Archives Under "chocolate" (RSS)
My New Favorite Robot.
20 January 2008 | Ten 01, candy, chocolate | 2 Responses
One of the most time consuming and frustrating tasks facing pastry chefs is tempering chocolate. Chocolate is a finnicky ingredient that has a complex chemichal structure which needs to be handled just right. Improperly tempered chocolate is streaked with gray, and lacks that characteristic “snap” we all love. You see, cocoa butter, the fat in chocolate, asorbs heat at a different rate than the other ingredients (cocoa, sugar, etc.) so it can seperate and “float” to the top. The chocolate needs to be melted to a certain temperature (110-115 F,) cooled to another (80-82) and then rewarmed to yet another (87-91) to work with it. This process insures the the fat molecules are melted homogenously, and that its structure in relation to the other ingredients creates that perfect gloss, hardness, and shrinkage that makes a good chocolate candy, truffle, garnish or whatever. There are several methods for tempering; seeding, marbling, in the microwave, or my personal favorite, by robot. Pictured above is the Chocovision Revolation X3210 4.8. It takes all the guess work out of the tricky tempering process, and looks dead sexy while doing it. I’ve been using it to make candies and truffles for mignardes at the restaurant. Flavors so far include brown butter, white chocolate basil, butterscotch, orange, vanilla cream. All yummy, all the time. Interested in experimenting with chocolate? Don’t have a $1500 dollar robot? Check out this site.
New Menu Items
20 November 2007 | carlyle, chocolate, delicious, dessert, food porn, plated dessert | 2 Responses
Faithful readers, it’s time to change ‘em up a little bit, we’ve gotta keep it exciting, right? The Rosemary and Pinenut Tartlette is coming off. I can’t give that thing away. Also bye-bye is the Cheesecake Three Ways, because its too much work. I’m bustin’ my ass over a mediocre dessert, when I should have been making Chocolate Flourless , Passionfruit, and Creme Fraiche Sherbet, pictured above. Sauced it with Valrhona, ’cause it’s good Also we have Poached Pear, Olive Oil beignet, and Valrhona milk chocolate. Take a look below. We poached the pears in a bag for six hours in Jake’s thermal bath. This is attempting that “in the woods” feeling that I was trying to capture with the Pinenut Tart. Maybe this time the clarified butter and chocolate will make it happen. That’s right, we got Valrhona on both, peeps. You’ve tried it , right? Also revised was The Irish Car Bomb, which is now Gunniess stout brownie, Bailey’s anglaise, and Jameson’s salted whiskey caramel ice cream. And don’t forget to check Elvis’s out new bacon cookie!!!
Happy Birthday Jen.
30 October 2007 | chocolate, fenouil, people | No Responses
This here is Jen. She and I are pastry assistants at Fenouil. I don’t often get to work with her because we cover one anothers off-days, and shifts over-lap infrequently. I always look forward to seeing her, we have such fun in the kitchen together, and a like-mindedness about pastry. Her chocolate work is some of the best I have seen in my career, the snap on her temper is spot on every time, and she comes up with some interesting flavor combinations for her truffles and candies. Chef Pascal recently asked her to start selling her chocolates retail through the restaurant. I hope they get that going. When Jen and I work together, the tasks become backround to the banter, which is more often than not conveyed in a brittish accent. So Happy Birthday Jen, you are so much more than a crazy-cat lady…you rock!! More Blood for the Master!!
Gaelic Automoblie Explosion.
5 October 2007 | beer, chocolate, dessert, photoshop, plated dessert | 2 Responses
Its a sad state of affairs when I have to event desserts in Photoshop, but right now, breathing is cost-prohibitive, never mind ingredient shopping. Anyway, here’s a plated dessert version of an Irish Car Bomb. I found all the recipes on the web fairly easily, so I’m surprised that this hasn’t apparently been done before. Learning the term New American Cuisine inspired me to look to what Americans love, which is of course, gluttony. And drinking. So why not use the flavors of your favorite party drink to create a truly decadent delight? Hopefully I’ll get to make this soon. Guiness Stout Brownie, Bailey’s Ice Cream, and Jameson’s Caramel Sauce can all be found on the recipe page here. I got the idea for the presentation from Charlie Trotter’s Dessert Book, which I fall asleep reading most nights. I recommend serving this with an ice cold Gewürztraminer, just to add a refreshing element, form of, more alcohol!! YAY Gluttony!!
Fries With One Hand
17 August 2007 | broken arm, chocolate, custard, delicious, dessert, food porn, pictures, plated dessert | 2 Responses
If I can make a custard with one arm, then I can make bread pudding. If I can make bread pudding, then I can deep fry it. Jaybill came up with idea as a joke, but I really liked the idea of taking old croissants, soaking them in custard, baking them in a waterbath, breading them with panko, and then deep frying them. Anyway here’s Panko-Fried Chocolate Bread Pudding. PFBP for short. Check out how to make it in my new Recipes section.
Another dessert Idea…
8 August 2007 | bacon, chocolate, dessert, nuts, pictures, plated dessert, tasting | 1 Response
Who loves bacon?! Boy howdy I sure do. This plate was an experiment envolving sweet applications of bacon, and the smoking of white chocolate. The end result was Sage Smoked White Chocolate Mousse with Maple Bacon Caramel. I originally tried smoking the chocolate with mesquite wood, but that wasn’t what i was looking for. Jaybill came up with the concept of an herb smoke (heh heh) which turned out quite nicely. The mousse was a bavarian style recipe. My idea for the sauce came from breakfast. You know when you’re eating pancakes and the syrup and butter gets all over your bacon and turns into this gooey mess on your plate? I love that goo!! That’s my sauce. When Jaybill shows me how to do it, I’ll be posting recipes and demos for all this stuff. Thanks again Keri for these beautiful pictures.
Can I smoke it?
6 August 2007 | bacon, chocolate, dessert, pictures | No Responses
Easy kids…that’s not a crack rock…it’s white chocolate!! And yes, it can be smoked. Why would you want to smoke white chocolate you ask? Because I’m trying to get bacon onto the dessert plate, silly. More on this to come.
