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Chocolate Fondue


tharrison

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reesek if your making a chocolate fondue/ganche it does not need to "set up" at all. Making this should only take a moment. You heat your cream then pour it into your chocolate and liquour, stir and your done.

If you make this hours in advance, you must keep it warm or it will begin to firm up/cool down. Instead have all your dipping items ready before your guests come and put together your ganche between 9:00 and 10:00 if thats when you think they'll eat it.

1 to 2 oz. per person does seem skimpy to me. You don't want people to have to scrape the bottom of your pot to get to the fondue. I would make enough to fill my pot, then if there are left overs come on back here and we can give you ideas on how to use up the remains.

You don't want to use chocolate chips for this, they contain wax that prevents them from melting smoothly (although you can technically can use chips for this, I highly suggest you don't). Instead, you want to use a couveture........a good quality chocolate.

How much corn syrup......... probably 1/2 cup (or less) depending upon how much volume you have. I'm guessing based on a standard home fondue set.

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thanks wendy...now i just have to find someone who wants 50oz of chocolate chips. :unsure:

the timing problem is that i'm not attending - just catering the party. i won't be there between 9-10. as such, i didn't suggest or recommend fondue - the client wanted it.

re:setting up...sorry if i was unclear - i'm hoping to figure out how to keep it liquid.

assuming i get coverture, add appropriate amounts of hot cream/booze/corn syrup i will have a lovely smooth ganache...which then gets miraculously transported to the client's house - BUT - will it stay liquid (if maybe a little cooler than optimal) at room temp for a couple of hours? i was planning to use a votive instead of sterno - i can tell the client to light it when he wants fondue...i'll leave extra with him - thanks for the portioning advice.

aidensnd i thought about caramels...i'd love that flavor-wise, but decided that the wrapping/unwrapping and stickiness factor was one i didn't want to deal with.

they'll be dipping marshmallows, angel food cake, strawberries, milano cookies, fuji apples, dried apricots and bananas. probably enough junk there...

Edited by reesek (log)

from overheard in new york:

Kid #1: Paper beats rock. BAM! Your rock is blowed up!

Kid #2: "Bam" doesn't blow up, "bam" makes it spicy. Now I got a SPICY ROCK! You can't defeat that!

--6 Train

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Sorry.....well I did say it's possible to do this with chocolate chips.....to tell you the truth I'm not so sure the average person can tell the diffence between high end chocolate and chocolate chips.

Would your client be willing to reheat this at all? Can you give it to them in a thermos or other insolated container?

If not, then just make your ganche/fondue thin so that even when it chills down it won't turn into a solid mass. Sort of like a hershey's syrup type consistancy.

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  • 1 month later...

I was in Los Angeles last week and dined at a wonderful restaurant called Luna Park. They have a terrific Pastry Chef and one outstanding dessert entailed making your own S'mores fondue style. It was enjoyable and fantastic.

I am looking for recipes for homemade graham cracker cookies, homemade marshmallows and ideas on the chocolate. Any thoughts? :smile:

You will find, as you look back upon your life, that the moments when you really lived are the

moments when you have done things in the spirit of food & wine!

wine&dine

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The King Arthur Cookie Companion has a great homemade graham cracker recipe. You might want to Google for it or check KA's baking circle web site.

As for marshmallows, I have no opinion. Someone out there surely has a good homemade recipe. Those are one of those things I keep meaning to make and just never get around to it.

For chocolate, you can use whatever type you want, but S'mores scream Hershey's Milk Chocolate to me, because that's what we used while sitting around a campfire back in the mid seventies. I'd use homey Hershey's Milk Chocolate and then throw in a higher quality chocolate for some juxtaposition action :).

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I was in Los Angeles last week and dined at a wonderful restaurant called Luna Park. They have a terrific Pastry Chef and one outstanding dessert entailed making your own S'mores fondue style. It was enjoyable and fantastic.

I am looking for recipes for homemade graham cracker cookies, homemade marshmallows and ideas on the chocolate. Any thoughts?  :smile:

Marshmallows aren't that hard; but, are kind of a sticky pain.

They are whipped sweetened gelatin. I know Martha has published recipes for it.

"Real" marshmallows are made by whipping plant gelatin from the roots of Althaea officinalis or Marsh Mallow.

