Rajala

Yeah, that's it. Thanks Google. I didn't know there is a pro version. Edit: Well, I placed an order for The Art of the Chocolatier. I get my salary next week so a book for $50 is acceptable.

Book suggestions are always nice. I'll have to look that one up. Chocolate and Confectionary or whatever that book is called, was an amazing suggestion from someone. I love that it uses the metric system. You know which one I'm talking about.

So, we agreed on that in the end it's self leveling vs shelf life? That would make sense.

I have no idea. I would like to know as well, maybe there’s extra cocoa butter added in the ganache?

Hehe, well you can get an answer from a professional if you ask the questions in a good way, because some times I can get an answer which is like "eh, hmm i did ask about that, and you just expanded on the question without answering it?" I guess she's a quite busy person. Regarding Savour, do remember that the classes are very wide in their theme, and not that narrow.

Valid points! Savour is nice, Kirsten does a really good job explaining things in her videos.

Not sure what you mean by this? I don't understand what the currency rates has to do with it? Maybe I'm just misunderstanding what you're trying to express. I mean, if you think it's worth it, it is, for you. I personally wouldn't pay that much for just videos. But I see what you mean with the artistic value etc

Wow, that price is crazy. I'd rather spend that money on an on-hands class with Coppel or something (which I did, but that's a year away )

That could work as well. But it feels more costly than metal if you want them to be thick. It feels more like something I would use to make bars with several different layers.

I'm thinking that that is the way to go. I can get some steel / aluminium from a store close by. I would just need to make smaller pieces of it. I don't even have space for one of those. And the cheapest one seems to be like 800 EUR + taxes. Will look at what pastrygirl mention and see if I can find anything that suits my needs. I have two stores within walking distance that I could ask as well. One is making fudge etc and the other one is making mostly chocolate.

I don't have a cutter and it'll probably be a while before I invest in one. They're quite price as you're probably well aware of. It's for trying to make some ganache, pate de fruits and also for some caramels. The main reason I ask is because I started to read about leaf croquant in Chocolates & confections, and you need a frame (if you follow the recipe blindly) for the caramel.

What's the consensus on confectionary frames? Making your own with help from someone? This thread is a few years now but I see lots of people that are still active in other threads. Maybe you can shed some light on how you're working with frames these days?

Yeah, I bought it for making neutral glaze. But it's not like you use a lot of it. Even when you make a large batch of neutral glaze. However, I've used this pectin for making fruit compotes that I let set, and mix with a hand blender to make it a bit liquid - to be able to pipe it in bonbons. So works for that as well, at least. But I would really love to get that PDF (took me a while to figure out what PDF meant haha, I'm damaged by computer talk) texture in the bonbon.

Thanks @Jim D.. Didn't think about reading the thread from the beginning. I think I'll just start with trying to make a "normal" one, since I've never made one at all.

That's usually how I do it with some kind of fruit compote. But this self level thing... I've seen people claiming they have a pate de fruits which is totally levelled out. Looks amazing. I want that.

OK, thanks. I'm gonna give this a go with some kind of fruit. You always end up with a few different kinds in your freezer. I have like a kilo of Pectin NH, do you guys think that will work for this or would I need something like the kinds you discuss above? Not to hijack the thread, but what about piping these things in to moulded bonbons? Any suggestions on what kind of pectin to use etc? So it doesn't set before you can pipe.

I don't even melt my chocolate for the ganache, I pour the hot cream over it. Never had a problem doing it that way.

I always have this issue with dark chocolate ganaches. I find it extremely hard to get them even close to flat on the surface. I avoid dark chocolate ganaches because of this. But with that much cream? Super weird that it's high in viscosity. I use way less than that in my ganaches.

When making this, do you take the sugar in the puree into account? Looking at the fruit purees I can get my hands on, all of them have sugar added. Or do you just work with the puree as puree and don't mind the extra sugar?

I asked the guy who's the pistachio farm owner (or something like that), who said that some like to mix with almond because of cost savings. So I guess that's it.

Look at the color of this. At the moment, I would say that it was worth peeling all those pistachios. We'll see when it's ready, I guess the color might change a little. And btw; 500 grams of pistachios became 420 grams without skin. I lost a few dollars worth of pistachios there.

I've been eager to try this, but when I saw that they only sell it in 10 kb bags for now it's like, meeeh, how about no? Maybe they'll sell the 2.5 kilo bags they've been throwing around, when it's available in more countries.

Yeah, I thought about that. Price. The pistachios were 45 EUR per kilo. I can source almonds at less than 8 EUR per kilo. It's not a matter for me as it's just a hobby. Maybe I should just give it a go with the praliné I made that looks greenish/brown and dull, and replace the amount of almond praliné in the recipe with the pistachio praliné. You never know if you don't try, I guess?

I've been asking about pistachios in another thread, but I thought that maybe that one should be reserved for what the discussion is actually about and not what to do with the pistachios. I intend to make a pistachio mousse, and I have a recipe from Praliné by Stéphane Leroux, however, in this recipe you might use 150 grams of pistachio praliné but there's also the same mount of almond praliné added to the mousse. I would love to be able to ask Stéphane why, but I don't think I can do that. Would anyone here have any idea why almod praliné is also added? The reason why I ask is that I want to have a really nice greenish mousse and that it should taste very much pistachio, not sure how it'll end up if it's that much almond praliné int it as well? Maybe someone also have a recipe for an amazing pistachio mousse? If found at least two while searching for older discussions, but not sure if they're fit for a mousse intended for entremet/petit gateau use? Thanks!

Got my grinder a week ago and made a super smooth almond paste, to try it out. Can't believe how good it come out with so little effort. I got a question regarding the original subject of this thread though; pistachios. I'm wondering what the best way would be to remove the skin from the pistachios. I was told to boil them for 3-4 minutes but that seems a bit long and that they would absorb way too much water.