truffles, the ultimate chocolate experience

I loves me some truffles. They are about as good as chocolate gets. Since my truffle operation is closed down for the summer months, I thought it might be fun to go through the step by step process. I'm working off the top of my head here, having never really done this before, but I promise if you bear with me you will have the ultimate chocolate experience.

First though, some background on the materials. You want the best chocolate you can find (I'm not even talking about milk chocolate or that white shit I'm talking semi or bittersweet). My current favorite base chocolate to use is from Trader Joe's, their 70% cocoa mass pound plus bars. It rocks. If you can't find that, or have another, better favorite go with it. Ghiradhelli is quite good, although for the finest expression of the chocolate maker's art you should expect to be dealing with an import from the Belgians or the Swiss. On the butter, if you can find a euro style butter get it. It's worth the expense. Something like a truffle is not only about taste, it's about feel, you want it to feel right in the mouth, along with melting instantly. For the cream, a manufacturing cream is the ticket. 40% butterfat babies! Don't be shy. Go with it. Call a dairy outlet, pester the guys at your local market, be relentless and find the stuff. You'll thank me when it's over, I promise.

Now to the process. Take two and a half pounds of the chocolate and bust it up good. If you use the pound plus bars the sections squares will do nicely. Then, over a medium flame heat 1 quart cream and a stick and a half of unsalted butter. This is important. Don't boil the cream. Take it right to the edge of boiling. But don't boil. Little tiny foaming stuff is alright if you stop it there, but no matter what, don't boil the cream. The reason for this is to achieve a much creamier and less fudgy consistency in the ganache (that's french for what we are making right now). So, you have your cream on the edge of a boil, the butter is melted, dump it over the busted up chocolate and wait two minutes. Then using what ever you prefer (I use a big ass whisk because I'm working with a batch at least 4 times this size) stir, gently. Stir until it is glossy and smooth. You want all the chocolate melted into the cream and butter, and you want a nice tight liason.

Pour the warm ganache into a disposable roasting pan lined with plastic wrap (I like press and seal best). Now it's time to choose your flavoring. Frozen raspberries are nice, if you chop them up fine while they're frozen use about 1/2 cup. Just stir it into the ganache. To flavor with a liqueuer use 1/3 cup. My favorites are Calvados (I know it's a brandy not a liqueur but the apple flavor jumps right out of the chocolate), Starbuck's Coffee Liqueur (beats the hell out of Kahlua or Tia Maria and they ain't bad), Frangelico, Chambord (heaven), Amaretto,, are all proven winners. You can use fresh or frozen fruit but the liqueurs bring the most flavor through. I had my chemist friend Jim explain it to me but it was making my head hurt to listen and I quit.

Cover closely (any ganache exposed to air will skin up and that's gross). Refrigerate overnight.
The next day roll the ganache into balls. I roll mine to come out with about 8 finished truffles to the pound. Cover the balls closely again and if you're going to dip right away put them into the freezer to set them firmly. Otherwise, chill them for at least 3 hours.

Now you have some choices. The first and most cruicial is dip or not? Dipping, using fine chocolate requires that you master the art and magic of tempering chocolate. It has to do with aligning the fats and ending up with a tight shiny shell without a lot of ugly light brown blooming. To temper without a tempering machine you have two options. You can use the microwave by putting chunked chocolate in for 10 seconds at a time, taking it out and stirring until it is almost smooth, then adding a big chunk of tempered chocolate. This way you can dip 4 or 5 truffles at a crack before you have to start all over again. If you have an instant read thermometer and a good heating pad (make friends with somebody who has a bad back) you can slowly melt the chocolate without ever letting it get above 92 degrees. Again, you can then dip 4 or 5 truffles before you have to add more chocolate and bring it back up to 92. To decorate your truffles use what ever you want. I use colored compound stuff (I will never call it chocolate) from cake decorating places, dyed sugars, chopped nuts, what ever pleases you tickles me plum to death. Cool down slowly. I make my truffles on the large end of the scale. Hell, I'm making them and if I want them to come out around 8 to the pound then good for me.
I protect them by putting them into paper 2oz souffle cups. I then refrigerate them until about 2 hours before I plan to serve them.

If you are a lazy git and don't want to bother with the hassles of temper and dipping you can do this. In the mircowave melt the chocolate in 20 second high end runs. Stirring between sessions until it is smooth and glossy. Then dip or roll the ganache balls in the melted chocolate, tap off or shake the excess away and wait about a minute. Once the chocolate starts to firm up again but before it hardens roll the truffle in cocoa, finely chopped nuts, powdered sugar and stuff like that. They'll never know what a slacker you really are when you serve them this way.

Another thing to remember about ganache. It is a mother sauce. There are many other recipes that utilize it. Once made ganache will keep refrigerated for a week. frozen for a month. If you put a couple tablespoons of ganache into hot milk and drink it you will want to beat the crap out of the next person who offers you cocoa from a powder. Try it. Truffles can change your life. Another reason to not go to Iraq is they have to do evil things to chocolate to get it to the troops. Screw that heresy. Bring them home today. Feed them the real stuff.

Update: I forgot to mention that this recipe makes around 4 dozen finished truffles. That they are slightly different size and shape is all part of the hand made charm.

White Chocolate Stuff and Contest Announcement

The production of three flavors of white chocolate truffles was almost derailed last night too. I'm working all in a tizzy of disappointment from the multiple roadblocks to finishing up the dark truffle production and while working while distracted (something no responsible cook should ever do) manage to slice about a half inch gash in my right little finger. Blood ensues. No problem. Your correspondent is tough. I get the blood slowed down, flush the gash out well with lots and lots of clean water, take a tube of super glue and, as Emeril would say, BAM! No blood. Toss a rubber glove over the bandaids and off we go.

