Gourmet Scientist - Confectionery

Chocolate Glazing: Cream versus Sugar

nospam@example.com (Crystal Cheng) — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 11:44:00 -0400

Chocolate Sugar Glazing

I was just watching how to make the Viennese Sachertorte on Epicurious' Around the World in 80 Dishes. First of all, I may regret even more not trying the Sachertorte while I was in Austria. My impression of Sachertorte has been a dense, rich, and fairly sweet and chocolately cake; but this was based on what I've encountered in the US. Seeing what is apparently the authetic recipe, it doesn't seem quite as dense and rich. As I've learned, exported recipes are usually never as good.

Chocolate Ganache Glazing

But what piqued my interest was the chocolate glaze the recipe used. I've always thought any chocolate glazing or filling would be a ganache, a rich mixture typically composed of chocolate and cream. Most might know it as the basic filling for chocolate truffles. The chocolate glaze used for the sachertorte is only composed of chocolate, sugar, and water. I'd venture to say it's chocolate flavoured fondant?? It's probably better without the cream--cuts down on the richness--although it'd be quite sweet? I'm now curious how the two differ in taste. I think I might know as I'm recalling some of the glazings I may have mis-identified as ganache. The next question is then when do you use either. Of course, that probably depends on what you want: creamier (ganache) or sweeter (sugar glaze); or dietary requirements (non-dairy), available ingredients, etc... Anyone have any input??

Honey

nospam@example.com (Crystal Cheng) — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 18:46:00 -0400

In less than a year, after being stung by a rather lovely flying bumble bee, I've consumed so much honey that I'm most likely now a target of both mosquitoes and bees (I can be a natural mosquito repellent for others--a human mosquito pin-cushion with at least 20 bites per leg). I never knew honey could be eaten straight. I rarely consumed it, and it was always just another ingredient in food, sweets, or beverage. Now, after tasting the real thing, I'm hard-pressed to go back to the synthetic taste of mass-produced honey!

As with tea, coffee, chocolate, and wine, honey can be as varied in flavour and texture. So far, I've noticed 2 major flavour types--floral and woodsy--and texture can range from runny, to gloopy-thick, to a mix of runny and set, to completely set. Amazingly, I've had (full containers of) English lime-flavoured clover, acacia (English), Australian eucalyptus, Mexican wildflower, pine (French), buckwheat (!), African Miombo forest, clover (American), Menalou vanilla fur (x2), and Tasmanian leatherwood. I've also tried mountain (French) and chestnut (English).

The most bizzare was the buckwheat not only for the unfamiliar concept of honey coming from a wheat plant but also for the rather odd smell; but the taste is completely different. Even simply having the honey alone or mixing it with water can draw out further contrasts.

I seem to prefer honey with a woodsy flavour. The pine one is marvelous, and it's the one that really triggered my honey exploration. The vanilla fur is very gentle and reminds me a lot of candy. As for the Tasmanian leatherwood, it's very sweet!

I do have to say, scenes from the "Bee Movie" often come to mind. I don't want to be another heartless consumer, but at least it does make you appreciate honey all the more. The next question is: should I thank the bee or not for its sali[a]nt sting??

Crème de Marrons

nospam@example.com (Crystal Cheng) — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 00:53:51 -0400

Breakfast biscuits

I've just returned from a week-long trip to Paris on a short language exchange program with my department. I didn't manage to try anything fancy nor embark on a pastry/confectionary/chocolate tasting, but I did enjoy a few nice meals encompassing french onion soup, grilled lamb, steak au poivre, steak au roquefort, frites, smoked fish salad, chocolate mousse, and the obligatory baguettes and sandwiches. =) I also came across the breakfast biscuits that my friend introduced to me when I visited her 2 years ago in Montpellier, France.

Still, I did learn of one new item: crème de marrons (chestnut cream). I'd just read about it on Tartlette's blog, and fortunately enough, it was offered as one of the toppings for our first convivial meal of homemade savoury and sweet crepes. One bite and I was instantly hooked. It was a creamy paste of roasted chestnut flavour with a hint of sweetness. I'd only recently learned of the joy of roasted chestnut, and this was even better as it eliminated the work of roasting and cracking the nuts and there was the added tinge of sweetness. It's just as bad as nutella, as I can eat it straight out of the can! Too bad I only bought one small one for myself...