Jump to content
  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

Chocolate DVD's From Culinary Institute?


u2star

Recommended Posts

3DVD made by the the Culinary Institute of America CIA

Hand formed chocolat, filled chocolate and brittles & more.

I am a beginning Chocolatier and was wondering if anyone here has had a chance to view these dvd's. If so, did you find them informative or helpful??

Any other Chocolate (tempering, molding, etc) dvd's you recommend for those of us just starting out??

Thanks so much.

Diane

AwholeLottaChocolate

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3DVD made by the the Culinary Institute of America CIA

Hand formed chocolat, filled chocolate and brittles & more.

I am a beginning Chocolatier and was wondering if anyone here has had a chance to view these dvd's.  If so, did you find them informative or helpful??

Any other Chocolate (tempering, molding, etc) dvd's you recommend for those of us just starting out??

Thanks so much.

Diane

I know I learned how to temper and mold chocolate from watching DVDs put out by our very own Kerry Beal (aka The Chocolate Doctor). You might check her website: www.thechocolatedoctor.ca

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3DVD made by the the Culinary Institute of America CIA

Hand formed chocolat, filled chocolate and brittles & more.

I am a beginning Chocolatier and was wondering if anyone here has had a chance to view these dvd's.  If so, did you find them informative or helpful??

Any other Chocolate (tempering, molding, etc) dvd's you recommend for those of us just starting out??

Thanks so much.

Diane

I know I learned how to temper and mold chocolate from watching DVDs put out by our very own Kerry Beal (aka The Chocolate Doctor). You might check her website: www.thechocolatedoctor.ca

Anna-

Thanks so much. I am going to take a look at her site.

Sincerely

Diane

AwholeLottaChocolate

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

I signed up for Smart Flix and ordered all three of these DVDs. I just got and watched the 3rd in the series "Brittle & More". It's great for a newbie like me to see someone demonstrating the techniques I've read about, but based on this DVD I wouldn't recommend this series in lieu of reference books.

They seem to assume that people watching the videos already have some knowledge of the subject. For example, when they demonstrated caramel making, there was no mention made of whether to use low or high heat, or what affect that would have on the final product – so one would already need to know that caramel needs to heat slowly. There's also no mention of how long different steps should take. The syrup he was heating to make a peanut brittle appeared to reach thread stage in a matter of seconds.

It's basically a demonstration with very little explanation of what's happening or how long it takes. A great companion piece to a good reference book, but not a substitute.

Oh, and also, while the CIA site says the DVD is over 2hrs long, it's a half hour at most. Maybe it's 2 hours for the entire set of 3?

Edited by emmalish (log)

I'm gonna go bake something…

wanna come with?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For example, when they demonstrated caramel making, there was no mention made of whether to use low or high heat, or what affect that would have on the final product – so one would already need to know that caramel needs to heat slowly.

Really? Why? I always caramelize sugar on high heat, and have been happy so far.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For example, when they demonstrated caramel making, there was no mention made of whether to use low or high heat, or what affect that would have on the final product – so one would already need to know that caramel needs to heat slowly.

Really? Can you explain why? I always caramelize sugar on high heat, and have been happy so far, but if there is a better way, it would be good to know.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Really?  Can you explain why?  I always caramelize sugar on high heat, and have been happy so far, but if there is a better way, it would be good to know.

Really? Trust me, I'm no expert, but every reference I've found that has mentioned heat, has specified a low temperature. This is from the eGCI Confectionary 101...

A long slow cooking will give a softer, mellower toffee. The principal cause of toughness and lack of flavour in caramel are high temperatures and inferior materials.

I'm gonna go bake something…

wanna come with?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hmmm, I used to think I was a perfectionist, maybe its time to admit I'm only a perfectionist sometimes, and the rest of the time I'm really impatient! I'll have to start reading those recipes!

OK, back to the topic at hand. :smile:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

there are 4 (well, a little more actually, but for to avoid the chemistry lesson we'll go with 4) things that influence caramalization - strength of a reducing sugar (not all sugars are created equal), type of protein, heat, and time. because heat and time are related (if you use high heat, you're going to reach your desired solids level more quickly, thus exposing your caramel to less time on heat), there's a direct relationship to degree of caramalization. lower heats mean it takes longer to hit your solids level, which means you've got more time exposed to heat which is the catalyst for the sugars/protein (ie caramel) reaction to occur.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

there are 4 (well, a little more actually, but for to avoid the chemistry lesson we'll go with 4) things that influence caramalization - strength of a reducing sugar (not all sugars are created equal), type of protein, heat, and time.  because heat and time are related (if you use high heat, you're going to reach your desired solids level more quickly, thus exposing your caramel to less time on heat), there's a direct relationship to degree of caramalization.  lower heats mean it takes longer to hit your solids level, which means you've got more time exposed to heat which is the catalyst for the sugars/protein (ie caramel) reaction to occur.

Somehow I thought that slower caramelization increased your risk of undesireable crystallization, especially in wet caramels. Apparently not?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ah, crystallization is another topic entirely 8-) a good technical reference for that is written by rich hartel (U Wisc) :

http://www.amazon.com/Crystallization-Food...l/dp/0834216345

it'll be pretty technical. xtallization has more to do with how a product is cooled, agitated, and seeded than how it's heated. there are also interference ingredients you can add to minimize xtallization

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...