INGREDIENTS FOR WHITE CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES

3 lbs white chocolate (I use Guittard buttons)
3/4 lb sweet butter
4 pods Tahitian Vanilla, halved and split lengthwise
(this stuff makes something that was merely good astonishing)
6 egg yolks
1/3 cup of water

You'll need a heavy duty stand mixer for this. I have a big, burly white Kitchenaid that I treasure. It comes with me much like my two favorite guitars. (OK, I don't take it on vacations and stuff but you get the idea)

In the bowl of the stand mixer put the white chocolate, the butter, and the vanilla pods. Place this into a larger pot, containing simmering water, over a medium flame. Stirring occaisionally, until all the butter and chocolate bits are melted and smooth. Transfer to the stand mixer using the paddle attachment and begin to stir on lowest speed. Add in the egg yolks one at a time. Keep a very close watch, because once the egg yolks are in there will be a separation of the butter as the egg yolks bind to the white chocolate, it will take on a curdled look. Do not be alarmed, alchemy will commence shortly. Just watch the mixture closely and keep your hand on the speed control to avoid any slopping over. While the mixture is at the curd stage is the best time to remove the vanilla pods and scrape out any residual little flecks of vanilla caviar. The pod husks can then be discarded. They have too much butter fat in them to be dried and used for vanilla sugar. When that is done add in the 1/3 cup of water. This will tighten and smooth out the mixture, when there is no further danger of sloppage (if that's not a word it should be) increase the speed to the highest setting and whip for at least ten minutes. Transfer to a pan lined with plastic wrap (I use Press 'n' Seal® that stuff rocks) and cover closely. Refrigerate overnight.

Next day, roll the ganache into balls that are slightly larger than the balls used for the dark chocolate truffles.

To melt white chocolate I use the microwave method. A good amount of white chocolate chips into a big mixing bowl and in the microwave on high for 30 seconds. Stir, 30 seconds more, stir, then increments of 20 seconds three times stirring in between, then 10 seconds at a time until smooth. You want it melted and smooth but not hot. Dip the ganache balls.

Variations can be made by substituting any favorite liqueur for the water or adding in such flavors as move you like this time I made

Raspberry Cremes: Substitute 1/3 cup Chambord liqueur for the water and add 1 cup of frozen raspberries.

Crystallized Ginger Whites: Add in 1 cup of diced crystallized ginger.

That's the white chocolate recipe. Since it doesn't require any tempering it is something anybody with a stand mixer can accomplish.

IMPORTANT NOTICE ON THE TRUFFLE CONTEST

Because of his deep and abiding love for the white chocolate truffles, and also because of this little gem, the winner with a vote here and there and a vigorous, if somewhat tawdry defense of his life and lifestyle, the winner of the dozen truffles is

The Dark Wraith.

There are some who might figure that since he publishes the Big Brass Blog where I am a contributor that there was some collusion going on. Not so, says I. I have no problem at all exposing corruption and collusion when it occurs. Christ I am a jingle whore and have no illusions about my reputation. I've already been bought and sold more times than cheap beads at a swap meet. Really, and truly, if there had been any decent attempts at bribery, if there had been any offers of corruption I would have taken them and gleefully succumbed.

I will be packing what truffles I can get off today. As soon as the replacement parts come in I will remake what needs to be made and get truffles off to everybody who so graciously ordered them.

Thank you for your indulgence and understanding. I guess my lesson is that this particular holiday is going to be about a beautiful little girl who has found her way into our family, to the exclusion of other, more trivial subjects. Everything else was a sideshow and a distraction. People and the message of the season, which ever season you celebrate, are what is important.

Enjoy your holidays. Enjoy your families, the ones you were born into, and the ones you created around you.

Kishmesh Jooni.

Big Brass Blog

I Posted This In A Coment

over at Big Brass Blog so I won't be bothering with a crosspost. But it was a cool little moment during the day.

During the email exchanges to get the payment made and the shipping information covered I found out some great information about the lady I bought the tempering machine from. It turns out that she is closing a chocolate shop of her very own and is selling off the equipment. I sent her a link to let her see the truffles and other good stuff that is going to be made using her machine. She then offered to send a grip of molding equipment and other specialized chocolate tools. She said that she would rather have them be used than watch them gather dust. She also asked for a box of the Sofia's Mexicali Spice truffles. Turns out that her name is also Sofia.

I explained to her how the truffles that have names got that way. About five years ago, on a whim, I decided to ramp up and make truffles for my family and friends. I had some down time and it just was something that I wanted to do. A couple of big boxes went to a cousin in Idaho's family. The day after they were received I got a call from his beautiful daughter Audrey. She said "Uncle Steve (I know we're cousins technically but among the Apache "uncle" is a catch all term of endearment for any older male) I was thinking that a great truffle flavor would be S'mores." As soon as the words were out of her mouth I knew exactly how to achieve this. Next batch of truffles I made a run using graham cracker crumbs and marshmallow creme. They were exquisite. Thereafter I called them "Audrey's S'mores." Thing was there were a whole lot of other kids in the family who all began to claim their very own truffles. Sofia was the daughter of a close friend of mine in Mexicali. She is a total charmer and one evening she flat out demanded to have a truffle that was not only named after her, but one that reflected her heritage. There was no way I could refuse. I started sampling mexican chocolates like Ibarra and Arbeulita, but quickly found that they would not do for making a ganache. I instead headed to the spice rack and began to experiment with the proportions. I hit upon a combination of, in order of proportion, cinnamon, fresh grated nutmeg, and cloves (all mixed in with a heavy dose of Santeria and VooDoo). It is a complex, and intruiging flavor. A fitting homage to the Aztec and Maya people who were the ones who brought chocolate to us.