As a side note, I had read that the folks who run Luna Park and The Last Supper Club here in San Francisco were planning on opening a branch in LA. I didn't know it had happened already. They also feature the S'Mores dessert here. Also Pot au Feu on the menu?

---

Erik Ellestad

If the ocean was whiskey and I was a duck...

Bernal Heights, SF, CA

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They had a wonderful goat cheese fondue appetizer with grilled bread (a hint of olive oil or butter) and of course crunchy apples for dipping as well.

You will find, as you look back upon your life, that the moments when you really lived are the

moments when you have done things in the spirit of food & wine!

wine&dine

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Hmmm, just off the top of my head, I think it would be neat to make graham cracker-encrusted marshmallows as a fondue dipper. Make a batch of marshmallows (see the marshmallow thread mentioned above), but line the pan with graham cracker crumbs. Pour in the mix, and sprinkle with more crumbs instead of potato starch. When you cut them, roll the individual pieces in more crumbs, and you should have a neat little package ready to impale on your fork and dip.

As I said, this is just off the top of my head. It may well turn out to be just a big old mess. :wacko:

B. Keith Ryder

BCakes by BKeith

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As I said, this is just off the top of my head.  It may well turn out to be just a big old mess.  :wacko:

Yeah, I don't think that the crumbs would stick to the marshmallows very well; they'd get mushy and fall off. I envision a pot of chocolate with a graham cracker scum floating on top.

Still, rolling marshmallows in graham cracker crumbs is a neat idea. Maybe served on ice cream, or with some sort of hot fudge sauce?

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  • 6 months later...

I want to make a chocolate fondue as part of a buffet I am doing. As I have never done one before, I would appreciate some help in suggestions as how to do the sauce. I assume it is a little more than just melting some good quality chocolate.

Thanks to anyone who can help me. :biggrin:

Life is short, eat dessert first

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"This is the age, among things, of chocolate."

~ J.B. Priestly: English Journey

Essentially, you’ll be making & holding a tempered ganache. Melting the chocolate slowly is, naturally, requisite. I like to add kahlua or kirschwasser to the blend. Also, coffee. El Rey white chocolate would provice a superlative pot!

Have you shortlisted your top choices for the items to be dipped? You may like to consider: Portions of angel & pound cake, and perhaps croissants, too. Some of the more ideal fruits are those which can be speared easily by the guests (after all, you’ll want to keep the whole procedure simplistically elegant & thoroughly maintained. Whereas bananas would be troublesome, apples, fresh pineapple chunks & Satsuma oranges, e.g., would be ideal.

Will children be in attendance at the buffet? Hopefully, they’ll be supervised constantly! Could you have a fondue prepared that contains, say peanut butter? It’s likely such a (non-alchoholic) flavor combination would be appealing to the youthful subset.

Incidentally, have you known of Forever Fondue – the all-fondue restaurant in La Jolla, CA?

http://entertainment.signonsandiego.com/profile/168516/

And a nationwide string of franchises: The Melting Pot! Visit the corporate Web site, click on the map (under “Menu & Locations”) and you’ll be transferred to specific restaurants where you can download the comprehensive menu as a .pdf document. You may expect to glean a good many ideas to inspire your own preparations:

http://www.meltingpot.com/index.htm

"Dinner is theater. Ah, but dessert is the fireworks!" ~ Paul Bocuse

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What is the right way to put an additions to the chocolate? I tried to put some Grand Marnier into the tempered chocolate, something strange happened to it, it kinda curdled immediatly, became hard and tasted strange. Re-tempering didn't help. Should I have added liqueur before tempering?

Edited by doronin (log)
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Add the chopped chocolate gradually to the warmed cream. Once the chocolate is melted & well-blended, then add vanilla extract and the spirit – say, 1-1½ fl. oz. per pound of chocolate.) Some cooks add the liqueur to the cream before stirring in the chocolate, but I prefer the former sequence.) At service, remember to keep the flame low beneath the fondue pot(s). And have plenty of clean skewers available.

I had thought that chocolate fondue was originally from the 1950s; however, it may have been created by Swiss-born Konrad Igli in 1964 at his New York City restaurant:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/4519

A French refugee introduced cheese fondue to a Boston restaurateur in 1794! (Source: James Trager, The Food Chronology, p. 189)

I’ve located some practical fundamentals re chocolate fondueing:

http://www.chocolatemonthclub.com/pastnews...ers/vol5no8.htm

"Dinner is theater. Ah, but dessert is the fireworks!" ~ Paul Bocuse

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Will children be in attendance at the buffet?

