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and a reason to go to Park Slope (heck, I was just there on Saturday night -- if only I'd known). according to Florence, this place is already open. interesting that the Times has it and none of the food blogs or chowhound. goodness knows, NY could deal with having its first Oaxacan restaurant.

I was just chatting with someone about molds they make themselves....I have seen these silicone molds and they look great but I have someone mention... Gelatin Molds I never knew you could make your own molds out of Gelatin...I guess it is just Gelatin and water mixed together to where the gelatin is enough to harden the mold to a rubber type consistency and you can use it as a chocolate mold... Has anyone ever used these before and if so how did you think it works? Robert Chocolate Forum

LMDC and Patrick Roger have both managed to create this sweet wrinkly effect: Furthest bonbon on plate. I've had zero success in trying to recreate it. Does anybody have any idea how to achieve this?

Hi everyone, I'm thinking about Easter, and would like to do some egg shaped truffles. I have small egg molds, and my plan is to pipe the ganache into the molds, wait till the harden, remove them and hand dip. My concern is whether or not the gananche will release from the mold. Should I freeze them to ensure a release? Thanks in advance.

I'm shocked--shocked!--that no one has written about this new store on Lackawanna Plaza yet, or maybe I just missed it. Dark chocolate fanatic and owner Susan Jeffries Fine (I think that's it) has a small but extremely tasty inventory of dark chocolates from around the country and world tucked into one side of what is or was an interior design space. She keeps a drawer full of samples of everything she's selling. I picked up a bar of Weiss 68 percent with candied orange peel--this was a brand I'd never seen or heard of anywhere outside the chocolate show in New York City; one bar of straight 73 percent chocolate and one with bits of ginger from an American company called NewTree; and some outrageous chocolate covered toffee, also with ginger (I'm on a ginger tear this winter) from BT McElrath. She told me she's concentrating on stuff you don't find easily elsewhere, but she carries a handful of pretty Marie Belle bars, too. Check out the website. If you live in the Montclair and, like some chocolate addicts I know, have previously had to go to NYC for a serious chocolate stash, this is a welcome addition to the neighborhood. Susan

Anyone know where in Vancouver we can find something similar to the Calebaut chocolate loaf we get that Rhys Pender & Alishan Driediger make at Okanagan Grocery in Kelowna?? http://www.okanagangrocery.com/index_files/page0007.htm We will be staying at our condo in Yaletown for two weeks starting this weekend and I think we might have withdrawal symptoms if we don't have chocolate bread for that long!!! This bread is highly addicitve, and it is nothing like pain au chocolat that you see in most bakeries. There are chunks of dark chocolate throughout, and the bread dough is also chocolate.

Hi, Looking to purchase some chocolate molds that could produce chocolate cups a bit bigger than the size of a mouthwash lid for examlple ...guessing 2 ounces max. For mousses, puddings etc. Years ago I saw some individual ones made out of those older style dark (plastic?) chocolate molds.

