MO@SU-CSLI (Maurice Bizzarri) (02/28/86)
Copyright (C) 1986 USENET Community Trust Permission to copy without fee all or part of this material is granted provided that the copies are not made or distributed for direct commercial advantage, the USENET copyright notice and the title of the newsgroup and its date appear, and notice is given that copying is by permission of the USENET Community Trust or the original contributor. .RH MOD.RECIPES-SOURCE TRUFFLES-1 D "10 Feb 86" 1986 .RZ "CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES I" "French-style chocolate confectionery" For those of you who are crazy enough about chocolate to go to the extremes that I do, here is the recipe for the chocolate truffles that I make. The formula is taken from Paul Bocuse's \fIFrench Cooking\fR, but the directions are my own. .IH "5 pounds of truffles" .IG "3 lb" "chocolate" (semi-sweet or semi-bittersweet) .IG "1 quart" "very heavy cream" .IG "\(12 lb" "sweet butter" (i.e. unsalted butter) .IG "" "cocoa powder" .PH .SK 1 Melt the chocolate in the top of a double boiler. Do not cook the chocolate. This should be done SLOWLY over minimum heat. .SK 2 Boil the cream. Once the chocolate is completely melted, and the cream just boiled, combine in the top of the double boiler. .SK 3 Take off the top pan from the water, and (off heat) mix until completely combined. Keep stirring until it is relatively cool. Allow to sit until it is cool enough to put into a refrigerator. .SK 4 Refrigerate \fIovernight\fR (NO SHORT CUTS HERE!!!). .SK 5 The next morning, melt this wonderful mixture again in a double boiler. When it is completely melted again, mix in the butter until it is completely absorbed. Whip, either with a hand whisk or a very slow electric gizmo, until the butter is completely absorbed and the mixture is cool again. This can take an hour or longer, depending upon the chocolate, etc. Let cool, and refrigerate overnight once more (this is not as critical as the first cooling; a few hours will be enough). .SK 6 Heat once again, and whip until cool. Refrigerate until it is thick enough to pipe through a pastry bag. Using a 1/2" nozzle, make little balls on a big piece of parchment paper that has cocoa powder spread on it. Roll in the powder. Keep chilled until just before serving. Let them return to just above room temperature before eating. .NX If you like Grand Marnier or Kahlua or rum or whatever in your chocolate, the last melting (step 6) is the time to add. I think it's a small but forgivable sin myself. .PP I recommend Guittard chocolate. You can buy their semisweet chips in 12 ounce bags. You can also buy it in 10 pound bars. You can also buy 10-pound bars of Guittards ``French Vanilla Semi bittersweet'' which is so good you might eat all of it before you cook with it. Guittard makes 5 types of bittersweet if you like you chocolate really bitter .PP Use genuine, real-live, honest ``heavy cream'' and not ultrapasteurized whipping cream. Try a wholesale dairy. .PP I only use Challenge Sweet Butter. Under no circumstances should you use anything but unsalted butter in this recipe. .PP I use Hershey's Cocoa. Still the best for my taste. .SH RATING .I Difficulty: quite difficult (melting the chocolate 3 times requires tremendous care). .I Time: 3 or 4 hours of preparation during a 3-day period. .I Precision: measure the ingredients. .WR Maurice Bizzarri