Later that same morning my nephew from down the road, a guitar playing demon, came by to say goodbye. I noticed his guitar loving eyes wandering with love and longing over some of the guitars that he has been allowed to have free play with while I lived here. I remembered the generosity of Sofia and her wanting to see things be used and appreciated rather than simply stacked and stored off somewhere. I did a quick inventory and realilzed that the guitars I am mainly planning to use over the course of the next several months were already loaded for the trip so I gave into my impulse and said "Go ahead and pick one of the electrics. It's yours now."

His eyes lit up, first with disbelief and then with joy. He picked one of the Strats that I built myself. I was thinking that was extra perfect because if I need a project post-op to keep from going apeshit building another Strat should I need one would be a great choice. He's going to have a ball with it. He takes a guitar class at his high school and has taken most of my guitars in for it. The homemade Strats were huge hits with the teacher and the class. They are real screamers that beg to be played.

One Flavor to Rule Them

I'm currently in the process of developing a new flavor for my truffle business. It's not something I go looking to do, but, the same as it works with musical insights and inspirations, sometimes the idea of a something I haven't tasted before can become as all consuming as something I haven't heard.

Creativity can suck. It can take over your life. I've told a lot of friends that there are levels of musical performance that you simply cannot attain while keeping good mental health. Normal people wouldn't put up with the hours of solitary practice alone, much less the endless indignities and nearly constant job search involved with making a living from music.

Then again, this isn't about music, even though there are many parallels. It's about truffles. If it were up to me, I would concentrate on my personal favorite truffle which is a bittersweet chocolate ganache (that's a French word which means "goddamn that's good!") that is then dipped into tempered chocolate. I would tell people that want another flavor introduced "Look, if you like the idea of a liqueur flavored truffle, get a truffle, pour a glass of your favorite liqueur and enjoy yourself."

There are some things I don't mind adding into the chocolate at all. Things like fresh raspberries, different combinations of spices, and, those liqueurs I was just dissing in the paragraph above.

Chocolate is funny stuff. Say you were thinking about combining the flavor of chocolate with apples. You can find out the same way I did that nothing good happens when you put fresh apple into a ganache, or you can trust me when I tell you that you won't like it. Calvados though, even a very small amount, like around 1/3 cup of it to flavor the ganache to make six dozen truffles will give you a subtle, yet present apple flavor.

I also spent a lot of time developing my recipe for white chocolate truffles. I don't even like white chocolate very much, but, the people that love the stuff love it dearly. I developed my recipe for that because there were people I'm very close to that were finding themselves totally left out of the whole truffle experience.

Around last Christmas, which is when I normally ramp up production at home because if I gave anything but truffles for gifts everybody would be mad at me, a friend on facebook showed me a recipe for eggnog truffles. I looked it over and thought that the recipe he showed me sucked. What I did see was how to adapt my basic white chocolate ganache into something that tastes like eggnog.

So, here we are at the business end of summer, and while I'm making vanilla extract (split and halve a dozen vanilla beans and put them into a litre of good rum, cap it, and wait a couple months) I get this flash, that is suspiciously like a flash I'd get around music (what to play in a song, what instrument to use, that kind of flash) of what it might taste like if at the same time I was infusing the rum with the vanilla flavor I also put in mint, and lime zest.

That was a couple months ago that I started it, and right now the rum infusion is tasting pretty good. I can see clearly how a Mojito flavored truffle might be pretty delightful.

Then, the obsession thing starts. I start to fixate on the fizz, which in a Mojito comes from carbonated water. How can I get that fizz into a truffle? Somebody asked me why the fizz had become so important to me.

I said, "Because without the fizz it's a fucking julep."

Then, finally, another flash. Pop Rocks. Lime flavored Pop Rocks.

Tomorrow or the next day, I'll be writing, and showing with pictures, about making lime flavored pop rocks.

You couldn't expect someone obsessive enough to make his own vanilla extract to settle for stuff off a shelf now could you?

Truffle Plans

Today I'm heading back to Arizona but only for a couple of days. My mother's health has been deteriorating (note to the evangelical assholes who oppose stem cell research, they have been succesfully treating golden retreivers with Muscular Dystrophy with stem cell injections you hidebound agressively ignorant shitheads). My kitchen is still mostly torn up and most of the truffles I'm planning to make are going to be distributed in California anyway. What I'm going to do is gather my equipment, bring it back to California and batch up the truffles (32 doz or so) at Mom's.

My neice WWW (we've been calling her that ever since she was cast as the Wicked Witch of the West in the high school production of "The Wizard of Oz" this year) is a budding photojournalist and has volunteered to help me put out a series of posts that show the truffles as they are being made.

The tentative flavor assorment for the year is this:

Classic Bittersweet
Hazelnut
Raspberry
Peanut Butter
Chambord
Starbucks Coffee Liqueur
Calvados
Frangelico
White Chocolate
White Chocolate Raspberry

I haven't posted my white chocolate truffle recipe yet but I will. The white stuff (which isn't chocolate at all folks) doesn't require the tricky tempering process.

I haven't decided on a format for the "Win A Dozen Truffles" contest. Frankly I'm kind of at a loss. I've already promised to send Sarah in Chicago a dozen. Litbrit has rated a couple dozen because I'm sure that it take at least that many to safely deliver a full ration to her alone.

If you can think of a good contest I will send you a box of eight.

Shipping is only done overnight and the costs are brutal. These truffles are worth it though, totally worth it.