I temper chocolate using a variety of methods, depending on how much I need, what equipment I have available, and the mood I happen to be in on any given day. I started perfecting this method late one spring, when the house was too warm to temper on my marble slab, and I needed some tempered chocolate to make a couple of hundred mocha chocolates for a wedding shower. I soon discovered the advantage over the marble slab technique, no chocolate dripping off the marble onto the floor, no danger of dropping my 3 inch thick slab of marble onto the tile floor (again). EQUIPMENT LIST 8 cup pyrex measuring cup microwave safe silicone spatula accurate digital thermometer pan to hold cooling water microwave oven heat gun parchment to test temper chefs knife or chocolate fork to chop chocolate MELTING THE CHOCOLATE Chop chocolate, place in pyrex measuring cup, place in microwave and microwave on high initally for 1 minute. Stir after heating in microwave. Continue to heat for 20 to 30 seconds at a time, stirring after each heating. After you reach the point where there are just a few small lumps left (3rd picture), heat again for about 10 to 15 seconds more. The temperature will be about 40 degrees centigrade (104 F). I do not let the temperature get above 45 degrees C (113 F). COOLING THE CHOCOLATE Now place pyrex measuring cup in pan of cool water, taking care not to get any water in your melted chocolate or it will seize. I add a couple of ice cubes to the water to speed cooling. Stir the chocolate away from the sides and bottom of the measuring cup frequently. As the chocolate cools you will begin to notice that it lightens in colour and begins to thicken as you can see in the picture. As you drag the spatula through the chocolate you will notice that it forms slight ridges. When the chocolate cools to 25 degrees C (78 degrees F) remove from cold water and wipe the bottom of the measuring cup with a tea towel to make sure water doesn't get in chocolate. REHEATING TO WORKING TEMPERATURE Now I use the heat gun to reheat the chocolate to about 29 degrees C (84 F) which will be my working temperature. I stir continually while using the heat gun to heat the chocolate that is on the spatula, the outside of the bowl and the surface of the chocolate. Once the temperature starts to rise, I remove the heat, stir thoroughly and wait a minute before adding more heat because often as I stir chocolate off the sides and bottom of the bowl the temperature will jump up. I want to be careful that the temperature doesn't go above 31 degrees C (87) or it may drive the chocolate out of temper. TESTING THE TEMPER I let the chocolate sit and equilibrate for a few minutes before testing the temper. I place a thin streak of chocolate on a piece of parchment and let it sit for a few minutes. It will lose it's wet shine and solidify. It can easily be snapped in pieces. If it doesn't solidify in a few minutes let the bowl sit for 10 minutes or so and test the temper again. If that fails, you can try putting it over the cool water until it reaches 25 degrees again, reheat carefully and retest. This is not a technique recommended by 'proper chocolatiers', the standard teaching is that if you are not in temper, you must reheat back to 40+ degrees and start again, however I have had success doing this in some cases. Once your chocolate is in temper you can start having fun. Molding, dipping, making ruffles, truffles or masterpieces. If the chocolate cools a bit, I heat it back up again to the working temperature either with the heat gun or by adding warm untempered chocolate. The tempered chocolate will act as a seed for the untempered chocolate and put it in temper, as long as you don't exceed the working temperature. So try it out, post your sucesses and failures. Ask lots of questions. Kerry

Inspired by Ling's wonderful photos and descriptions I have decided to run a chocolate tasting session for friends/family on Easter Sunday. It definitely wont be on such a grand scale as in those photos!! I'm wondering if there is a limit on the number of chocolates to offer so that people don't get overloaded and not enjoy the different tastes? The previous professional sessions I've been to had about 16 tastes which worked well. I'm also going to work on the order to present them in, or do I just let everyone grab for themselves? Various friends/family are bringing along their own chocolate speciality for desserts, plus I'll make some of my own ... and somewhere in there I might make something savoury for lunch (obviously way down the list of priorities!). I'm going to try some combinations of chocolate textures/flavours in the desserts - so many options, it is going to be hard to limit myself so I don't overcater!! Has anyone else done this on a small scale? got any hints/tips?! Thanks!

Ummm I have done some mint chocolates in the past and I have used the peppermint extract, but I feel that the taste isnt that soddisfacent,so I did another batch with fresh mint instead ( I saw many chocolatiers make it with fresh mint ),so i did it , and finish up the chocolates. Unfortunally I tryed one yesterday and the taste its very very weird , too weird to be selled , the only positive thing is that it leaves a great fresh back taste in your mouth , but the firts taste I dont know how to explained but it is weird like you can actually taste the plante inside , I would say not too appealing. Now I am going to try a different appoach just to experiment something, I made some fondant and Im going to mix it with som epeppermint extract ( I need to find some mint syrup ) and the fill the chocolates with that. What are your experience with mint? And did this weird taste ever accour to any of you guys? Thank you

