minow@decvax.UUCP (Martin Minow) (12/20/85)
This was originally posted December 1983, but there seems to be some slight interest in truffles expressed by net readers. I've added a section on chocolate coating and some general information on this classic confection. These are as good -- or better -- than anything you can buy in a store. Here is a truffle recipe, makes about 10 dozen: 1 kilo (2 lb) Dark coating chocolate (Merckens Yucatan or Lindt Extra Bittersweet) 180 gram (6 oz) Unsweetened baking chocolate (or more, to taste) 90 gram (3 oz) Unsalted butter 3 dl (1 1/4 cup) Cointreau Chop the chocolate. Melt together with the butter over simmering water. Stir continuously with a rubber spatula. Don't let water get into the chocolate. Warm the Cointreau to the same temperature as the chocolate. Slowly blend the Cointreau into the chocolate (still over the water). Stir continuously. Do this slowly (as if you were making Hollandaise). Using an electric mixer, beat the mixture until cool and somewhat thickened. (Takes about 5 minutes; you'll need a good mixer.) Line a large baking sheet (11 x 17) with wax paper. Pour in the truffle mix. (This will fill the pan.) Chill in the refrigerator until solid. Use a pizza cutter to cut the stuff into strips (peel off the wax paper first), then into squares. Take each one, mash it in your palm, and roll in cocoa. Chill some more. Substitute other liqueurs (Chambord, Amaretto, Kahlua) and coatings (chopped roasted almonds, finely chopped candied orange peel, coffee beans run through a nutmeg grinder, etc.) Truffles rolled in cocoa are "classic" -- here are some rough and ready instructions for coating "anything" with chocolate, abstracted from "Making Chocolates" by Alec Leaver. (Temperatures in Farenheit.) Melt some chocolate over hot water, let it cool slowly until it just thickens (80-84 degrees F). Now warm the chocolate gently and slowly until it thins slightly. The temperature should be above 85 degrees, but below 91 degrees. "Should the temperature accidentally exceed 91 degrees while it is being used, it will be noticeable that it quickly runs off the center that is being coated and takes much longer to set. The only solution is to cool the chocolate again to 80-82 degrees and warm it once more to the working temperature. These maximum working temperatures are therefore absolutely critical, and a great deal of time can be wasted warming and cooling couverature which has thinned because it accidentally became too hot." The temperature of the room you work in should not exceed 70 degrees. "The ideal temperature is exactly 22 degrees less than the chocolate. In other words, if the couvertature is 89 degrees, the room temperature should be 67 degrees." Pre-bottom all centers -- that is, smear a little couverature on what will be the bottom of the center with the back of a spoon and place it, bottom side up, on a plate. This lets you check that the couverature is properly tempered. After the bases have set and hardened a little, stir the couverature thoroughly, trying not to get too many air-bubbles in. Drop a center into the couverature, bottom down and, with an ordinary fork, slightly warmed, push it down to submerge it fully. Immediately, pick it out with the fork, tap the fork on the side of the bowl in order to settle the chocolate, and wipe any excess from underneath the fork. Transfer the center to a sheet of wax paper. Stir the couverature after depositing each center to keep it well mixed. Here is some more information on Truffles, from Leaver's book. For those of you wondering what truffles are and why they are called truffles, wonder no more. They are called truffles because they resemble the truffle mushroom -- a roundish ball about 3/4 inch in diameter. The following comes from "Making Chocolate," by Alec Leaver, published in 1975 by Weathervane Books by arrangement with Michael Joseph Ltd. The book is probably out of print. "Truffles are the easiest chocolates to make and certainly the most delightful to eat. They provide an excellent introduction to the problems of handling and coating centres which are very important in chocolate-making. "The basis of the truffle centre is ganache paste, a mixture of melted chocolate and warm cream well blended and cooled until it hardens. Orange, honey, peppermint, rum or vanilla can be added to give flavor, but it is important that the final mixture should be hard enough to be moulded to shape and be capable of standing up to being coated with chocolate. "The texture of ganache paste depends upon the kinds of cream and chocolate and the proportions in which they are used. Plain chocolate is harder than milk chocolate, so more cream can be added to it. Single cream is thinner than double so must be used in smaller quantities. .... "Incorporating cream or other liquids fulfils two functions: it softens the chocolate and it gives flavour. Any liquid can be added to chocolate and will have a softening effect, if that is all that is desired. Even water can be used, although its effect is so drastic that the quantity must be very accurate indeed: 3 fl. oz. of water added to 1 lb. milk chocolate gives a slightly soft consistency, 4 fl. oz. would make it much too soft, while only 2 fl. oz. would leave it too hard to mold. It is important to be as accurate as possible, even when using cream, but ther is room for a little error. "After the centre has been made and moulded to shape, it is coated with chocolate to seal it and help to keep it moist. It is then rolled in a final decorative coating, and this can cocoa sweetened with a little icing sugar, or chopped mixed nuts. This centre does not keep for more than a week or two in warm weather since it is subject to mould, so it is wise to store truffles in the refrigerator [well sealed to prevent them from absorbing odors]. They can be kept in the deep freeze in a sealed container, but when the centers are very cold they have no flavor and should be brought to room temperature slowly. "The finish of truffles is a matter of choice.... The object is to give each chocolate with a different type of centre its own attractive and distinctive appearance so that one can tell what the centre is. A box of four or five different kinds of truffles is attractive to the eye and delightful to eat." One last note: Julia Child had a bit on truffle making on one of her recent shows -- a gloriously messy look into a chocolate factory. Their (commercial) recipe mixed the chocolate into what looked like a soft caramel. I would guess that the chocolate was unsweetened (liqueur) -- otherwise the sugar makes no sense. Also, if you're interested in unusual uses of chocolate, try to see Dusan Majakiev's "Sweet Movie." Martin Minow decvax!minow