Report: eGullet Chocolate and Confectionery Workshop 2024

[Shelby]

Really enjoying this!

[Beth Wilson]

Can't wait to see the results of the orange peel in the instant pot.  Would this technique be good for candied ginger too?

 

Thanks for sharing the wonderful photos of the event.

[curls]

1 hour ago, Beth Wilson said:

Can't wait to see the results of the orange peel in the instant pot.  Would this technique be good for candied ginger too?

 

Thanks for sharing the wonderful photos of the event.

Funny that you mention ginger, Elizabeth put a few slices of ginger in with the orange peels. I'll test a piece and take photos when it is done.

[RanaMN]

Toronto friends, if you ever want to try premium, authentic Turkish baklava, this is the place to go. They have four locations around Toronto.

[RanaMN]

Does anyone know if I am allowed to bring the dipping fork on the plane? Anyone in the us brought it in their carry on before? I would hate to toss it away if it's not allowed,  because we aren't checking bags. I didn't even think about that when I got it. 

Edited May 19, 2024 by RanaMN (log)

[Kerry Beal]

3 hours ago, RanaMN said:

Does anyone know if I am allowed to bring the dipping fork on the plane? Anyone in the us brought it in their carry on before? I would hate to toss it away if it's not allowed,  because we aren't checking bags. I didn't even think about that when I got it. 

Should be OK in your carry on I suspect. 

 

 

[Kerry Beal]

PDF of Daniel's recipes.

Daniel Stubbe biorecipes 2024-05-17.pdf

[curls]

Wonderful dinner tonight at Ngoc Yen in Mississauga! Wish we had gone here as a group so that I could sample more of the menu. I had the shrimp and pork salad rolls and the lotus root salad. Far too much food but leftovers will make for a delicious breakfast.

 

 

Beautiful restaurant inside. This place is located in an industrial park and was full of diners. The weather was lovely so some chose to eat outdoors.

[RobertM]

We have Amazing sponsors.  One of our first is Renee Drolet of Chocolat-chocolat.

not only has she supported us every year, but, she is one awesome, friendly and generous woman!!  She brought enough molds to allow a drawing where every participant received a mold but she also brought several for us to use during the workshop.  Now that my friends is Amazing.

thank You Renee

 

Edited May 20, 2024 by RobertM (log)

[curls]

As promised, a photo of the candied orange peel and ginger. We temporarily ran out of glucose and used some very old glucose that the Cake Collective provided and this glucose was brown instead of clear. We suspect that the brown glucose changed the color of the candied items. When Elizabeth makes this product at her shop, the orange peel retains it's orange color. No worries, this batch is very tasty and candied peels, candied ginger, and the candying syrup made its way home with quite a few of the participants.

[Kerry Beal]

 

Val, co-owner of the Cake Collective, along with her sister Maria - is as much of a gadget person as I am.  I happened to notice that she had a big old homogenizer sitting on the counter (she had picked it up at an auction a few years back). 

 

I had brought a jar of MEC hazelnut paste that was about half oil and half rock solid nut material. Required a bit of work with the homogenizer - but once done - had a lovely runny nut paste that Val was able to make use of for a cake that required it and they are thinking about using it to emulsify their vegan caramel sauce that seriously needs emulsification. 

 

 

[Kerry Beal]

Saturday breakfast

 

 

Saturday lunch - @alleguede surprised us with a wonderful mushroom quiche and croque monsieur

 

 

 

 

And how could I forget - lunch dessert - flan - plain and black sesame 

 

 

 

Edited May 20, 2024 by Kerry Beal (log)

[Kerry Beal]

 

@Diana D making a bonbon with her brandied cherries and a boozy syrup. 

 

 

Caramel covered popcorn brought back from the other site - hopefully someone will be able to post pictures of that production. They made a big batch of stand up caramel and the popcorn. It was done in the Firemixer14 - caramel was perfect - some details need to be worked out around the popcorn because the corn itself needs to be warm and stay warm during the syrup application (or even be warmed further) - and also if you cook the peanuts in the syrup - it's not going to come smoothly (or at all) out of the spout!

 

 

Panning demo by @Alleguede

 

 

@VistaGardens cutting a blackcurrent PDF to pan.

