at Mon, 14 Mar 2005 12:13:10 GMT in <1110802389.986300.103590
@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>, (Michael) wrote :

>Thanks for the comments on my problem with gritty truffles,
>Alex. I made some mint truffles for the daughter over the week-
>end and didn't use any sugar in them and it still ended up
>"looking" gritty. I say they looked gritty because the truffle
>mass, as it cooled, had that slightly separated and not totally
>smooth look. I can't feel the grit on my palate, but I assume
>that others can.

That's "broken" ganache. The texture isn't quite as silken - although it
will be reasonably smooth, as I say it lacks that ultimate smoothness that
is part of the raison d'etre of truffles. Usually broken ganache happens
because of overheating or a mismatch in fat percentages. What type of cream
are you using? As the proportion of cream goes up, you need to use lighter
(lower-fat) cream.

>
>I need to get a food processor so that I can finely chop the
>chocolate. Right now I've got huge chunks off a 10 pound bar
>that I'm having to melt.

No need for a food processor and in fact I think that's not the best way to
do it anyway. A food processor with its fast spin creates too much risk of
partially melting the chocolate.

Better is to use a box grater and, holding the chocolate with a piece of
paper towel folded in quarter, use the fine shredder side to grate it all
up. This does take time but the results are the best.

Next best it simply to chop up the chocolate with a knife. What you want is
a very heavy chef's knife - 10" or 12". Score a small groove in the top of
the bloc, set the knife in it, then either throw all your weight over the
knife or hit the knife with a heavy-headed rubber mallet. (No tapping here)
The knife should break cleanly through the bloc with little effort. You can
use this tactic to reduce the bloc to small chunks, which you can then chop
very finely with the same knife using more standard chopping technique. One
drawback is that you need to make *sure* your chopping board is absolutely
odour free - especially of onions, garlic, the usual suspects. A helpful
method is to set the chocolate on top of a sheet of wax paper on top of the
cutting board - and this has the additional advantage that when you're done
you can roll up the wax paper (with the chopped chocolate still in it) and
use it as a convenient transport bag and funnel to get the chopped
chocolate into a bowl.
>
>I was looking at Fran Bigelow's PURE CHOCOLATE cookbook
>this weekend and I note that she doesn't even want you to
>refrigerate the truffle mixture, just cover it and let it set out
>overnight at room temperature.

That's what I recommend, too. It's best if they're in a cool place (~60F).
Refrigeration creates risk of condensation and freezing mars the texture
slightly. Fran's truffles are still pretty soft - at the limit of how soft
truffles should be IMHO. It sounds like yours, then, must be semi-fluid -
more like a cream center than a truffle proper - broadly comparable in
texture to the center of Cadbury's creme eggs.

>Oh! I copied off the list of "cheap" chocolates you recom-
>mended. At least half of them looked familiar from Choco-
>sphere. Is there another major source that you're getting
>chocolate from?

Most of the chocolates I recommend come from Chocosphere, in part because I
like to stick with things that people can find no matter where they are,
and in part because Chocosphere carries virtually all of the good brands.
Other than Chocosphere, I buy locally - there are many supermarkets around
here with extremely broad, high-quality chocolate departments.

--
Alex Rast

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