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chocolate coating in a concrete mixer


schneich

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after coating a ton of caramelized cashews in chocolate (and knowing that we dont have the budget to buy a real coating pan) i thought why shouldnt it be possible to use a small concrete mixer...

any idea if that might work ???

cheers

torsten s.

toertchen toertchen

patissier chocolatier cafe

cologne, germany

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I don't know much about concrete mixers.....but would they actually be cheaper than a coating pan?

If so, that's kind of mind boggling, although I know those coating pans are ridiculously expensive.

Are you talking about one of these?

as compared to one of these?

If so, you can see that in terms of U.S. dollars, if you buy the concrete mixer, you're only saving $91.99. Also, wouldn't you have to worry about the concrete mixer being "food grade"?

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if all you're doing is chocolate panning, then all you require is a rotating vessel essentially. i'm sure you could build one for much less. if y ou need it to be stainless, approach your local technical school, offer a project to the professors where you give basic designs and pay for materials, and in turn the class project is to build it for you....add a motor, ribs, variable speed, blower, etc and you've got a great project that hits on a number of disciplines for the students. and to answer your original questoin, yes i do tihnk it would work - you may hvae to add ribs, i've never seen inside a concrete mixer 8-) gas fumes might be an issue?

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I've seen Heston Blumenthal have a go at this with a cordless drill and an empty coffee tin. He punched a hole in the bottom of the coffee tin and then attached the bottom of the coffee tin to the head of the drill. He then pointed the drill up at a 45 degree angle and stuck electrical tape around the trigger to keep it on. I've wondered about giving it a go - it seemed to work for him.

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I've seen Heston Blumenthal have a go at this with a cordless drill and an empty coffee tin. He punched a hole in the bottom of the coffee tin and then attached the bottom of the coffee tin to the head of the drill. He then pointed the drill up at a 45 degree angle and stuck electrical tape around the trigger to keep it on. I've wondered about giving it a go - it seemed to work for him.

I saw that episode too and was thinking the same thing.

Also the unit designed by Pascal Brunnel (I think that's the name) made by DeBuyer is a few hundred dollars and fits on your mixer. Design and Realization in Montreal is making one too. www.dr.ca

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Wow, that's cheap! Only $155 in U.S. dollars!

All I can say is, that if concrete mixers were great for coating candies and nuts, etc, then more pastry chefs would be using them, but so far I haven't seen a trend in that direction...... :laugh:

I'd just be worried about the fact that the concrete mixer would be considered "food grade".

I think I'd probably go for the coffee can on the cordless drill before I went for a concrete mixer...at least I'd know that would be "food safe". :wink:

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Couldn't this be done in an Electrolux DLX (Assistent, "Magic Mill", N24, etc) mixer, tipped over half way?

Nice big (8 us quart) rotating stainless bowl...

http://www.pleasanthillgrain.com/magic_mill_dlx_mixer.aspx

BTW, note that the machine has to be tipped right onto its side to use the mincer/grinder, etc, so it must be happy operating like that... and the bowl stays in place way, way, past 60 degrees of tilt...

"If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch ... you must first invent the universe." - Carl Sagan

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I would think the concrete mixer rotated too slowly to be very effective. Also the leaf inside the barrel that helps break up dry clumps in the concrete I would think would pose a problem with the chocolate coating (especially sugar coatings) because while the concrete is wet it isn't nearly as adhesive as cooling chocolate or sugar in general.

But hell, give it a try I guess. If you could successfully cut off the leaf, and maybe tweak the motor to a higher rpm then I'd say you had a winner.

But the biggest question before that is, what alloy is the machine made out of and what are the contaminates of the coating. As long as it doesn't react to food (like basic aluminum, tin, lead) then you are golden.

Dean Anthony Anderson

"If all you have to eat is an egg, you had better know how to cook it properly" ~ Herve This

Pastry Chef: One If By Land Two If By Sea

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Mind if I tangent off this subject to ask whether anyone has had success quieting a panning machine? I intended to use mine in my open chocolate-making shop, and once I've got, say, uncoated almonds in there, the noise they make is just way too loud for customers. The manufacturer (Union Confectionery) suggested building a soundproofed case, but that's just too much trouble--I haven't used the thing in over a year and am regretting the purchase. Anyone else been through this?

Jen

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The manufacturer (Union Confectionery) suggested building a soundproofed case, but that's just too much trouble--I haven't used the thing in over a year and am regretting the purchase.

Is there another room you can put it in, or perhaps run the machine after closing or before opening?

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chefpeon,

Thanks--it's a one-room shop, so the after/before is probably the only way I'll get to use it. Maybe I'll use it those nights I stay late to get the floor really clean!

Thank you

Jen

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No solution for your shop, but I wear these nice light little hearing protectors that my hubby bought me at Lee Valley.

Hey, I know, jcho can provide a basket of those foamy squeezy ear plugs for all the customers in the shop when the machine is running.

I can see it now.......

jcho: "Hello......may I help you?"

Customer: "What?"

jcho: "I said, May I help you?"

Customer: "What?"

Yep. That'll work. :laugh::laugh::laugh:

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concrete mixer absolutely works!! a shop i worked at about a year ago got an order from a hotel for something like 300 lbs. of chocolate popcorn. we bought the popcorn from another local shop. the mixer was from lowes i think. we scrubbed it out really good, loaded the hopper about half full of popcorn, then added our chocolate. nuts went in right before we dumped otherwise they all stuck to the bottom and sides.

sure beat doing it in a big mixing bowl

watermelon lizards catch bass in charleston!

simplicity is the mother of all beauty - Big John's Tavern

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concrete mixer absolutely works!!  a shop i worked at about a year ago got an order from a hotel for something like 300 lbs. of chocolate popcorn.  we bought the popcorn from another local shop.  the mixer was from lowes i think.  we scrubbed it out really good, loaded the hopper about half full of popcorn, then added our chocolate.  nuts went in right before we dumped otherwise they all stuck to the bottom and sides. 

sure beat doing it in a big mixing bowl

When you say you scrubbed it out really good does that imply that it had previously been used for.... Concrete?!

Dean Anthony Anderson

"If all you have to eat is an egg, you had better know how to cook it properly" ~ Herve This

Pastry Chef: One If By Land Two If By Sea

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  • 3 weeks later...

Only slightly OT: For anyone in NYC who's in the market for a panning attachment, Williams-Sonoma at Columbus Circle had the Kitchen Aid, minus the stand to prop up the mixer, marked down to $145 (floor model). This was on Sunday evening at 7:30. I had bought the other one about 10 days earlier, with the stand--twice the price but still a decent deal--and wondered who would shop for such specialized equipment at such a chi-chi location. Not the kind of impulse buy most tourists who shop there would snap up.

Looking for the next delicious new taste...
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