Report: eGullet Chocolate and Confectionery Workshop 2024

[Kerry Beal]

7 minutes ago, Chocolot said:

 

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

Hmmm - they are from thermoworks

 

[curls]

4 hours ago, Chocolot said:

 

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

I think you might have! I think that I picked up some Thermoworks brushes and spatulas during the give away. I do remember some Thermoworks silicone tools on the table. Will check my workshop luggage when I get home  

[blue_dolphin]

21 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. 

ThermoWorks has 40% off on their silicone spatulas today.  Unfortunately, shipping to Canada kinda wipes out any savings 😢

[patris]

16 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

ThermoWorks has 40% off on their silicone spatulas today.  Unfortunately, shipping to Canada kinda wipes out any savings 😢

 

Fortunately, @Kerry Beal has a closet in my house with her name on it (or more accurately, a closet that often contains multiple packages with her name on them 😉).

 

What a great workshop you all had! Sorry to have missed it - May is a nightmare month for me every year at work (compounded this year by ill-timed staff turnover), so the timing just isn't great.

[Kerry Beal]

4 hours ago, patris said:

 

Fortunately, @Kerry Beal has a closet in my house with her name on it (or more accurately, a closet that often contains multiple packages with her name on them 😉).

 

What a great workshop you all had! Sorry to have missed it - May is a nightmare month for me every year at work (compounded this year by ill-timed staff turnover), so the timing just isn't great.

We missed you. Don't be surprised if a package shows up!

[curls]

On 5/20/2024 at 1:48 PM, 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. 

Kerry I got two blue Thermoworks items from the give away on the last day of the workshop.  One blue silicone brush and one blue silicone spatula. Send me your address and I'll mail them to you. No idea where the other three spatulas went. Perhaps they went into a spatulas container at Cake Collective?

[Kerry Beal]

11 minutes ago, curls said:

Kerry I got two blue Thermoworks items from the give away on the last day of the workshop.  One blue silicone brush and one blue silicone spatula. Send me your address and I'll mail them to you. No idea where the other three spatulas went. Perhaps they went into a spatulas container at Cake Collective?

Brush not mine - what size is the blue spatula? If it's any longer than about 8 inches it's one they donated. We went through the spatula container (and every other container!)

 

 

[Kerry Beal]

I realize that I learn something every class, every event, every new book I get - and this event was no exception. I finally learned the stamped flower that I've found elusive for the past couple of years (thank you Lauren!). 

 

 

This doesn't work! And I ran all over the north of Toronto to get it

 

 

This doesn't work either. 

 

So what new thing/things did you learn this workshop?

 

 

 

 

[Jim D.]

Before the workshop, someone requested that the "watercolor effect" of Monde du Chocolat be demonstrated.  Did that take place?  Achieving that effect reliably has always eluded me.

[Kerry Beal]

41 minutes ago, Jim D. said:

Before the workshop, someone requested that the "watercolor effect" of Monde du Chocolat be demonstrated.  Did that take place?  Achieving that effect reliably has always eluded me.

Sadly no - thinking next year we should feature a variety of techniques that don’t require an airbrush but still give a lovely finish.  

[Vojta]

Thanks for sharing your experience, it is lovely to see. Wish I could be there and learn too. The candied oranges or flower painting using that weird silicone thing is so interesting.

 

Btw where do you use 

On 5/20/2024 at 3:06 AM, Kerry Beal said:

big old homogenizer

? Isn't ganache too viscous for it?

[curls]

On 5/21/2024 at 10:12 PM, Kerry Beal said:

Brush not mine - what size is the blue spatula? If it's any longer than about 8 inches it's one they donated. We went through the spatula container (and every other container!)

 

 

 

Photo with tape measure, ~8 inches. It looks new; not seeing any of the wear that I see in your picture.
@Kerry Beal is this one of your spatulas?

 

Edited May 24 by curls (log)

[Kerry Beal]

4 hours ago, Vojta said:

Thanks for sharing your experience, it is lovely to see. Wish I could be there and learn too. The candied oranges or flower painting using that weird silicone thing is so interesting.

 

Btw where do you use 

? Isn't ganache too viscous for it?

So the weird silicone thing doesn’t make the effect - it was what I tried though. 

That homogenizer would work on a ganache / it’s big. 

 

[Kerry Beal]

4 hours ago, curls said:

 

Photo with tape measure, ~8 inches. It looks new; not seeing any of the wear that I see in your picture.
@Kerry Beal is this one of your spatulas?