I had the terribly good fortune of being invited to a chocolate event hosted by Egulleter Lord Balthazar and his lovely wife, Fondy, last night. Needless to say, the sheer volume and extravagance of what was proffered to the lucky, lucky guests exceeded my wildest fantasies. Here are the photos and some brief comments. I apologize for being able to tell you little more than what I liked and what I didn't like about the chocolates I remembered tasting--there were just way too many to keep track of, and I didn't want to be the freak with the pen and paper, scribbling tasting notes. The pictures aren't the best either. (I took one quick shot of almost everything although now I realize I'm missing the Michel Cluizel table with the sampler box, the chocolate nibs, and the chocolate cocoa beans!) I wanted to be quick with the pictures so everyone could start tasting. I'll offer my opinion of the Michel Cluizel first, since I neglected to take a picture. I was really surprised with the 45% milk, which I enjoyed much more than the Valrhona Jivara. I'm not a fan of milk chocolate to begin with, but the Cluizel milk was extremely smooth and had more depth than the Jivara. (I've had the rest of the chocolates before--my favourite is the Hacienda 'Los Anconès'. I don't believe this was in the sampler box, but there was the 85% and another 72%, and some white chocolate as well. Domori I sampled three types--none of them really stood out for me. Green & Blacks Pretty good, and if I recall correctly, quite reasonably priced! Vosges I sampled every single bar on this plate. My favourite was the "Black Pearl" bar with ginger, wasabi, and sesame. The ginger came through quite nicely. Also noteworthy is the curry spice one...but at something like 40ish%, it was too sweet for me. Christopher Norman bars Here are a variety of nut/spice chocolate bars...the pistachio one was particularly good. (Yes, I sampled them all...my friend and I spent the whole four hours eating non-stop! This guy who snacked on breadsticks and water crackers all night kept laughing at how much chocolate we were putting away... I just told him we take our work very seriously! ) Christopher Norman brownies These brownies were amazing--they have two distinct layers. The bottom layer seems to be a very dense, almost flourless chocolate brownie and the top layer is a lighter truffle. It tasted like hazelnut (if I remember correctly.) Christopher Norman tea sampler We chose the blue one (lapsuong?) I often see this flavour paired with duck, so it was hard not to think about duck when I was eating this... The tea flavour was quite strong. I think I would've preferred to taste more of the chocolate. Chocolate Table #1 Pierre Marcolini This was my first time tasting Pierre Marcolini's chocolates and I was blown away. These definitely made my Top 3 of the evening, especially the Venezuela 75%. Nice, long finish. Here are Pierre's truffles. I forget which one of these I sampled...I think I had two, and I believe one of them was a salted caramel. My friend said that the salted caramel ones from Fran's surpasses the one we ate last night, though. Vosges truffles I had a dulce de leche truffle, which was delicious, and the "Red Fire" truffle. I liked the flavour in the truffle moreso than in the "Red Fire" brownie. The brownie was too sweet and not chocolatey enough. Wild Sweets from the Duby husband/wife team here in Vancouver! These were beautiful to look at. I had one that was apricot and mango (I think? Or perhaps passionfruit?) and one that was walnut cinnamon. Both were great. Also Wild Sweets...I had a black truffle chocolate from this box. The truffle flavour was quite pronounced, though not overwhelmingly so because of the relatively thick shell. These beautiful truffles are from a famous chocolatier in Montreal, Chocolats Genevieve Grandbois! (Apparently, the chocolate transfers are like a puzzle, and if you fit them together correctly, you get an image of a puppy! I kept my grubby fingers away from all the chocolates though... ) I had two or three selections from this box as well...the black truffle one, and