Bentley

Pomati makes a 5kg continuous tempering machine called the T5 for about US$5,000. Also, FBM and Chocolate World both make excellent tempering machines in sizes similar to Selmi at a lower price point. TCF Sales is the main source in the US.

If you're on instagram, a great chef to follow is Karina Rivera (@karinarc_5). She used to work at Bachour. She posts a lot of ganache recipes for macarons, which are great by themselves but also to get an idea of how to properly formulate a recipe.

I've done it a couple different ways. The easiest way is to use Biscoff or Trader Joe's cookie butter mixed with chocolate (i usually do a 60/40 ratio). If you want a crunchy texture, you can use a crunchy cookie butter if available or add crumbled speculoos cookies. The other way is to make a basic chocolate ganache and add a speculoos spice mixture (I don't have the recipe at the moment but I believe it's cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, clove and cardamom). You have to be careful though because it can get grainy using dry spices. I wouldn't do it with a speculoos paste and praline paste because you'll get a nutty flavor from the praline. Could be good if that's what you're going for, but If you're starting with speculoos cookies, I would experiment with processing them with chocolate and possibly a neutral oil.

I actually use the same one that Jim mentioned.

This reminds me a little of something I saw from Noela Chocolate in the Tampa, FL area: What theuy call "state of the art" methods looks to me to be something like custom stencils - maybe 3D printed?

How do you think Giorgio does this one?

Just saw that Susanna Yoon (Stick With Me Sweets) published a salted caramel recipe at Chowhound.com (https://www.chowhound.com/food-news/255382/how-to-make-caramel-recipe-stick-with-me-sweets):

I had to go down to 33.4 for my latest batch of silk. Lowest temp I've had to set so far. Also a question - If I am not going to use my EZ temper for a few weeks or months, can I just turn it off and let the silk harden, then just turn it back on again when I need it...or will I need to melt the old cocoa butter back down again before remaking silk?

Thanks for that, JIm. Very useful info!

Trying to use up some colored cocoa butter colors that don't get used very much. Here's the latest: Clockwise from Top Left: Banana Passionfruit, Vanilla Caramel, Peanut Butter, Hot Chocolate (dark chocolate ganache with vanilla marshmallow)

Which recipe did you use for your experiment? I have been experimenting with Greweling's recipes only so far as I am waiting to get some lecithin. I haven't loved the results so far. I think I may be cooking too fast as the color of the caramels is very light and there is not a great depth of flavor. I think I need to lower the heat and cook longer to develop more Maillard reaction in the ingredients.

Wow...what a difference between Greweling's Recipes and @schneich's recipes on page 2 of this thread: I'm going to make them both tomorrow, but my guess is that Grewelings will be more like an American style firmer cut caramel, and Schneichs' will be more like a Genin-style chewy soft caramel. 40g of butter to 680g of sugar (in Grewelings caramels using fresh dairy) vs 700g of butter to 1000g of sugar in Schneich's. Talk about different approaches! Greweling isn't using lecithin, so if Kriss Harvey is using it, I am guessing he tends towards the "more butter" side of the spectrum.

This post from Kriss Harvey, one of my chocolate gods, shows the process. He uses this technique when he wants to cap a bonbon that has a liquid filling that can't be capped the traditional way (because the chocolate would displace the filling). If you're using a traditional filling like a ganache, gianduja. praline or even a firmer caramel that can support the weight of the chocolate, there owuld be no reaosn to use this method over the regular way of capping your bonbons. There is also capping the bon bons with an acetate sheet or transfer sheet as @RWood described, but it doesn't sound like that's what you're talking about (but just in case, take a looka t the second video, also from Kriss Harvey).

Thanks for that. I stand corrected. I tried to find every post he did on caramels, but I missed that one..probably because there's no caramel in the picture. And I always forget about Grewling's book. It's the only one in my collection that is on my iPad and isn't a physical book. Off to experiment...

Thanks. Kriss has never mentioned lecithin that I'm aware of (at least on his instagram), but I know you took his class, so I'll take it as truth. Are the amounts of cream and butter similar for both methods? Or does the Maillard method typically use more?

Thank you!

I think David is a forum member here if I'm not mistaken. His recipe seems to be the traditional method of caramelizing the sugar then deglazing with the cream. If I am understanding correctly from his instagram feed, Kriss Harvey cooks the sugar, cream, glucose and vanilla in a pan all at once to a temperature of 118-125 (depending on the variety he is making) then he adds the butter.

I have been working on some soft caramels inspired by Kriss Harvey (who was inspired by Jacques Genin and Henri Leroux). He talks on his instagram about caramelizing all the ingredients other than butter (sugar, glucose, cream, salt and vanilla) together to get the right flavor and chewiness. I haven't been able to find a single recipe that does it this way. Every caramel recipe I can find calls for caramelizing the sugar first then deglazing with warm cream. So I've been experimenting on my own (I've gone through a LOT of sugar, butter and cream) with less than satisfactory results. I've been putting all the ingredients in a saucepan, other than the butter and cooking to the desired temperature while stirring, then removing from the heat and adding the butter than pouring into a frame. I've been sticking with basic salted caramels. I haven't wanted to try to do fruit caramels until I get the basics down. I did read through an earlier thread on Genin caramels with a recipe by member Schneich - it looks like he caramelizes the sugar and then adds the cream. Kriss Harvey also does not appear to be using sorbitolm, lethicin or sodium bicarbonate. Has anyone made caramels the Kriss Harvey way? I'd love to get some guidance or tips.

Jim, I subscribe to Chocolate Academy online. I will likely let my subscription lapse. It is similar to Savour but I find it less interesting in terms of the recipes. They seem to have a greater focus on general pastry work with fewer bonbon courses than Savour, so for the chocolatier, it's not as useful. The chocolate work they do, at least recently, seems to heavily favor Ruby chocolate. Maybe that will change as Ruby becomes less new. It's not a huge expense, but if budget is an issue, I'd pick Savour over CAO. If you have any specific questions, just let me know.

Does anyone know where to get Milk Chocolate Vermicelli in the US? Callebaut makes it, but I can only find the dark chocolate version online. My European friend used to bring it over when he could but he doesn't have any visits planned for quite some time now.

I've never heard of mixing color powder with water (although that doesn't mean it can't happen). Every chef I've ever seen doing macs mixes the coloring with the egg whites that are combined with the tant pour tant (not the whites that are whipped with the sugar syrup)

I am not the most experienced chocolatier in the world, but I've seen Waring immersion blenders in 90% of the commercial kitchens I've been in.

When I have cocoa butter that doesn't give me nice silk, I melt it completely, then temper it using other silk I have on hand (or tabling it if I don't have any silk). I let the tempered cocoa butter completely set over night, then put it in the EZ temper. This has always worked for me.

If you look back in the forum to my early days, I once had an issue with a cherry caramel separating. Never figured out why. But I've never had a caramel separate since then. I take the caramel off the heat as soon as it hits my temp, then let it rest for maybe 5 minutes before putting the butter in. I am certainly not an expert in emulsification, but it makes sense that the blender would help emulsify the mixture, as the blades are creating smaller and smaller particles of fat to be suspended in the water.