Mas tardes Chicos. 3B's

My Filthy Rich Republican Uncle

saved the day this time. I've been going over some of the preparation stuff before going into holiday production on the truffles. One of the things I like to have on hand before there's any chance of being caught out a shortage is the containers. Smart and Final usually has a pretty cool supply of containers that have a clear plastic top and a sturdy enough bottom that will hold either 8 or a dozen truffles. I was doing a count up on my leftovers from the last run and for some reason my mother got herself all worked up. She was going on and on about "your truffles are so beautiful, you should spend some extra money to present them better." Anyway, that was the gist of the statement, you'll have to imagine the variations on the theme lasting the better part of the weekend.

I started doing some research on box companies, found quite a few of them. Thing was for a very limited run of a very custom size the cost would have been more than I was comfortable spending when there was an easily obtained perfectly servicable alternative right at hand. Then moms kept at it and I began to think "hey, if it will shut her up on the subject for under a grand, what the hell?"

I had a brilliant idea. My filthy rich republican uncle is a very astute businessman. He has the ability to bore right into the center of an issue or debate and deconstruct it of all its distractions, siezing the very essence of the matter. I explained my mother's dislike of my current packaging, and ran the numbers of the new boxes down for him.

Then he saved my ass with one simple question.

Are you selling truffles, or boxes?

Thanks unc. That subject is now officially closed.

3B's

Live Truffle Blogging: Sofia's Mexicali Spice

These are special. I started a thing several years ago where I named truffles after kids in the family. The grand daughter of a close friend is a totally charming nine year old. She gets her issue of truffles from every batch. Her name is Sofia. Two years ago she demanded that I create a flavor that would be named after her, and reflect the heritage of Mexico.



I first tried using already prepared Mexican chocolate, Ibarra and Arbeulita. I had zero success using them for ganache. After much wonderful experimentation I finally hit upon the correct proportions of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger which accurately reflected the Aztec and Mayan beginnings of chocolate. These are much less sweet, the taste of the spices, all of which are psychoactive in one way or another jumps and lingers. It's not bullying though. The flavors are pronounced but still quite polite.



There is a whole raft of chocolatiers who are doing things like using cayenne and habaneros in chocolate. There's even a couple of crackheads in L.A. that uses cumin and garlic in their chocolates. I am far more restrained with the flavorings and less inhibited with throwing out monster doses of dark, high quality chocolate.

These are special though. Eating one of these will harken back to the days where the making and consuming of chocolate was wrapped up in strong voodoo, with human sacrifice thrown in for good measure.



I promise no republicans were harmed in the making of these truffles. I thought about it, but I did not. After all, the Aztec and Maya insisted on Human sacrifices. Most republicans don't qualify there.



Soundtrack for this phase of dipping was Bruce Springsteen singing Jersey Girl, sha-la-la-la, indeed. In the time it took to write that the song changed to Tom Waits singing Bad Liver and a Broken Heart.

3beez

Picture Me Rolling

Take it 2Pac!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=en-MO0eaLAk

Rolling the ganache is a pretty boring thing. Yet, it's also critical to the end product. I'm trying to get reasonable balls, that are close to the same size. A little variation here and there, a bit out of round, a bit larger, or smaller is all fine. In a way it's one of the things that differentiates my truffles from something made by a machine.

There's also the size. I experimented a lot with the size of the truffles. Looking for that zone where it was big enough to be a stand alone dessert offering, but also small enough so that the richness doesn't overpower the consumer. Since they're dipped in chocolate, there's also the shell to consider. It imparts flavor and texture. Truffles that are much smaller than the ones I make the amount of chocolate shell can dominate and take away from the silken creamy texture of the ganache. Much bigger than mine, it's just too much.

The basic task is to take a pan of ganache that looks like this:

And make it look like this:

I did that four times, wrapped and labeled each packet of right around a dozen. They are in the fridge right now, I rolled them at room temperature so that I could get a feel for the consistency of the ganache. Normally it's something I do when they are fresh from the cold storage. It's easier to handle that way. For dipping a chilled ball of ganache works better. The chill holds its shape better, doesn't dissolve into the dipping medium, and begins to set the shell faster. It also means that I can go for that silky, creamy texture I love. Dipping them will also give me a chance to look at ideas for decorating them. The way I identify the flavor of a truffle is by the decoration.

Dipping will be tonight.
Preview of Coming Attractions:

These all taste great! There is something positive to say about every iteration of the flavoring. The infusion alone is delightful, the lime is a bit understated, but the mint has a nice, subtle, but distinct finish. I'm not sure if the zest makes much of a taste difference, but, the little, bitter bitzes, are a nice contrast. The ones with the lime flavoring might need some work with the amount. Maybe a test batch with 1/2 or 1/4 tsp of the flavoring to a full batch. Anyway, I'm calling in some test mouths tonight. We'll munch and compare notes. A couple of them are actual lovers of Mojitos so they'll have a better perspective than I do. I don't drink alcohol anymore, haven't for a very long time and my long run of sobriety is not something I'm willing to sacrifice, even for SCIENCE!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFArbpSVlC8

Asking For Vision (Day 1)

We got out of California with a four car/van/RV wagon train. My sixteen year old niece was working her learner's permit on my RV, with me in the navigation seat. I told her the only difference between the bus and the car is that the bus is bigger. Other than that, driving doesn't change much. Especially when the road is pretty much a four lane interstate for the next 300 miles. I told her that when we reached the Papago rez I would take over because I can slide into the fueling bays easier, knowing where the intake nozzles are and stuff. She asked about the road music and I told her that the only rule in my bus about music is "No Complaint Rock." She looked puzzled and I said "You know, those I'm so young and full of pain jerks, like Stain'd. I told her that my iPod has a very eclectic mix and if you put it on random there's hardly ever more than four minutes of dreck to wade through. Luckily the very first track is Bessie Smith proving out her billing as "Empress of the Blues."

