A brief tutorial

Mdevnich says, about the Truffles:

If you haven't got every single post planned, do a post on the rolling technique for these-- my mental image for me doing them is that the result is blobby and fingerprinty.

Yup, that's about it. There's really no getting around the fingerprinty, blobby part. That's why we have coverture! But to get as close to gorgeous as dammit...

-- Be certain the ganache is well chilled. If you're making a lot of truffles, work in small batches.
-- Use a small melonballer to get the shape started, then roll the ball quickly between your palms. You will get meltage. It's OK, just don't over-handle them.
-- Fix divots by smoothing the ganache with the back of a spoon. Small ridges will be hidden by the coverture.

Truffles are DONE!

Place cocoa in small bowl. Remove the balls from the refrigerator. Using one hand, dip the balls into the melted chocolate. Roll it around in your hand, allow the excess to drip back into the bowl. Place the truffle in the cocoa. With your clean hand, cover the truffle with cocoa.

Lift it out and place on the baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining truffles. Place back in the refrigerator for 5-8 minutes to set.



Try not to scarf 'em down all at once. All that butter and cream and chocolates is supposed to be bad for you!

This concludes the Live Cooking portion of Iron Chef Moo. Sit back now, relax, and enjoy the recipes and trivia, rollin' on til 9AM.

STOP! Truffle Time!

Remember that ganache we made a couple posts ago?

Using a mini ice cream scoop or two spoons, form the mixture into 1-inch balls and and place on the prepared sheets.



Chill until firm, about 10-15 minutes. While the balls are chilling, melt the remaining 6 ounces of chocolate. After it is completely melted, allow to cool slightly before continuing.

Still not Truffle time!

So, a holler out to Laci, my tireless Monitor, who has been cheerfully poking me all day long to make sure I'm awake and alive.

Thanks, Laci, for taking on a tough job while running your own blog!

It's still not Truffle time yet!

But we have trivia to keep us busy!

Did you know...

Ho Chi Minh once worked as a pastry chef under the legendary French master Auguste Escoffier.

Let me sum up

While we're waiting to get to the next step for the Truffles, let's have a look back at what we've made today. Recall that early sponsors voted to choose four theme ingredients. We also chose to include two bonus dishes, because there were ingredients we favored that did not make the cut .

The dishes are:

Cheese

Wasabi Tiramisu
Zucchini Blossoms stuffed with fresh Feta
Fondue Moutardiere
Cahill Porter Soup

Chocolate

Chocolate Crepes with Chocolate Cream filling
Chocolate Chai Cheesecake
Chocolate Chestnut Ravioli
Classic Chocolate Truffles

Wine

Wine Sorbet
Shrimp and Scallion Linguine with White Wine Sauce
Cold Wine Fondue

Garlic

Smoked Garlic Chicken
Garlic Studded Bread
Garlic Confit

Bonus

Bleu Cheese and Leek Quiche
Pumpkin Chocolate Souffles

Sixteen dishes. Not a bad day, if I do say so myself. I can gurantee that I won't be cooking for a couple days, though!

Chocolate Truffles

Last dish!!

1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tbs unsalted butter
1 tsp light corn syrup
8 oz. chopped, semi-sweet chocolate + 6 oz. for dipping
about 1/2 cup dark cocoa powder, sifted

Mix the cream, butter and corn syrup together in a saucepan. Place over medium heat and bring to a full boil. Turn off heat. Add 8 ounces of the chopped chocolate, and gently swirl the pan. Do not stir. Allow to rest for 5 minutes.



After 5 minutes, whisk slowly to combine.

Transfer the mixture to a bowl and refrigerate for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes.



In the meantime, line baking sheets with parchment paper.

After 45 minutes, the mixture will start to thicken quickly, keep refrigerated another 11 to 15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes.

We'll come back to these in about an hour!

Some Thanks are in order

Dear Sponsors, how awesome are you?? $1,409.90 for the NKF so far! Thank you for supporting this great organization!

More thanks to:

Cat, for dreaming up Blogathon lo, these many years ago. Good job, lady!

John and Erika Aylward, of The Boulevard Market and Four Corners Creamery. I can always count on you to have exactly what I need, and as fresh as can be.

Ed and Annie Gerten and the rest of the gang at Pentamere Winery. When imagination fails me, I can always count on you for ideas. And BOOZE!

Rebecca and Heidi at TGI. *heart* I'm so glad you came by to say Hi! It really means a lot. So much, in fact, that there WILL be Garlic Studded Bread at work.

Tuna McDermott, because he's my big brother and I loves him.

Maus, for running out for stuff and pimping the blog at the Vitamin Shoppe.

And...the Monsters, for being great sous chefs in spite of being really tired and cranky.

While the house cools...

I took a minute to sit down with a souffle, and wow, did it hit the spot! I've only had time to nibble today, I'm really looking forward to having more than a few bites between running to and from the kitchen!

There has been so much going on besides just cooking!

Elizabeth at Another Random Memory informs me that I won a sponsor prize - she entered everyone who sponsored her into a drawing for some small thing or other, and I won the choice between a keychain or $7.95 for the NKF. Naturally, I chose the $$ for the NKF!

Elizabeth is blogging for Any Soldier. It's a terrific organization, so head on over to Elizabeth's and toss a couple bucks her way!

Earlier this afternoon, I was interviewed by Lewis and Melissa at BlogExplosion Radio! I had a terrific time and was happy to see that some fellow 'thonners heard me on the radio! Thanks for giving us a push, Lewis!

VOILA!

We're going to get the house cooled off some before we reveal the final dish. Baby, it's HOT in here!

Thanks for following along today. It's great to have your company! Stick around - we've got one more dish, recipes, trivia and more!