No children will be there.............

Thanks so much for your suggestions. I had absolutely no clue what to do. I have fondued often but always with cheese, oil or broth.

The fondue pot is electric controlled. I bought one of these after having a bad accident with the fuel type and almost buring the house down :blink:

Life is short, eat dessert first

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I've had great success with this recipe from Epicurious.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/102222

It has corn syrup in it which I find makes a great texture that really sticks to whatever you dip in it. Cream/Chocolate mixes always seem to just slide off the fruit etc for me or separate with an oily top.

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I had thought that chocolate fondue was originally from the 1950s; however, it may have been created by Swiss-born Konrad Igli in 1964 at his New York City restaurant:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/4519

I wouldn't be dead certain of the date, but the source is indeed Konrad Egli: he told us the story himself when we were at Chalet Suisse some years back. (I was something of a regular there during my psych-nurse days.) Konni wasn't the chef, but the owner -- though he would take the occasional turn in the kitchen when he needed to.

He also told us that his "partner" in this invention was someone from the Swiss Center in NY who was looking for a marketing stunt to advertise / popularize Toberone when it was just being introduced to New York (and the US) for the first time.

At Chalet Suisse, the fondue used to come out with extremely delicate small meringues, slices of banana and mandarin orange, and truly wonderful macaroons that no one ever got enough of.

(sigh) I miss that place.

Best! -- Diane

Edited by Diane Duane (log)

Diane Duane | The Owl Springs Partnership | Co. Wicklow, Ireland

http://www.youngwizards.com | http://www.dianeduane.com

Weblog: Out of Ambit

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Is it possible to make it without cream at all? Let's say 70% chocolate, and some spirit?

There is a ratio of chocolate to liquid additions but I am not sure of the formula. If there isnt enough liquid the starch in the chocolate will seize.

You may be able to do a coffee and spirit combination if someone comes through with the ratio.

tracey

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I've had great success with this recipe from Epicurious.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/102222

This is the receipe I made last night - to great success. A huge chocolate hit that coated the fruit nicely. I served with green seedless grapes, mandarin orange segments, bananas, apples, pears, plums, and chunked up pear cake (from Alain Ducasse)

This was very easy to do, and aside from some last minute fruit cutting a breeze to do.

Thanks all for your help.

Life is short, eat dessert first

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  • 1 year later...

So I should have kept my big mouth shut and my chocoholic tendancies under control :lol: ... BUT ... a friend is having a large birthday party and I suggested a Chocolate Fountain ... she went out and bought a chocolate fountain (small one I assume!) ... and has now volunteered ME to turn 10kg of Cadbury's milk chocolate into a suitable mixture for the fountain!!!!! :shock::blink:

My starting point is that she has 10kg of milk chocolate ... but I've got no idea how much I'll need to mix up for 100 people (including children) ... by choice I'd NEVER use milk chocolate, but it is there so I have to use it!!

I've had a look through some of the previous posts on chocolate fondues and fountains, but they seem to all start off with the idea of using decent chocolate! I don't have access to cocoa butter, so I assume I'm going to have to use corn syrup, cream or vegetable oil to thin the chocolate. Would the oil be better with the milk chocolate given syrup/cream is going to sweeten/lighten the chocolate even more?

I'm assuming I'll be doing a number of batches through the evening since the fountain is small, I also wont have a chance to do a trail run.

I'd love any suggestions on quantities and recipes (my usual chocolate fondue recipe involves creating a sugar syrup with cocoa then adding chocolate http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/102222 ... but I make small quantities with this and it doesn't have to go through a fountain).

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If it is for 100 people, you shouldn't need more than 5 Kg of chocolate. 3 C of vegetable oil per 5 Kg should be fine. Do not use cream or syrup. You need the viscosity to move the chocolate through the fountain. Oil is the best.

Melt the chocolate. Add the oil whisking carefully. It should emulsify. Then pour into base of fountain. Please remember to preheat the fountain before putting the chocolate in. Otherwise it will seize.

I highly doubt that you will need this much chocolate. I recently did a chocolate fountain for 800 people and only used 5 Kg. But it depends on what else you have available. We had a full dinner as well.

What are you using as dipping medium? Fruit? Marshmallows? Cake?

Good Luck!

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