We rolled under the Desajunes Solos sign still in a group in good time. Waiting for us, with dinner prepared were Medskool Girl, The Boy, the Sgt. Major and his family, and the Pool Girls with their gorgeous daughter, Harper Jooni.

It's 28 December, my sister the nurse's birthday, and we finish up exchanging some christmas gifts along with the birthday hoopalah. We are about to start up a cutthroat family game of "Pictionary" when the phone rings. It's my cousin, the brilliant attorney calling from the rez. He tells me that all is ready for our naming and adoption celebration with one new wrinkle. He tells me that Silas, the haattaallii is there and that he wants to speak with me. Silas gets on the phone and says "Did you bring me truffles?" I tell him that I am not naive enough to expect him to love me for just being me and he laughs. He says "I look forward to my truffles every year. I like you fine, but your truffles are better. They're less trouble and don't whine so much."

He then tells me that he's also expecting the Sgt. Major and his family. I tell him that this is very short notice and I don't know if they will be able to attend. Silas just tells me to tell them about the invitation. I do, they accept without hesitation. That's how Silas works, you'd think I would have figured it out by now.

I tell Larry and his wife that they can take over the RV and that I can bunk in the horse trailer with ease. I ask The Son if the horses are ready for traveling and he gives me the "Jesus Dude, don't you think I know anything?" look and I tell him thank you. My new niece wants to go out and see the legendary horses. She is fascinated, it's the first time that she's been close enough to horses to touch them and learn their names. The Sgt. Major's twins are with her, telling her about each horse and showing her how to give them the treats they expect. I kick the lights in the round pen on and ask if anyone wants to take a short ride. Bareback pads are produced and we all are soon riding around the training pen in the crisp winter night air.

The Pool Girls and the beautiful girl say their goodbyes and Larry and I work out our coodination for the morning's trip up to the rez. I tell him that if his girls would like to make the trip in the bus we will be having a marathon "Old Maid" session happening, along with a continuous loop of movies on the TV. He smiles and says that he and his wife have a lot to talk about and would appreciate some alone time on the drive. I tell him we'll be serving country breakfast right about dawn and that they are always welcome to join in.

There has been a lot of excitement and new faces running at my little niece. She's wound tighter than a banjo string already, throw in the Dr. Pepper the Son sneaked past my sister's watchful eyes and bedtime looks to be a long way off. Medskool Girl keeps rolling her eyes over to the corner of the living room and I finally ask her "What's up with the faces darlin'?" She goes over to the corner and picks up my lap harp and says "I think it's getting close to bedtime, would you play for me a little while?" I tell her that she is very wise along with being brilliant and beautiful. She smiles and tells me that she had to grow up smart being around such a clueless old man.

PJ's are donned and quilts are snuggled. I strike a chord and begin to play

Báidín Fheidhlimidh d'imigh go Gabhla,
Báidín Fheidhlimidh 's Feidhlimidh ann
Báidín Fheidhlimidh d'imigh go Gabhla,
Báidín Fheidhlimidh 's Feidhlimidh ann

Chorus (curfa in gaelic)

Báidín bídeach, Báidín beosach,
Báidín bóidheach, Báidín Fheidhlimidh,
Báidín díreach, Báidín deontach,
Báidín Fheidhlimidh 's Feidhlimidh ann


Báidín Fheidhlimidh d'imigh go Toraigh,
Báidín Fheidhlimidh 's Feidhlimidh ann
Báidín Fheidhlimidh d'imigh go Toraigh,
Báidín Fheidhlimidh 's Feidhlimidh ann

Curfa

Báidín Fheidhlimidh briseadh id'Toraigh í,
Báidín Fheidhlimidh 's Feidhlimidh ann
Báidín Fheidhlimidh briseadh id'Toraigh í,
Báidín Fheidhlimidh 's Feidhlimidh ann

Curfa

(rough translation)

Feidhlim's little boat went to Gola,
Feidhlim's little boat and Feidhlim in it,
Feidhlim's little boat went to Gola,
Feidhlim's little boat and Feidhlim in it

Chorus:

A trim little boat, a lively little boat,
A silly little boat, Feidhlim's little boat,
A straight little boat, a brave little boat,
Feidhlim's little boat, and Feidhlim in it.

Feidhlim's little boat went to Tory,
Feidhlim's little boat and Feidhlim in it,
Feidhlim's little boat went to Tory,
Feidhlim's little boat and Feidhlim in it.

Feidhlim's little boat crashed on Tory,
Feidhlim's little boat and Feidhlim in it,
Feidhlim's little boat crashed on Tory,
Feidhlim's little boat and Feidhlim in it

3B's

Big News in the World of Truffles

I have been watching my bid on the chocolate tempering machine holding steady at $460 for a while now. I'm hoping pretty strong. It's a great piece of equipment that even once the shop's open and the 20lb batches are working I will have plenty of use for it.

Using the little 1.5lb machine was starting to suck out loud because I was only able to dip a dozen at a time, then I'd have to go with another 1.5 which took up to 40 minutes.

A machine that handles batches of 6.5lbs will make that part of the process flow.

I've been mulling over the flavors to make this year. I'll be making two 10lb batches of dark chocolate ganache which translates into eight flavors of four dozen each. That and two white chocolate flavors should be plenty.

I can easily double up on the most popular flavors, making 8 dozen of a few of them rather than four.

