and meeting new ones.  I hope that those who were visting felt like they got a good 'taste' of what this town has to offer.  As much as we did, there was so much more we could have done, but of course, time limits kept that from happening.

    I'm very sorry that I wasn't able to join in on Sunday morning at Maxwell Street but it was just not to be.  From the pictures that have been posted, it looks like it was a fabulous time and the weather was obviously, cooperative.  I wish I could have been there.  Thanks again, to David Hammond for sharing his time, passion and expertise with us.

    On that note, while it seems almost inappropriate to thank specific people -- especially given how much everyone contributed to the weekend -- I'd like to at least give a shout out to those people who did things for which people were erroneously giving me credit over the weekend:

    Alchemist - thanks for setting up the meal at Blackbird and for hosting us so magnificently at The Violet Hour.  Thursday night was really special and we have you to thank for it.

    Marmish, karen m and santo_grace - thanks for opening your homes to us and hosting the chocolate and bread workshops.  That was going above and beyond the call of duty and it was very much appreciated.

    tino27 and Kerry Beal - thank you both so much the excellent workshops you ran.  Not only did the attendees really enjoy them but the 'fruits' of those labors were among the highlights of our Saturday meal.  I also appreciate you both hanging in there over the long search for venues -- a process that took a bit more work than I initially thought it would.

    G Wiv - I sincerely appreciate you helping set up Friday night's feast at Lao Sze Chuan.  It was most enjoyable and your knowledge of their menu came through loud and clear at our tables.

    tammylc and Fat Guy - thanks for organizing Saturday's fantastic and memorable group meal.  Again, you guys kept things on track and on schedule.  I thought the meal and the way it was organized were both exemplary.

    I want to also give a special shout out to our friends Sarah and Chris at Immanuel Lutheran Church.  They were very kind to let us use their spacious kitchen and dining room on Saturday, and Chris did yeoman's work helping us with the end of the clean-up; returning the space to the condition in which we received it.  So many items, so many cabinets and happily Chris was there to help us put it all back together.

    It's great seeing your own home town through the eyes of visitors.  I had a blast and hope everyone else did too.  I know that not everyone was 100% happy about everything but I hope that speaks more to the nature of getting so many people together and trying to accomodate everyone's desires, than anything else.

    From what I understand, the torch has already been passed for next year's Gathering, so stay tuned for details on that . . .

    Thanks again, everyone.  It was a weekend for the ages! :wub::smile:

    =R=

  18. The official Heartland Gathering Feast menu, for the use and benefit of picture posters and commentators.

    Bread - 3 loaves of honey whole wheat bread, 3 loaves of Red and Black bread, 3 loaves of olive rosemary bread, 2 loaves of sweet potato bread (Tino27 and bread workshop)

    Ethnic Market Amuse (tammylc, Fat Guy, Torakris and a lot of sous chefs)

    - the challenge - at least one ingredient from every one of the ethnic markets

    - the result:

    1) fried plantain chip with apricot/mango schmear, smoked goose breast, asian pear, and chives (Filipino, Armenian/Middle Eastern, German, Korean)

    2) crostini with smoked trout, fried quail egg, and dill. (Polish, Korean)

    Watermelon-Tomato-Mint Soup (Alex)

    Nicoise Salad (CaliPoutine)

    Beet Salad & Beet Fritters (LuckyGirl)

    Shrimp DeJohnge (LAZ)

    Confit Byaldi (KarenM)

    "Chicken and Waffles" (NancyH, BobH, Edsel, Tino27)

    Smoked Ribs (Ronnie_Suburban)

    Coleslaw (Marmish)

    Foil wrapped potatoes of yumminess (Ellen)

    Desserts:

    I might forget something here, as there were so many things on the table, and i wasn't as involved in thinking about what order or time they needed to be ready...

    Chocolate mousse torte (nsxtacy)

    Blueberry peach crisp (CaliPoutine)

    Apple cake with raspberries, whipped cream and caramel sauce (Kerry Beal)

    Creme brulee in chocolate cups (Kerry Beal and chocolate workshop)

    Assorted chocolates (dulce de leche, pate de fruit, bacon-salt bark) (chocolate workshop)

    Pavlova (Kerry Beal)

    Baylor Watermelon (Kathy)

    I think this was our best meal yet, in terms of cohesiveness of the menu. And although we still sent lots of leftovers home with people, we did better on portion sizes than ever before, as evidenced by the fact that people headed to the dessert buffet right away.

    Thanks to everyone who shopped, chopped, measured, cooked, set tables, or cleaned... Which was basically pretty much everyone. We all rock.

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