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Jacques Genin Caramels

schneich

By schneich
in Pastry & Baking

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mostlylana

mostlylana

Posted
Posted

So I'm guessing the inversion blender you are using is the hard plastic kind? Glad to hear it can handle those higher temperatures.

Actually, these Genin caramels only reach temps. over 300F when the sugar is melting. Once the cream is added they are like any other caramel and the temp. you're aiming for is the 240F range. Because there is so much butter in these caramels I think the inversion blender would really help when the cream and butter is added.

Next time I make them I'm going to suit up and try the inversion blender. I think I'll use one of those welding masks too! :laugh:

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prospectbake

prospectbake

Posted
Posted

Yep, hard plastic variety. And I ought to read more carefully! I just scanned and thought people were aiming for ending temperatures that high! That makes perfect sense. We didn't used to do this, and the caramels were great, but now the texture is much butter and visually they look incredibly smooth! They also stood up to the ridiculous humidity this summer in NYC much better than before!

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  • 3 months later...
dhardy123

dhardy123

Posted
Posted

I want to do some of these for Valentine's day. I want to add a raspberry puree for color and taste. What amount of puree should I use? and should it be at a specific temperature when added?

Also, is it possible to use a heart shaped cookie cutter to cut out heart caramels? Has anyone ever tried something similar?

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...
ChocoNM

ChocoNM

Posted
Posted

I've got a question about caramel making in general. There was a reference here about altitude affecting the cooking process, but it didn't specify what the effect is. I'm at 5,000 ft, and it takes a very long time to get up to the 250 F that I'm aiming for. I"m not trying to cook it real fast, as I have plenty of opportunities to burn it anyway ;^) At my altitude, should I expect to cook longer, should I go for a lower finish temp, or what?

TIA,

Steve

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TheTInCook

TheTInCook

Posted
Posted

I've got a question about caramel making in general. There was a reference here about altitude affecting the cooking process, but it didn't specify what the effect is. I'm at 5,000 ft, and it takes a very long time to get up to the 250 F that I'm aiming for. I"m not trying to cook it real fast, as I have plenty of opportunities to burn it anyway ;^) At my altitude, should I expect to cook longer, should I go for a lower finish temp, or what?

TIA,

Steve

Elevation will mess with your candy making for sure. The higher you go, the lower the boiling point of solutions. So if you cook it longer to get to the temp needed in the recipe, the solution will be more concentrated then at sea level, so your texture will be off.

I'm not sure what the workaround is, as I've only worked at around sea level. I guess cook to temp for flavor, then add water, then cook for texture.

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xxchef

xxchef

Posted
Posted (edited)

Elevation will mess with your candy making for sure. The higher you go, the lower the boiling point of solutions. So if you cook it longer to get to the temp needed in the recipe, the solution will be more concentrated then at sea level, so your texture will be off.

I'm at 6000 feet but have not noticed a difference in texture from what I made at sea level and I'm not sure why there would be.

In my experience; yes, the mixtures do come to a boil earlier (at around 199F for water where I am) but with a recipe like caramel, where evaporation of the water components is the main factor in getting to the correct sugar stage it does not seem to take much, if any, longer. I also found that cooking a recipe to a slightly lower finished temperature than is called for usually works well (maybe 241F where it calls for 245F), so it's actually cooking for less time than it might. As I understand it, this is because evaporation happens faster and easier at higher elevations where there is less atmospheric pressure to fight against.

It's times like this I wish the gang at Modernist Cuisine had taken on some pastry topics with their laser-like scrutiny!

Edited by xxchef (log)

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TheTInCook

TheTInCook

Posted
Posted

It's times like this I wish I had kept my highschool chemistry notes. I could have a phase curve out in no time, lol.

Yah, you have to cook to a lower temperature at altitude, because of the relationship between air pressure, boiling point, and solution concentration. IIRC the recommended fix at a website I was looking at this morning was -2 degF per 1000'.