Here's where my head's at for now:

DARK CHOCOLATE

Classic Bittersweet (nuthin' but chocolate)
Raspberry (8 dozen of these for sure, far and away the most popular flavor and killer when consumed with champagne)
Starbucks Coffee Liqueur (way better coffee flavor than Kahlua)
Sofia's Mexicali Spice (spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and voodoo)
Calvados (the only workable apple flavor I've ever been able to do)
Frangelico (the hazelnut flavor is flat out scrumptious)
Jessica's Peppermint Stick (these are not only delicious, they look all christmasy and stuff)
Jenna's Candied Ginger (it will require making a batch of crystallized ginger, but hey worse things have happened)

For the white chocolate flavors I'm going to be using some beautiful Tahitian Vanilla which Maheanu was kind enough to have sent from his beautiful islands. Thanks Chief!

I'm going to go classic with the white chocolate babies (although Dark Wraith, I know you are a white chocolate fiend, and since it's your favorite and all, if you have an idea for flavoring a white chocolate truffle please let me know and if I haven't made it yet I am certain I can figure it out)

They will be

White Chocolate (the Tahitian Vanilla will make these babies SING)
Jessie O's Raspberry Creme (a standard white truffle with some raspberries swirled in)

White chocolate truffles also rock with peppermint. . .

Input and ideas are welcomed. Any of you folks who got truffles last year are invited to remind me if I've been foolish and left off one of your favorites.

UPDATE:

The tempering machine is fairly won, bought, and paid for. Shipping should commence directly. The main impact that this will have is to increase holiday production. I will easily be able to triple my previous production in the same amount of time. . .hmmmm, time to sniff the winds of demand. . .


3B's

Truffle News

I am planning to make a representative assortment of the truffles. It will be a dozen that will be used by my cousin Tsa-Ka'alim when he talks with the buyers at the Indian Casinos. He'll be speaking with Executive Chefs, Banquet Chefs, and Special Events Coordinators. He agrees with me that the best way for him to make a sale is to have them try the product. He's done it twice and in both instances the people who tried them for the first time said "There's really no way your description did justice to these." He laughs and said that my having the same marketing strategy as a drug dealer is perfect. He always gets a laugh when he says "The first one's free" as he hands them their first truffle.

So here's my decision. I figure to have six dark flavors and three white. Then double up on the very best truffles inside the assortment of a dozen.

The tentative flavors I intend to have are:

Classic Bittersweet
Crystallized Ginger
Raspberry
Frangelico
Starbuck's Coffee Liqueur
Calvados.

Those show the range of the truffles when using liqueurs and fresh ingredients.

For the whites I will use:

White Chocolate (which is really a vanilla)
White Raspberry
White Crystallized Ginger.

That's the tentative lineup, but then I figured I'd toss the subject out to you. What are your favorites? Let me know. I'm trying to assemble an All-Star Team here.

big brass blog

Stringing, Trimming and Boxing

This is what the stringing looks like

And I'll just keep going until blogger stops me again. Now it's time to trim the truffles and put them into 2oz souffle cups. I have a wicked, curved cleaver that I use for this. I also put the trimmings into a ziplock
bag. I call it "truffle stuffle" and it is pretty cool crumbled over oatmeal, or waffles, or ice cream or. . .

Now they go a dozen into a 9" octagonal plastic thing I found at Smart & Final. When I first opened my shop in Palm Springs I went through about a year of tracking down leads on box makers trying to find a box that would accomodate my truffles. I finally found a custom place that would make boxes to my specs for a horridly expensive price.

I was all set to fork over the money and was talking with my republican uncle. He's a very astute businessman, and a talented enough tax attorney that he has kept my ass out of jail, he asked me a very pointed question: "Are you selling truffles or boxes?"


I went with the fucking plastic.

3b's

Chocolate Cremé Brulée

Here's how most of my family time went "Hi, so good to see you, did you bring truffles?"

I had to admit that with the still warm temperatures, the recent move back to Arizona, the fact that parts of my kitchen are still awaiting some guys to finish off the drywall process (tape, mud, mountains of dust) and the fact that I've been working on a lot more music projects than I anticipated (which is not a complaint just a statement) I haven't gotten the truffle operation going this year. I had to promise that there will be truffles for Christmas, and Valentine's, and Mother's Day. But we are talking batches made at home and not the full on industrial operation that they've become so reliant on over the years. I will still be running the "Win a Dozen Truffles" contest in December.

So, to keep peace in the family, and to please my own palate, before the relatives scatter hither and yon, I am making Chocolate Cremé Brulée for the final send off dinner.

This is not that tricky a dish. The main technique that is required is tempering. This is where you take a hot liquid and slowly merge it into eggs or chocolate. To do this without scrambling the eggs or breaking the chocolate is a critical step. Plus, right before serving you get to whip out the blowtorch and go to town. That's always fun.

INGREDIENTS

(for six)

6 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped (Trader Joe's® Pound Plus 70% Cocoa mass bars simply rock, but if you have a particular favorite bittersweet brand, by all means serve to your own Jones)
1-1/3 cups whipping cream (Smart & Final® Manufacturing Cream)
5 large egg yolks
3 Tablespoons Baker's sugar
1-1/2 cups raspberries, chilled (frozen works just fine here)
1/2 cup + 1 Tablespoon Baker's Sugar (very fine ganulated for an even crusting on the Brulée)
For garnish: whipped cream & 18 whole rasperries (Fresh only, if you can't get fresh raspberries use a sprig of mint)

Melt the chocolate, either over simmering water or in the microwave. For the microwave melt (which is what I do because chocolate hates water of all kinds) put it on high for 30 seconds, stir, high for 20 seconds, stir, then 10 seconds at a time until completely melted and smooth. Set aside and allow to cool slowly.

