Ask the Alchemist #215

Level: Novice

Reading/watching time: 4 min

Today I’m going to hit a few short questions about tempering and cocoa butter that have cropped up the last few weeks.

I usually need around 10 lbs of chocolate around the holidays, to spread on homemade English Toffee.  I do temper the chocolate before I use it, but I was wondering if I can store the freshly made chocolate in bulk without tempering until I need it.  Then temper and use it as needed. 

If you are cooking with your chocolate where it is going above 100 F (Toffee goes over 200 F) you don’t need to temper as your temper will just be destroyed anyway.   You can store your chocolate untempered until you need it.  Just keep it cool and dry and sealed.  There is no need to refrigerate or freeze.

Do I have to store my Silk in the freezer?

No, sealed, cool and dry is just fine. 

I am confused about using silk.  When do I lower the chocolate to 82 F and raise it back up to 88 F?

This one, somehow, as come up A LOT.  Using Silk is a method of tempering unlike any other.  Lowering chocolate to 80-82 creates Type V seed.  Silk IS Type V seed.  So it is more akin to any seed tempering method you use except you use a higher temperature (92F vs 88F) because the silk is pure and aggressive and can handle the higher temperature.  So you don't ever lower and raise the temperature.  You add the silk at 92-93 F and you are done.

What  temperature do I have to use for milk chocolate if I am using Silk to temper?

The beauty of silk is that you don’t have to change your working temperature at all when you change chocolates.  It is always 92.5 F.

I have used untempered cocoa butter to temper my chocolate with moderate success.  Why do I need  to use silk?

I’ve heard about this.  It can work some of the time as you are finding.  And sometimes it fails, as you are finding.  The reason is that solid cocoa butter has some Type V naturally in it.  If there is enough you can add it to your chocolate at 88 F and have a fine temper.  The temperature destroys the non type V crystals and the remaining V acts as seed.  But you have way to know or control how much V is there and in some cases there isn’t enough and your temper fails.

How important is it that the cacao butter be from the same region as the cacao bean?

I personally don’t think it is important at all from a flavor perspective.  And unless your sweetener is also from the same origin, it is just silly from a ‘single origin’ perspective.  I’ve seen WAY too many bars claiming 100% single origin and make a huge deal about pressing their own butter only to use a sugar from somewhere else.

The cocoa butter I ordered arrived melted.  Is it ruined?

As long as it is not Silk (melting ruins the temper) your cocoa butter is fine. 

Ask the Alchemist #204

Level: Apprentice

Reading Time: 8 minutes

Self:                       Alchemist.  You mentioned not really liking the name for the 2nd roasting phase.  What is it that you don’t like about the name Momentum phase?

Alchemist:           Well, it seems that is the term I use a lot for the drying phase.

Self:                       So you want to call the Drying phase the Momentum phase? 

Alchemist:            I was really thinking Drying/Momentum phase. 

Self:                       Then what would you call the Momentum phase?

Alchemist:           I’m thinking the foundation phase.  It is where you start to lay the ground work for the flavor building in the final stage? 

Self:                       I see your point, but I don’t like it

Alchemist:           I thought it was kind of appropriate.

Self:                       The others phases are all verbs.  They are action based.  I get your point but Foundation just isn’t right.  The foundation of a project comes first. This is the second part.  Drying is first.  You are developing flavors.

Alchemist:           (pouts)

Self:                       You know, you could call it the  Development phase.  And before you jump in and interrupt me, I knowyou already are using that name.  But I’ve got to tell you, it’s a little off also.

Alchemist:           but…..

Self:                       I know.  You are worried that people are going to start mixing them up.  But it really is better.  Look, you dry the beans and set the momentum for the roast.  Then you set the stage for flavors by developing the chemical pre-cursors you need in the final stage.  Then you finish the roast.

Alchemist:           Ok smart guy, what do I call the last phase then?

Self:                       Really?  I need to tell you?  It’s the Finishing phase.

Alchemist:           Yeah, well, ok.  That was obvious.

Alchemist:           Can I still use End of Roast?  EOR.

Self:                       Sure, it is common in coffee roasting and it has no issues that I see.     

Self:                       And before you ask, yes it is going to confuse a couple people here and there that you’ve changed the names, but your readers are smart people.  They are on top of this.  Give them some credit.

Alchemist:           You’re right.  And it is going to make it better in the long run.  I’ve even been stumbling over the terms recently.  That’s not a good sign.

Self:                       Just make sure you tell everyone what you are doing and go back and edit your previous articles.  I know you are not a revisionist history fan but this is for clarity.  And the record that you changed things will be right here.  So suck it up, do the right thing and make the changes.

Alchemist:           Ok.

Alchemist:           Is it ok if I tell them a bit more of my thinking?

Self:                       Sure, just don’t get crazy.  You still need to lay out the new Finishing phase, so don’t overwhelm them.  Just an overview.  Think of it as a little review before the final push.

Alchemist:           Deal.

So there it is.  My apologies but I’m changing the names of the phases.  The concepts are staying the same but the names were not working for me.  Over the last month I’ve discussed roasting profiles with a few people and it became abundantly clear I was stumbling over the names.

I ran these ideas by a couple people and I was met with resounding agreement.

So here are the official new names for the Roasting Profile Stages:

Drying   - Ambient – 212 F – It is where you built and set your momentum for the following stage.

Development – 212 – 232 F.  In this stage you will develop the foundation of the roast forming flavor and aroma pre-curors that you will finish in the next stage

Finishing – 232 F – EOR.  Here the flavors finish developing and you ensure the beans are fully roasted.  It is also the time to remove any remaining excess acids

EOR – The End of Roast temperature that may or may not contribute a final character to the taste profile.

It looks like this.

I think about roasting in the same way I think about cooking.  There are lots of ways to do it and depending what you do and what you want you can produce radically different flavors.   And no one way is really right or wrong but you simply can’t reliably get some flavors with certain methods. 

Let’s talk soups.

You can bring all your ingredients to a boil in a pot of water and serve it immediately.  It will be edible and possibly good.  It works pretty well if the ingredients are fresh and you want a simple uncomplicated soup.  Rarely is it stunning though.

You can also sauté some of the ingredients first, the carrots, onions, celery, and garlic, letting them start to release flavors and nuance.  When the rest of the ingredients are added the previous flavors combine to give a depth of flavor not originally present.

There are some styles of Japanese soup making that have you create a stock chock full of these precursor flavors.  A common one is called dashi.  On its own it is pretty bland and nearly flavorless.  I didn’t understand it for years but loved the results.  Once combined in the soup, deep, rich, satisfying umami flavors can develop almost like magic.

I suggest thinking of both these techniques as Development phases.  They add a dimension to your roast/soup. A roux does this also.

Regardless of what soup you make and how you started it, you then have to decide how long to simmer it or finish it.  Some soups need very little simmering, some a lot more.  And some will just go neutral and unexciting if simmered too long.  It is up to you how the finish the soup and it is usually informed by what you want it to taste like.

Finally there is garnish.  It will affect the final flavor in most cases, otherwise why would you do it.  But it can be done with a light or heavy and and sometime you don’t want any garnish at all.  Again it is your call and how you decide at what temperature to end the roast.

So that is where my head is when I think and talk about Profile drum roasting.  I’m not a fast boiled soup fan nor do I favor soups simmered to bland inoffensiveness. 

I like them dynamic and satisfying.

Next week we finish up with Finishing! 

And if all goes right details about the Roasting Seminar I will be offering on June 24th and availability of the new 30 lb Ozturk cocoa roaster.