a 25 year old balsamico one. The black truffle flavour in this chocolate was stronger compared to the one put out by Wild Sweets, and the shell was more delicate. I preferred this one. The balsamico truffle was not my favourite--the taste was kind of muddled at the beginning (I hadn't looked at the sheet and couldn't really tell what flavour it was until the sweet/tanginess kicked in at the end.) Now here is ONE of the pastry tables! The host flattered me by placing my chocolate tarts on a pedestal in the center, amidst the beautiful creations by Ganache Patisserie. There's a close-up shot of the tarts I made that I took earlier in the day. Tray one...mousse cakes with a chocolate cake bottom. These were good, but not terribly special. The macaroons were very sweet compared to the ones you find at Thomas Haas. Cream puffs These were dry...not my favourite. (I prefer a moist interior.) raspberry and white chocolate mousse I believe this was the chocolate and banana mousse cake. another chocolate mousse cake (And yes, I tasted each and every single pastry so far... ) The Concorde (meringue rods very sweet, but I love the crunchy contrast) Pastry Table #2 A selection from Sen5es. Sen5es is, of course, run by the legendary Thomas Haas. My favourite pastries there are the lemon tarts, the stilton cheesecakes, and the twice-baked almond croissant. My favourite pastry from last night was the milk chocolate and passionfruit cake (the dome in the back). I am not sure which bakery provided the madelaines... from La Petite France, another one of the best Vancouver has to offer. As you can see, their pastries look very traditional compared to the more modern look that Sen5es prefers. There were a variety of mousse cakes on this platter. What stood out for me was a coffee/chocolate cream layer cake. Not one... ...but TWO Valrhona fountains! These were thinned out by cocoa butter instead of your usual oil. There were lots of different fruits. I had a slice of banana....that was pretty fun. Chocoatl in Yaletown (Vancouver) Themis, one of the owners, was there last night making us hot chocolate too! He was so affable; everyone loved him. My favourite hot chocolate of the evening was a Peruvian hot chocolate with cabernet sauvignon! He made the hot chocolates with these...(btw, the pistachio cake was quite good too!) I tried the dark chocolate matcha truffle. It was filled with a runny white chocolate filling that was subtly flavoured with the matcha. Callebaut chocolates I skipped over these... El Rey truffles, and more Callebaut... Sparkle cookies and E. Guittard The Sparkle cookies I had a few years ago almost made me double over in ecstasy. The ones I had at Haas two months ago were OK...not nearly as chocolatey as the ones you can make at home using their published recipe (providing you use the Guanaja as specified.) The ones last night were more like a chocolate-flavoured almond cookie...way too much almond meal. I think their recipe must've changed once they started packaging some of them as take-and-bake cookies. Haas' beautiful chocolates. These are my favourite in Vancouver! Valrhona Jivara and a chocolate flower Amedei Chuao and Porcelana! These are both incredible 70% chocolates. I give the edge to the Porcelana though...amazingly smooth melt. The Porcelana was my favourite chocolate of the evening. Guido Gobbino I believe these were single-origin chocolates...they were good, but my palate was spoiled from the Amedei. The host also makes incredible ice-creams! The lightest one is Callebaut with Scharffen Berger nibs, one Valrhona dark with El Rey Ioca white chocolate chips, and one was Michel Cluizel (and I believe it had apricot liqueur?) All fantastic. I had two helpings. And look what the generous, very handsome and dashing (not to mention impeccably-dressed!! ) host gave me when I left!! He's making me say that in exchange for the freebies...j/k! What a night to remember! Thanks for allowing me to re-live it by posting it all here. By the end of the night, I had so much sugar and caffeine coursing through my system that I was speaking so incredibly fast...eek!