In a heavy saucepan (I have a copper clad cast iron monster) scald the cream. This means to bring it right to the edge of boiling, where there are small bubbles beginning to form around the edges. Whisk the egg yolks in a medium mixing bowl until they are smooth and lemon colored, then whisk in the 3 tablespoons of baker's sugar until well blended. Now it's time to temper. Using a standard size kitchen ladle whisk the hot cream gradually into the egg yolk/sugar mixture. Do this a little at a time, mixing thoroughly each ladle full. Keep at this until the cream and the egg yolk/sugar/cream mixture are roughly the same temperature then you can put the egg/sugar/cream mixture all into the saucepan at once and mix it completely. Cook this over a low flame, stirring constantly, taking care to scrape the bottoms and sides with a wooden spoon. Cook for around five minutes until the custard is 160° or, if you're so barbaric that you don't have an instant read thermometer handy, until the custard begins to evenly coat the back of the wooden spoon.

Now it's time to temper into the chocolate. Transfer the custard to a bowl, stir it gently for about 30 seconds to help cool it down. Then allow it to cool another five full minutes. You do not want the custard to be hotter than 120° (are you about ready to hit the cooking supply store for your instant read thermometer yet?) when you mix it into chocolate. For you brave luddites out there who resist sensible technology I will now describe the "ouch" test. If you stick your finger (your clean and dry finger) into the custard and you pull it out saying "Ouch" before 15 seconds, your custard is too hot. If you sucked the custard off of your finger, wash your hands again, dry completely with a cloth towel and repeat the process. Once you can hold your finger, one knuckle deep in the custard for a full fifteen seconds either the custard is below 120° or you are trying to prove to everybody how tough you are. If it's the latter condition you deserve to have the chocolate break and the recipe fail. You should have gotten yourself a thermometer.

Transfer the custard about a 1/2 cup at a time into the chocolate. Stirring until completely mixed. Again, once the two mixtures are roughly the same temperature you can then mix in the rest of the custard. The resulting chocolate custard should be glossy, silky, and voluptuously aromatic, be prepared to defend your kitchen from assault here. They will come after it right now, but stand firm. What you need to do now is to allow the custard to cool to room temperature while stirring it every few minutes to prevent it forming a skin.

Once it is at room temperature you can transfer it into the individual ramekins. Put the raspberries and their juice evenly around the bottom of the six ramekins. Carefully spoon about 1/3 cup of custard over this and smooth it with a spatula. Cover this closely with plastic. That means to get the plastic wrap right on the surface of the custard. Any air pockets will skin up. Small little defects of this type won't hurt anything but a skin across the top is just gross. Refrigerate the ramekins four to six hours before serving.

When it's time to serve, put around a tablespoon and a half of baker's sugar evenly over the custard and torch it until the sugar melts and begins to brown and bubble.

Garnish with whipped cream and fresh raspberries. (or a mint sprig if there aren't any raspberries available) Serve this immediately to rapturous accolades, enthusiastic applause followed by blessed silence as they dig into it. Be gracious in your acceptance of this acclaim, you truly earned it this time. The best companion beverages for this are espresso (in a demitasse with a twist of lemon---this is not cappuchino time, not latté this is time for full on unflavored espresso in the proper, petite cup), brandy, or calvados. Stay away from liqueurs or (ugh!) dessert wines. This is a dessert of strong flavors and deserves to be alongside something with teeth.

crossposted at 3B's

New From the World of Truffles

I'm on day 2 of making the crystallized ginger for the truffles and it struck me that I had neglected to inform ya'll of one of my favorite cheats on that recipe. That happens with me a lot. It's one of the reasons I have never felt I was a very good teacher. Especially with things that I do almost without conscious thought, like playing guitar, harp or riding a horse. Because I do it working from muscle memory I will often leave out a cruicial step, not because I am planning to sabotage anyone, it's just that I do it without thinking.

Here's the cheat code that I forgot to include in the original recipe. If you start day 2 early in the morning, you can do the step for day 3 late at night. So although I am doing to the fifteen minutes of simmering right now. I intend to do the next thirty minutes of simmering along with the addition of the final two cups of sugar tonight.

I had been a little troubled by the way it took 7th sister an extra day when she followed my recipe as written.

Sorry for costing you a day m'dear.

3B's

Rolling With My Homies

Today is truffle rolling day. Made even more exquisite by the unannounced arrival of the lovely April late last night. One of the best improvements in my life the move to California has brought me is that April is now free to just show up. The downside is that her cell phone goes off and sometimes she has to leave. It didn't happen last night.

We have four large batches of ganache chilled and set to be rolled. There should be about four dozen truffles from each. For those who have forgotten while I dithered and slacked off, the flavors for the Valentine's batch are

Crystallized Ginger
Bittersweet (nothing but chocolate, my personal favorite)
Mexican Spice (cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger - seductive and sensual)
Raspberry

I will keep you apprised. Shipping could be as early as Tuesday.


UPDATE

The truffles are rolled and setting in the refrigerator. Dipping will commmence tomorrow. I am negotiating for my niece to be here to help with photos.

3B's

Truffle Contest

I thought it over. Couldn't come up with anything dramatic or snarky so I thought that I'd simply turn things over to you.

There are two prizes up for grabs. First prize is a dozen truffles, free shipping included.


Second prize a dozen truffles free, you pay the shipping.

Third prize, you're fired. (sorry just channeling alec baldwin)

So here's the deal. You guys nominate the one you feel is deserving.

Since everybody will see what's going on with it there won't even be a chance for bribery. Damn. I was kind of counting on some decent bribes this time around.