 

Yup! But hang on to it and enjoy it as much as I have. Ruth sent me more!

[Kerry Beal]

A few of the pictures that Irene took - apparently between she and bob - they took about 5100 images.

 

 

 

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One of the amazing donations from Barry Callebaut - this Cara Crakine is a big hit and showed up in a number of things that folks made. 

 

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I brought along a donation from a previous year from Barry Callebaut.

 

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Edited June 6 by Kerry Beal (log)

[Kerry Beal]

I think Bob and Irene might be a little competitive! These are some of Bob's pictures. 

 

 

[Smithy]

I am not a chocolatier (and have never played one on TV) but I LOVE the action photos and the images of intense concentration of the participants! The gear and action shots are great too, but I think it's the people shots I like the best! Who is that youngest chocolatier-to-be?

[AAQuesada]

Really great pictures!

[Kerry Beal]

9 hours ago, Smithy said:

I am not a chocolatier (and have never played one on TV) but I LOVE the action photos and the images of intense concentration of the participants! The gear and action shots are great too, but I think it's the people shots I like the best! Who is that youngest chocolatier-to-be?

She's the daughter of Rodney's friends who own a gelato ingredient supply company with products imported from Italy - they provided us with some lovely nut pastes (particularly Sicilian pistachio) to play with. It was a delight to see Rodney interact with her. 

 

[RanaMN]

On 5/23/2024 at 6:06 AM, Jim D. said:

Before the workshop, someone requested that the "watercolor effect" of Monde du Chocolat be demonstrated.  Did that take place?  Achieving that effect reliably has always eluded me.

Amy Levin has a post on her Instagram (October 9th 2023 -I tried to share a link I couldn't ) showing how to do this. She uses her finger to spread the color, but I have also seen people dropping the color and then use just air with their air gun to spread it. And maybe you already know these techniques but I thought I would share. Now I want to try it too. I feel like the trick to get the look like Monde would be using really light colors in the right order. Amy's colors make the transitions a bit stark. 

[Jim D.]

13 minutes ago, RanaMN said:

Amy Levin has a post on her Instagram (October 9th 2023 -I tried to share a link I couldn't ) showing how to do this. She uses her finger to spread the color, but I have also seen people dropping the color and then use just air with their air gun to spread it. And maybe you already know these techniques but I thought I would share. Now I want to try it too. I feel like the trick to get the look like Monde would be using really light colors in the right order. Amy's colors make the transitions a bit stark. 

 

Thanks very much for the Amy Levin reference.  I like the look of what she does in that post, but I agree with you about the stark transitions in her colors.  I think many people who use the marbled effect use an airbrush to spread the colors, but I have not had success--the colors never spread enough unless I use a large amount of colored cocoa butter--and that makes a huge mess.  I also agree that getting the right order for light colors is crucial.  I have some success using a finger (as Amy does), but it's a hit or miss proposition (some are beautiful, others turns brownish with all the colors mixing too much).  I must say that Monde du Chocolat's Easter eggs are incredibly beautiful.

[RobertM]

It looks like Kerry wasn’t to happy with me in one of Bob’s pictures….

[Kerry Beal]

11 minutes ago, RobertM said:

It looks like Kerry wasn’t to happy with me in one of Bob’s pictures….

I didn't read it that way - hands on hips makes my back feel better!

[RanaMN]

5 hours ago, Jim D. said:

 

Thanks very much for the Amy Levin reference.  I like the look of what she does in that post, but I agree with you about the stark transitions in her colors.  I think many people who use the marbled effect use an airbrush to spread the colors, but I have not had success--the colors never spread enough unless I use a large amount of colored cocoa butter--and that makes a huge mess.  I also agree that getting the right order for light colors is crucial.  I have some success using a finger (as Amy does), but it's a hit or miss proposition (some are beautiful, others turns brownish with all the colors mixing too much).  I must say that Monde du Chocolat's Easter eggs are incredibly beautiful.

Have you ever seen where it's done in the water? Where cocoa butter is dropped in the water and you stamp it in the mold? If you haven't, let me know and I will try finding the video. ( I have not tired that way yet but I was super intrigued). 

Edited May 25 by RanaMN
Spelling (log)

[Kerry Beal]

Just now, RanaMN said:

Have you ever seen where it's don in the water? Where cocoa butter is dropped in the water and you stamp it in the mold? If you haven't, let me know and I will try finding the video. ( I have not tired that way yet but I was super intrigued). 

Not sure what you mean