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Jonathan

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Everything posted by Jonathan

  1. More of a personal development project than anything although an airbrush can really speed things up. The main time sink is the trees, I pumped out 20 bars and it took maybe 30-40 minutes to decorate them (not just this design) but most of that was bleeding different colours from the bloody airbrush. Scaling up wouldn't be too hard since you just spray each of the colours in sequence. I just only have 2 of these moulds (10 cavities each) as I don't have proper packaging for these
  2. Thought I’d try my hand at an Aurora decoration for bars again, definitely an improvement on last time. These were a play on strawberry oreo cheesecake. Strawberry pate de fruit, vanilla cheesecake ganache, oreo & brown butter base
  3. Maltilol was the alternative sugar and taste wise it was actually really close to a solid dark chocolate. I haven't tried their milk sugar free yet but interested to experiment now
  4. Got my hands on some vegan couvetures (sugarfree on the dark chocolate) from Felchlin so I decided to have a bit of a play. Definitely better than I expected! The white bonbons are passionfruit daquiri, a passionfrut & lime pate de fruit with a rum, vanilla & lime zest ganache and the black hearts are sugarfree with a hazelnut gianduja. Both completely plant based. The block is vegan “milk” chocolate with freeze dried strawberries and popping candy. Honestly? Vegan or not the passionfruit was maybe my favourite flavour so far. They definitely outperformed my expectations
  5. Whelp. Just capped off a few sets of bonbons without heating... I've wasted so many hours of my life.
  6. I use a hairdryer and it’s been fine
  7. Of course! So it’s roughly (working off the numbers in my head): 300 grams caster sugar 180 grams glucose 250-300 mL cream? Adjust as needed for consistency 50 grams butter Nori to infuse into cream (a few sheets) Soy sauce to taste. Just light soy, not dark. I used about 4-5 tablespoons since my butter was unsalted but I may have used more Infuse the cream with the Nori + soy at a gentle heat, keep warm Heat sugar + glucose till amber, about 155 celcius Strain in the cream through a fine sieve then stir till the caramel hits around 104-106 celcius depending on what consistency you like. Take off the heat and emulsify the butter in
  8. I prefer pectin as far as texture goes for a puree, just watch your sugar ratios vs pectin to ensure it gels
  9. Finally finished with Father’s Day! I went with the theme this year of “Things I did with Dad”. It’s always a fun exercise in nostalgia brainstorming ideas for what to do. From top to bottom in the first pic the activity/design theme/flavour for each are: The Fair - Fireworks at Night - Butter Popcorn & Toffee Apple Trips to the Toyshop - Lego - Hazelnut Gianduja & Praline, Freeze Dried Strawberries, Feuilletine & Popping Candy Camping - Toasted Marshmallow - Smores Visiting the Ocean - The Sea - Nori & Soy Sauce Caramel (you HAVE to try this combo, it’s absolutely wild) Watching TV - The Simpsons - Hickory Smoked Caramel, Brown Butter Ganache, Waffle Insert (Homer Simpson’s Moon Waffles) Reading Books Together - Harry Potter & The Philisopher’s Stone - Firewhisky (Spiced Whisky & Chilli)
  10. Thick slabs won’t cool evenly and you’ll get streaks even if it was tempered properly, if you want to store it just spread it out a little
  11. Yep, I have to coax them out a little Ambient temp here would be around 18-20 at present I use a wine fridge at 12 degrees to crystalize, straight in after moulding White choc I brought up to 29 celcius as working temp I’m honestly not sure, I haven’t gone without cocoa butter for a long time but I don’t think it’s made a huge difference? For what it’s worth they do look like they contract from the mould but it’s a mission to get them to pop out even after filling sometimes
  12. I’ll second Kerry, these moulds are the bane of my existence. They look so innocuous and yet are such a pain to demould. I made this batch earlier today and still crushed 3 of them when demoulding but I knew I got the temper right. I think it’s the depth + smoothness
  13. Getting started on my father’s day boxes (5th of Sept in Aus). I went with the theme “Things I did with dad”. The first are a caramel apple and butter popcorn bonbon based on trips to the fairground and watching the fireworks at night and the second are Homer Simpson's Patended Space Age Out of this World Moonwaffles (Brown butter ganache, crispy waffle insert and hickory smoked caramel) based on watching TV together. 4 to go in the coming weekends
  14. Jonathan

    Dinner 2021

    Just standard green cabbage, no chives. Some spring onion, sesame oil, soy sauce, touch of sugar, white pepper, pinch of five spice and a tiny bit of oyster sauce for the filling. We do a chive one but its generally on days where its just for the family
  15. Jonathan

    Dinner 2021

    No matter what others may say I’ve always thought the best dumpling is a friend dumpling. It has always been a bit of a family activity to gather and make a bunch of these, “many hands make light work” as they say. I’ve always liked pork and cabbage as a filling, as much as I enjoy chives they do make them hard to take to work thr next day for lunch (there’s a funky smell when you reheat them)
  16. Jonathan

    Dinner 2021

    I also opted for the “Brinner” route haha, did a Croque Madame with some of the leftover truffle from the lamb I made. There’s something about the combination of bechamel, cheese, egg and bacon that just works. Also Norm that smoked pork looks absolutely delicious
  17. Jonathan

    Dinner 2021

    Dan Murphy's had online orders but only for cases and I don't use it often enough to justify a case. It was their last truffle! They get some good treats in from time to time, not consistently but it's always fun to see what they have
  18. Jonathan

    Dinner 2021

    It’s truffle season and I managed to nab a small perigold truffle from the deli! Decided to make lamb since I hadn’t had it in a while with mashed potato (mostly butter) and a zucchini flower stuffed with ricotta, smoked fetta and a hint of honey. On another note, why on earth is it so hard to find Madeira in Australia? I ended up subbing in Tawny Port for the jus but I’m convinced it just doesn’t exist here
  19. This took most of the day… I’m a big fan of Art Nouveau, especially the work of Alphonse Mucha, so I thought I’d try my hand at it. This was cast with Valrhona Opalys and freeze dried strawberries and hand painted with coloured cocoa butter. I forgot how difficult line work was with cocoa butter… If someone ever invents a cocoa butter fineliner I’ll pay you anything you want for it. This turned out a lot messier than I’d have liked but I was still happy with it overall
  20. I think with most of the subtle flavours I've leaned towards white chocolate which I typically don't like but tends to be neutral enough with a backdrop as well as increasing the quantity of cocoa butter in the ganache to lower the sweetness. I've had some success with elderflower using a combination of a flavour extract and Saint Germain liqueur but I personally am not the biggest white chocolate fan either so it's a bit of a downer to have to use it
  21. The tricky bit with egg based fillings is heating it enough to pasteurise it and increase the “yolkiness” without it curdling, I played around with a french toast filling not long after I started a year ago and while it tasted nice the “egg” wasn’t really discernable, just felt like a really rich ganache
  22. Jonathan

    Dinner 2021

    Always nice to have a pot of this finished, a bunch extra for future nights as well (given how time consuming it is to make I may as well make extra). Beef shortrib ragu with fresh pappardelle. Takes a few hours for the sauce but always worth it
  23. Jonathan

    Dinner 2021

    I’m still not sure if I’m sold on fish tacos but these weren’t half bad. What I wouldn’t give to get fresh cod here in Australia though… Made a purple cabbage slaw, some quick pickled onions and a crema on top
  24. Thanks for that! I think he has a few different “Apple” Recipes, I haven’t found the Tatin one in any of the books yet, hopefully soon
  25. It’s been a while but turns out he WAS using toffee: Here. You can see the steam/crack afterwards, sorcery!
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