UPDATE:

Since this is a make it up as we go along contest I thought it might be time for a small clarification. The nominations are for people. If there are nominations for somebody who has already ordered and paid it might work as a vote for a second place (where I won't email them with the shipping costs). Then, it might help to subsidise somebody who wasn't nominated but is still deserving. I count that as a pretty cool way of bribery. Anyway, we'll work it out as we go. I will expose all cases of corruption with shameless glee.

Friday Random Ten

First off though, please accept my apology for the dearth of blogging. I got stuff happening and really haven't had the time to sit down and compose anything of merit. I am kicking around some ideas. Stuff like trying to do a psych autopsy on John McCain's cognitive dissonance about Iraq, which springs from his congnitive dissonance about Viet Nam. Thing is, if you need to absorb and believe mightily in things that are not true in order to present yourself as somewhat sane, then, to my thinking, you are simply not somewhat sane, you're fucking deluded.

Anyway, I'm off to San Diego today. Dropping off truffles for Tartness, picking up supplies to make more truffles (I have an 80 lb chocolate order to pick up from Trader Joe's Pacific Beach), visiting the tailor to spruce up and have something distinguished to wear for the Hillary Fund Raiser (put on by the music industry's own She, Who Must Be Obeyed), then to top the whole trip off I am joining my aunt and uncle at the Viejas Casino to watch my cousin's dance troupe NightFire perform.

When I hit Random this morning, this was the top ten:

For the Sake of the Rock and Roll - - - Doug Sahm
Leave My Blues At Home - - - Duane Allman
Smoke Signals - - - I Brake For Pow-Wows
Message From The Master - - - BooZoo Chavez
Les Blues Des Vache Au Lait (Milk Cow Blues) - - - Clifton Chenier
Greezy Greens - - - Pink Anderson
All Through The Night - - - Cyndi Lauper (live bootleg, Rick Derringer and me on guitars)
In The Pines - - - Leadbelly
Ballad of Tom Joad - - - Woody Guthrie
Motorcylcle - - - Arlo Guthrie


Bonus:

Gotta Travel On - - - Bill Monroe (Emmylou Harris sings backup on this one)

How I Didn't Get To Syracuse

It's hard to figure out how to complete an assignment when the main subject is something you can't do.

I'm not a college student, although I've been to colleges. Mostly I'm self taught. I read. A lot. I've spent most of my time as a professional musician, but I tend not to discuss the people I've played with, and besides, I'm in the middle of one of those big life change things. I'm getting away from music and doing something I love, for me.

I make incredible chocolate truffles.

That's them. Beauties aren't they? My plan is to move to Palm Springs to make and sell truffles there. I'll still play music, but that's because I pretty much have to play. The difference is I'm going to treat my music like I treat my writing. I do it as something that gives me pleasure. If anyone else likes it that's fine, but it is not why I do it anymore.

I met your Professor under his nom de blog of Lance Mannion back in the blogging stone age when we frequented the old "Shakespeare's Sister" blog which, in one form or another is still going. Email correspondence followed, and the way these things can happen online, I would say we're friends.

I've let this old blog slide into disrepair. I'm going to use this class as a way to get back into it. Feel free to explore the archives and dig around. If I do say so myself, some of them are pretty good. Don't take my word for it though. If you ask me in comments, I'll link you to some of my favorites, and the favorites of others.

I live in the extreme south of California. I'm closer to Mexicali than any major American city.

Because I'm far west with respect to y'all's geography that means if you find yourself late night or early morning stuck or bogged down, or just wanting to find somebody to read and comment on what you've written, chances are I'll be up. I still keep vampire hours.

The thing I enjoyed most about blogging was the complete freedom to follow my muse where it took me. I blogged at group blogs for a while, but quit. It's not like they were paying me or anything.

In my blog I talk about cooking, philosophy, what I am reading, who I love and who pisses me off. That's what I'm going to keep doing here.

Let's have some fun.

You might find this link handy as you go along.

Announcement In Truffle Contest

Sherry and some of the others have mentioned my haattaallii friend Silas, in the truffle contest comments. I originally intended this to be a response comment but right as I was finishing it I realized that there needed to be an announcement at the end of a prize award. No, don't worry, nobody's lost anything yet. It's just that among the comments was one by a new reader, Krista, who was talking about the care-givers for her son. Anyway, Krista ends up winning in her very own category.

Everything else is up for grabs.

silas is one of my favorite people to give truffles. the first delight is the way he eats them. very slowly, savoring each little bite. he studies them before he bites because he wants to get a perfect mouth mix of ganache and shell. he really involves himself in the whole process. what he does next is fun too. because the trailer he lives in has no electricity there food cooling is only done by a root cellar and the occaisional ice chest. when folks bring him game meat it's always in an ice chest, which he never returns. there is a veritable mountain of them out back of his trailer. since he knows that the truffles are perishable he will take his box of a dozen around to different folks. he'll hold out the box and say "look what the singing snake gave to me. let's share one." he'll do that until they are gone and then go home a very happy man.

in that spirit i would like to announce that Krista has gotten her own little side prize. she's already ordered a box of eight. that order is now doubled. and the shipping's on me. congratulations krista!

Truffles For SomeWateryTart

These are yours. I have a house full of family for the next few days. Even the Pool Girls have come out for the weekend. We are going to be doing a birthday party for the new niece, going to see Spiderwyke, which I hope isn't awful.

This is a half dozen each of the classic Bittersweets and a half dozen of the Sofia's Mexicali Spice. Also, on Tuesday, a dozen just like this go off to Trog69 and to Maheannu-Tane. Then, it's back to the grind for me. There are some wholesale orders that I'll be getting ready for a Palm Springs casino.

We'll figure out how to get these to you Tartness. Don't despair. Don't jones. If you must, grab some good bittersweet from Trader Joe's. It won't get you high like these truffles but it will take the edge off of your habit.