Goober

Hi @Pastrypastmidnight To be honest - your ganache looks great. You won't likely get as flat of a top as in, say, a tart or when pouring a slab, as in those instances you are able to pour the ganache at a higher free-flowing temperature because you aren't concerned about melting a shell. You can get pretty close though, by tapping the mould carefully on the counter immediately after piping. Your ganache ratio is fine. The below ratios are recommended by Ewald Notter and are the ones I typically use. Ganache Ratios Slabbed: Dark 2:1 Milk 2.5:1 White 2.5:1 _______________________ Piped pralines (freeform shapes) Dark 1.5:1 Milk 2:1 White 2:1 _______________________ Soft ganache (for moulds and truffle shells) Dark 1:1 Milk 1.5:1 White 1.5:1 Ganache piping temperatures correlating to the shell's chocolate type Dark 31 °C Milk 30 °C White 28 °C Other tidbits Cream 30-40% butterfat works. The higher the cocoa solids percentage contained in your chocolate, the higher percentage of butterfat in your cream is preferred. Butter Provides mouthfeel and is useful for extending missing butterfat in cream. A Cream based ganache can have 10% of the total ganache weight, of butter added to it. Before butter is added, it should be as soft as possible without being melted, otherwise, it will have a negative effect on the mouthfeel.

Pretty much. The method Tri2Cook mentions is a good back of the napkin method, and you are right, with different moisture contents within those ingredients, it will vary, but it will give you a decent idea of the difference between the two batches. It will get you close the first time. You can then measure to refine it if you want. You have options - which is nice.

Hi @Pastrypastmidnight As you have poured both quantities into the same sized receptacles, you can determine the percentage difference without weighing either of them, by instead using the ratios. 1. Get a ruler and measure the height of each batch in millimetres. 2. Divide the lower height by the taller height (eg 3.3 / 4 = 82.5% ( 0.825 * 100)) 3. 100% (the larger measurement) - 82.5% (smaller measurement) = 17.5% (the difference), which means the shorter batch is 17.5% smaller than the large. 4. Applying this to your larger recipe to bring it to the same volumetric size is as simple as multiplying each ingredient in the larger recipe by whatever the original percentage difference came to (0.825). So if you had 1000g (1kg) of pear puree in the larger batch, you would calculate ((1000 * 0.825) = 825g). I was able to measure the ratio from the picture you provided and 17.5% is the actual difference it came to. I would reduce your recipe by 12-15% in the next batch. You can also work the opposite way, you can purposely make the batches smaller than the height of the receptacle (say, 2 half, or even 2 quarter batches) and figure out the volume required by substituting the receptacle heigh for your larger measurement in the calculation mentioned above (if that makes sense). This only works when using the same sized receptacles, which may be obvious, but worth mentioning none the less. This also assumes the total batch was poured into each receptacle and that the larger batch didn't fill the receptacle and have some amount remaining that was kept aside.

I produce confectionery and am new to selling confectionery as a business owner as opposed to selling from the position of an employee. I notice snobbery everywhere within the food scene, it just appears with less reverance within confectionery circles. Critiques are often displayed disrespectful to their sources, while lauding their opinions with superiority. I've seen stores on social media take a public beating from a few very vocal and opinionated consumers who claimed to have worked in a kitchen before (not directed toward me). But you also see snobbery when authors like Greweling or Notter take a beating. These chefs are sharing their recipes and expertise to make confectionery production as approachable as possible to small confectioners and hobbyist. Authors of industry textbooks like "Bernard W. Minifie ", "Emmanuel Ohene Afoakwa", "Geoff Talbot", "R. Lees", " W. P. Edwards" are not subjected to the same issues. Nor are the scientists that publish their papers. Why is that? It's because there is not much room for opinion as the material is not subjective - they are simply delivered as techniques and basic recipes. As business owners, we want to sell products that will not only sell, but also be appreciated by our consumers. It is my experience that customers often like subtle flavours and perhaps that is what happened with the rhubarb recipe. I am not a chocolate doctor though, so i may not be qualified to comment on anything in the end. I will see myself out.

I imagine you would be hard pressed to find one too as it isn't common for a locality to produce more than one. The varieties are still rhubarb, though some more potent, sweet, tart etc; and this is not just based on maturation of the plant. I have tried cooking rhubarb in other countries and speak from personal experience. In the past I have been lucky enough to have a few varieties available to me here locally in Australia when i lived closer to a farming region. The same can be said for tomatoes within a recipe. The varieties and quality of tomatoes available can be vastly different in all manners of flavour, texture, acidity, sweetness, moisture etc (verrrry apparent here in Australia) and when used in a recipe can make the end product inconsistent. As socities, we tend to consume more tomatoes than rhubarb though, so i don't think the market is really there to offer many varities at any given time. So yes, there is a possibility that JPW's rhubarb was stronger in flavour at the time he developed his recipe, but again perhaps not - perhaps he just likes it exactly the way Jim D perpared it. But there's a difference between a recipe not working (fundamentally flawed) and preference, which a lot of people tend to misunderstand. I hesitatingly mention that I have only recently stepped into the tightly fitting shoes of selling confectionery as a business owner (I am a chef (apprenticed, culinary schooled (with additional training specialising in confectionery) and qualified > 10yrs)), and am constantly surprised about the level of snobbery some confectioners and their afficianados espouse.

Which are shared by countless other consumers, chefs and stores that are able to continually sell those flavour combinations. JPW's thought process on the combinations was fine, it's your own self-inflated opinion that you are getting caught up on. I don't like licorice as an added ingredient to anything, it doesn't mean that when i am confronted with a recipe that uses it that i think "what was he thinking? did he actually try this? "...

Taste is obviously subjective to a large degree anyway. Saffron does really depend on quality and source; some is simply unpalatable owing to a number of factors including storage and age. Saffron and chocolate do work well together, so who knows. Regarding the rhubarb recipe, my guess is he should have detailed what variety of rhubarb was expected for use as rhubarb qualities can vary greatly among the various (at least a dozen) varieties . The sweetness and potency of the resulting recipe will be greatly affected. It's not always obvious that the variety in a particular locale may greatly differ to another. But again - rhubarb and chocolate work extremely well together (yes, in both milk and dark chocolate), and do so just fine. I don't know the author, but i imagine he did his best in sharing his knowledge and can't imagine he pulled any of his recipes out of the air or inserted them willy-nilly and without testing. Neither of the flavour combinations you questioned his thinking on are particularly new or experimental, so perhaps your personal preference is all it falls down to.

You can temper it with Mycryo. It will still cost you money, but considerably less than a tempering machine. https://www.cacao-barry.com/en-OC/chocolate-recipe/technique/tempering/mycryo

what about a small mosquito net? something you can more or less see through but would latch onto the cocoa butter in the air like a filter.

It depends on how viscous the mix is. Seeing as this is for a sauce consistency and not a set caramel, this is likely to occur through agitation.

Post the recipe and your method. Also, how big are the containers? Are they deep and narrow, or are they wide and shallow? Are you agitating it at all once poured? Is it being covered while it is still warm? There are so many factors that could be affecting it.

I mean the other method it could be done is by using an insert and spraying over it for the first coat and removing it in the second. Though it is clearly brushed in this instance.

Question regarding costing for standard recipe cards: How much cocoa-butter do you estimate is used for the back spraying of a typical 36 cavity count semi-sphere mould?