article from NRN Would you like to try a cocoa bagel? Yes! No! Is this a joke? What type of schmear on this one?

I'm just curious to find out what people have had success with what chocolate. This is the thing. When I went to culinary school they barely touched on chocolate, by barely I mean not even 1 day. So my knowledge of chocolate is from researching, reading and working with it at home on my spare time. Now that I know this is the direction I want to go with my career (don't want to work the line forever), I'm going to start focusing on chocolate and open my own shop in the next year or two. The only problem is, with all the chocolate companies out there with there many different chocolates they offer and my limited budget, it's hard to buy and work with every chocolate product out there. So I decided to ask the veterans, enthusiast or whomever for their experiences with the chocolate they have used, i.e.- brand, actual product from that brand, what application they used it for (enrobing/dipping, molding<ganache filled/solid, etc.>, centers, etc..), results and whatever information that you find to appropriate. Once I get an idea of what people have used and their results, I will then try to pick a few different ones for myself to try. I really appreciate any help you can give me and thanks! Does anyone want to sell me 1 or 2 pounds of chocolate their using? I will also pay for shipping. Thanks.

From a BusinessWeek article on "chocolate lounges": anyone know anything about this delicious-sounding venture, or Max Brenner?

I have a quick question for anybody who frequents the TJ stores in the Seattle area. A friend is coming up from Seattle and I thought I'd ask her to pick up a few of the higher-end chocolate bars available at Trader Joe's. Last time I was there, I picked up some Scharffen Berger Semisweet (yellow package) and Valhrona Noir. I have heard that they're also carrying Chocovic? Could anybody confirm this? Any chocolate fiends out there know if TJ's is carrying Domori, Santander, etc.? Thanks in advance. -Kenji (in Vancouver)

My husband and I are having some friends over for an evening of reality TV and ice cream sundaes. In all, a junkfest of food and entertainment. Rotting the mind and body all at once! The glitch: two of our guests are vegans. Not a big problem, though: Soy Delicious (or Soy Dream or whatever it's called) ice cream is pretty decent, and Hip Whip whipped topping is an okay substitute for whipped cream. I'll have the real stuff on hand for the rest of us heathens, though. I'd like some suggestions about what to do for the chocolate and caramel sauces, though. For simplicity, I'm only going to make one of each, and they'll both be vegan. In place of the cream in the sauces below, I was thinking of using coconut milk. Would that likely work? Or, should I try soy milk or soy cream? Soy has never tasted quite right to me in milk or cream form. The butter will be replaced with Earth Balance margarine. Non-vegan recipes: Chocolate fudge sauce 10 ounces semisweet chocolate , chopped 1/3 cup sifted cocoa powder , Dutch process 1/3 cup granulated sugar 3/4 cup light corn syrup 1/3 cup heavy cream Pinch table salt 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 3 tablespoons unsalted butter , cut into pieces Caramel sauce 2 cups granulated sugar 1 cup heavy cream pinch table salt 2 tablespoons unsalted butter , cold

We are looking for suggestions for other sweet treats to serve in an ice cream shop/café. We make a range of cakes in addition to the ice cream but are looking for smaller, more nibble-like options. Chocolate chip cookies and brownies have worked well for us, and we are having trouble thinking up other options that have as wide an appeal and a decent shelf life (at least a couple of days, so no fresh cream!). Your input would be most appreciated!

I've been looking around on the internet for something that can grind wet and dry ingredients to relatively smooth paste, but haven't been able to find what I'm looking for. I had originally hoped I could just get KitchenAid's grinder attachment, but they warn over and over that it's only to be used for dry ingredients, not even oily nuts. I have no clue if that's just a shallow warning or not, but I don't want to risk it on a $100 attachment. They recommend the griding attachment used for meat, etc, for wet ingredients, but it doesn't grind fine enough. In Mexico, people will take things like chiles and nixtamal (think hominy) to a town grinder and have them ground for them. There are also chocolate makers where you can go and have mixes of chocolates made, cacao combined with sugar, nuts, cinnamon, and other spices. In Thailand, they have grinders for making curry pastes. They also use grinders to puree coconut meat so that it can be strained into fresh coconut milk. The grinders looked very similar to what's used to make the chocolate pastes in Mexico. I'm looking for something that can do all this and hopefully fit on my countertop. Any suggestions?

I'm looking for small chocolate boxes for some upcoming weddings I'm doing similar to the RS-NE-5 ones offered by Package Nakzawa, but in white and other colors. Here's a link to the ones I'm referring to. http://packagenakazawa.com/page005.html Does anyone know of a source?