 

 

@Chocolot showed ?English Toffee to the group - I'd call it buttercrunch. What ever you call it - yum!

 

 

@YetiChocolates working on a variety of things - one a ? candied ?roasted pineapple and home dried cayenne piece. 

 

 

@RanaMN's halva - not as crystallized as she would prefer - but much closer to what she's after - perhaps another day or two sitting might be all it needs?

 

 

@VistaGardens orange rinds coming out of the instant pot. Hoping that she will give me the instructions so I can try this at home. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kerry Beal]

On Saturday my photographer friend Robert Irvine and his SO Irene came to take some pictures for us. Bob does the setup for my ad's for So Good and Pastry Arts, as well as a video that we did for Pastry Art's a few years ago. 

 

 

 

 

@Anniebakes fruit chews

 

 

 

Making a silk purse out of a sow's ear. Taking the interference powder from our sponsor Easy Leaf Products to hide the bloom on the molds that were made with less than perfectly tempered chocolate. 

 

 

Not sure what they were finding so funny - but they do indeed look amused. 

 

 

Someone tempering cocoa butter with a titch of EZtemper silk. Hey shut the lid!

 

 

And of course - since Robert is a photographer - you gotta have the artsy shot!

[RanaMN]

 

I am happy to report my fork is coming with me on the plane! (Last time we were traveling, they tossed away my sister-in-law's knitting needles, so don't bring those ever.) Here are some pictures from when Bob was making the caramel in Fire14.

 

[Kerry Beal]

 

Took 4 of these favourite spatulas, was careful to put them back in my box after they were washed each time - came home with none! Spent a better part of the afternoon yesterday going through the entire place to see if we could find them. Can everyone check their stuff. 

[RanaMN]

We are driving back home from the airport and  digging into some of the chocolate we brought from show&tell: Anyone know who brought the carrot cake bonbon. I think it was either enrobed or dipped and had a little carrot piped on top. I thought it was so good! 

[Chocolot]

It was Yeti.

[Chocolot]

 

Fun visit with the creative David Chow.

[Chocolot]

Next we went to Chocolate de Kat. Visited with Kat and Hannah and sampled their delicious bonbons. They just moved into a beautiful new kitchen.

[Chocolot]

Then it was off to SOMA.  We went to the wrong location (not the factory), but we forced our selves to try their fabulous gelato and purchased some lovely chocolate bars.

 

Edited May 20, 2024 by Chocolot
typo (log)

[RanaMN]

5 minutes ago, Chocolot said:

Then it was off to SOMA.  We went to the wrong location (not the factory), but we forced our selves to try their fabulous gelato and purchased some lovely chocolate bars.

 

Ruth, Jake went ton SOMA factory by  himself the next day, while he was exploring that area, we turned him into chocolate fanatic 😂 he send me this picture of their Melanger that day. 

[Chocolot]

Are you tired yet? We were too:). 

If you are looking for some unusual flavors, I have just the place for you!! Onyx Chocolates. Also, one of the nicest people. Gabe was delightful. He explained their flavors. All are Asian inspired. They are beautiful and some are an acquired taste. He explained that his partner is Asian, and they are based in Chinatown, so they like to play with those flavors. I am not very adventurous, but I tried the Durian and Dragonfruit Black Sesame. I did not try Pei Pa Koa which is a cough syrup, or the Char Siu. I'm sure they were delicious.

 

 

 

 

 

[Chocolot]

Our day was almost over by now, but not quite. 

Next was Soul Chocolate. They are bean-to-bar. Not a huge selection, and by then we were getting  little bit of chocolate burnout.

 

 

We were tempted to go to the SOMA factory, but it was getting late, phone batteries were draining and we were getting hungry for something other that chocolate. With traffic, it was showing an hour to get to the hotel. We decided that a better use of our time was to eat now and wait for traffic to thin out. Rana found us a nice Italian place. NODO

After eating, traffic had improved and we headed to hotel. Next morning was the start of the workshop.

 

Edited May 20, 2024 by Chocolot
typo as usual (log)

[Chocolot]

3 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

 

Took 4 of these favourite spatulas, was careful to put them back in my box after they were washed each time - came home with none! Spent a better part of the afternoon yesterday going through the entire place to see if we could find them. Can everyone check their stuff. 

 

Hope I didn't hand them out in the Give Away!