2008 November | Q Chocolate

Archive for November, 2008

Nougat, not from Montelimar !

November 26th 2008 Posted at General, Nougat
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Wednesday, november 26th 2008

Today I used nougat to fill pralines. Nougat is not the same as Nougat de Montelimar. Nougat de Montelimar is white nougat and soft but has another consistency as the nougat I mean. Sometimes people call nougat also “Krokant”. It is made from sugar and glucose with roasted almonds and some butter.

The pralines from this week have all nougat in it. There are a lot of variations possible. I show you a few underneath.

Nougat late : a hard nougat piece with praline buttermass and finished with milkchocolate

Duet : White chocolate buttermass with milkchocolate

Soft nougat : caramel with marzipan and roasted almonds covered with white chocolate

Chalet : Lemon ganache finished with dark chocolate

There was also another creation with Grand Marnier but I have no picture of it. also you cannot see the Grand Marnier, you can only taste it.

Have a nice week

Alain

Horeca Expo in Gent

November 26th 2008 Posted at General
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Wednesday, november 26th 2008

This morning I went to a chocolate demonstration done by Dominique Persoone and Patrick Devos in collaboration with a scientist that does food pairing. It is amazing how different sorts of tastes fit togheter. When you taste them separatly it’s unbelievable that there is a match.

If you are interested in the Horeca expo, then you can visit

Horeca Expo Gent

Chocolate signs in Bruges

November 20th 2008 Posted at General
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This is a picture I took last sunday, november 16th, when visiting the BAB beerfair in Bruges.

Africa Choco

Caramel pralines, hot Sugar !

November 20th 2008 Posted at Caramel, General
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Wednesday, november 19th 2008

For the people that like sugar, I can recommend this weeks creations. Yes, we are talking about “Caramel”. A semi liquid sugar bomb when boiling, a delicious sweet with chocolate once cooled down.

There are different sorts of colours in caramel. You have blond caramel which goes to max 135C-140C, dark caramel is cooked up till 150C and then you have carbonised caramel which is … euh carbon, so black.

I have pictures of 3 different sorts of caramel. Buttercaramel, nut caramel and hazelnut caramel. Then there is also almond caramel and florentiner with honey, orangepeel and almonds, but I am missing the pictures since the recipe ain’t ready yet.

Hazelnut caramel : a caramel with roasted and chopped hazelnuts

Walnut caramel : a caramel with walnuts

Butter caramel : a caramel with butter and extra vanille

The florentiner and almond caramel will be here next week I hope.

Enjoy the week !

Alain

Chocolate bullets for peace

November 13th 2008 Posted at Alcohol, Chocolate
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Make Chocolate, not war !

Wednesday, november 12th 2008

Today I learned more about using alcohol in combination with chocolate. You can do so much different things with chocolate. It is almost never ending. Most of the items shown are made with Origine chocolate. Check the pictures and decide for yourself.

Snow truffle : White chocolate with cream and Glühwein

Advocat truffle : Darkchocolate with advocat 20degrees

Champagne truffle : Milkchocolate and cream with Marc du Champagne liquor

Passionfruit : Chocolate with passion fruit powder and Passoa liquor finished with powdersugar

Rhum truffle : Dark origine chocolate with 40 percent Rhum

Amaretto truffle : Milkchocolate with cream and Amaretto liquor

All truffles except the passion fruit truffle are made with alcohol. Last week I learned more about alcohol and chocolate. This week I get a better overview on how to use alcohol and chocolate.

See you next week !

Alain

Chocolate and alcohol tasting

November 9th 2008 Posted at Degustation, General
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Wednesday, november 5th 2008

Today the lesson was all about tasting chocolate with alcohol. There were 4 different pralines created with different chocolate and fillings and then they were degustated with 4 different sorts of quality alcohol like Madeira Boal, Sherry Indian Solera, Port Tawney and wine AOC Maury Banuyls.

There were also some cheeses like Grana Padano, Feta and Gorgonzola dipped in dark origine chocolate and finished with a grain of salt. It is amazing how cheeses taste with dark chocolate.

Check out the pictures :

AOC Maury : Dark Origine chocolate filled with mascarpone cheese and cassis. Tastes perfect with Banyuls wine.

Sherry Indian Solera : Dark Origine chocolate filled with soft caramel with orangejuice and roasted almonds. Tastes perfect with Sherry Indian Solera.