I was introduced to Paul A. Young recently openned shop by some egullet-friends. It caught my attention, because it's not usual to know about these kind of opennings in London. Since I was visiting the city, I've decided to give it a try. I was DELIGHTED with my visit to his shop. First of all the place is quite cosy. And second, because Paul himself is there, "giving his face" for his own creations, having a nice chat with his clients. His products have an awesome presentation and are really fresh, daily made at his basement kitchen, only using Valrhona and Amedei chocolate. The only thing I think that he could improve is about pastries... I think he should give it a go, as he's a very talented young man. This is is best-seller Sea Salted Caramel, which is AMAZING But although its success Paul it's not that kind of "own-belly-button-focused" type of guy. And he told me about his friend's shop, at Nothing Hill, called Melt. And I went there too, on a saturday morning. The place is very nice, on Ledbuy Road. It's a very "minimalist" shop, with an open kitchen and tasting room at the back, filled with natural light. At the end I bought some truffles...the cinnamon ganache ones were VERY NICE, those were my favourite. I like the look of the chocolates, very chunky and hand-made After all, there's chocolate going on in London...

I am looking for a recipe for a really tall, dense chocolate cake with dark, fudgy icing--much like the Cheesecake Factory fudge cake/blackout cake. My soon to be 4-year-old daughter wants this as her birthday cake. Chocoholism starts young in our family! I've tried many cakes on the chocolate cake thread that I loved but they don't seem to fit the "fudge cake" bill. Do you have a recipe that might be what I'm looking for? Please don't make me sell my other child to pay for a Cheesecake Factory cake....

Hi, I went a little crazy a few weeks ago and made alot of chocolates. i made the ganache and enrobed some, and put others in magnetic chocolate molds. My question is, i'm not using any preservatives at all. i stored them in tupperware containers. after about 2 weeks, some chocolates got white mold on the outside of them. some have mold on the inside. i'm pretty sure, storing them in tupperware is not the right thing to do. how are you supposed to store chocolates, once they've been enrobed or molded? also, what preservatives would your recommend? thanks

You lucky Islingtonites, Paul Young - a proper chocolatier, teacher (for himself, for Rococo, etc.) - opens his patisserie/chocolate shop on Monday. It's at 33 Camden Passage. I think he'll be offering freebies. I don't think I'll make it but would love to hear peoples' opinions: paul.a.young fine chocolates 33 Camden Passage Islington London N1 8EA

I was looking at making the "Paris" in The Art of the Cake this weekend. However in reading the instructions for the mousse, it says to temper the chocolate to be used for the mousse. Short directions: Temper 200g chocolate Add 100g melted butter to tempered chocolate Add 3cL egg whites Whip 12cL egg whites and 50g sugar to very stiff peaks Stir 1/3 meringue into chocolate mixture Gently fold in remaining meringue The mousse is then used to cover a dijonaise disk in a tarte ring for the cake. Then covered in chocolate sheets -- which are not tempered...just melted by rubbing on a warm baking sheet. I have never had to temper chocolate for use in a mousse before. Anyone know why I would have to temper? Will it make it set firmer or something? I'm clear that the tempering is for the mousse -- detailed instructions are quite explicit, including instructions for the tempering process.

Can any of you suggest how best to spatter tempered, colored chocolate into a mold? I've tried fingers and assorted body parts, various utensils and brushes of a range of stiffnesses, but I can't seem to get a decent, predictable spatter. Varying the temperature gets me a range of striginesses, but no real spatters. Might be the chocolate, too, but I figured I'd ask before I go too much further. (I grabbed some Callebaut CW2NV for my experiments, which is fairly high yield/viscosity...hmmm...) Ideas? (Yeah, you're going to tell me to get out the airbrush, but I'm hoping for a simple mechanical solution not needing all the setup and takedown for each color. :-) Thanks! rick