Textures would be off in candy, because if I cooked a mix to 250 deg F in Boulder, and one in Death Valley, the one in Boulder would be more concentrated, giving you more risk of crystallization and a harder texture.

Caramels are a different matter, because they depend on thermal degradation of sugar and dairy compounds for flavor, so you could hit your temp for texture before you hit the temp for flavor development.

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  • 5 months later...
mostlylana

mostlylana

Posted
Posted

I make caramels at work using an immersion blender...

I finally got the courage up to try using an immersion blender when making French caramels. The one I have has a stainless steel head with varying speeds. I used the lowest speed strictly out of fear! The reason for using the immersion blender was to reduce the amount of lecithin required for caramels with a high butter content. It worked! And no splatering at all! (whew) For a full recipe I only used 1/4 tsp. lecithin. I just used the blender at the end - just before it came to temp. (but I was using the whisk the rest of the time). I just cut and dipped today and the caramels had no greasy feel whatsoever. I do use less butter than what is called for in the recipe given on this thread - but not much!

Woo Hoo! Thanks so much prospectbake!!

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  • 9 months later...
mostlylana

mostlylana

Posted
Posted

I did some more research and was determined not to give up until I found a recipe that was 'supposedly' his. Here's what I found (you need to understand french):

http://www.mortenhar...8eba10475cce0a6

Does anyone remember this? I found a french site where a fellow posted a recipe that was supposedly Jacques Genin's fruit caramels. I didn't copy it or write it down :(

It looks like the site is no longer and I wanted to see it!

Did anyone write it down? If so, can you PM me?

Thank!

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dhardy123

dhardy123

Posted
Posted

I have Genin's Chocolate Book and he gives a recipe for Chocolate Caramels in there. They taste very good. I tried making a passion fruit/mango caramel using his recipe but substituting the purees and cocoa butter for the chocolate. It tastes very good and I got rave reviews. Unfortunately I've never tasted his caramels so I can't compare.

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mostlylana

mostlylana

Posted
Posted

I did some more research and was determined not to give up until I found a recipe that was 'supposedly' his. Here's what I found (you need to understand french):

http://www.mortenhar...8eba10475cce0a6

Does anyone remember this? I found a french site where a fellow posted a recipe that was supposedly Jacques Genin's fruit caramels. I didn't copy it or write it down :(

It looks like the site is no longer and I wanted to see it!

Did anyone write it down? If so, can you PM me?

Thank!

I had forgotten about his book... thanks for the reminder. The link I posted about was for his fruit caramels. I don't know if this fellow was a renegade employee or what :smile: Your recipe sounds delish.

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  • 1 year later...
RoundedUp

RoundedUp

Posted
Posted

We might be getting closer to Genin recipe.

Apparently the recipe for the famous mango-passion fruit caramels was shown on some french tv.

However I couldn't find the video. The recipe is online though:

http://www.cuisine-plus.tv/cid3726/caramel-a-la-passion-et-a-la-mangue.html

It was tested by a blogger too, whose recipe however is slightly different at the end:

http://patiseb.canalblog.com/archives/2013/09/14/28014613.html

Unfortunately it seems something tailored for people with almost no experience (and no thermometer).

I guess the last cooking time is the usual one to get around 120°C. But what about the first one? Is it just a reduction? Any clue?

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mostlylana

mostlylana

Posted
Posted

We might be getting closer to Genin recipe.

Apparently the recipe for the famous mango-passion fruit caramels was shown on some french tv.

However I couldn't find the video. The recipe is online though:

http://www.cuisine-plus.tv/cid3726/caramel-a-la-passion-et-a-la-mangue.html

It was tested by a blogger too, whose recipe however is slightly different at the end:

http://patiseb.canalblog.com/archives/2013/09/14/28014613.html

Unfortunately it seems something tailored for people with almost no experience (and no thermometer).

I guess the last cooking time is the usual one to get around 120°C. But what about the first one? Is it just a reduction? Any clue?

I wonder if this is HIS recipe?? I can't see any mention of him...

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