Ganache

All right Chef enthusiast, today I bring you a simple recipe every desert lover needs to know. Ganache. Now if some of you have any cooking experience you know that the ration for ganache is 1:1. That means for 4 oz. of chocolate you will use 4 oz. of cream, unless of course you want a different consistency or are adding other liquid-esk flavorings. For example 2:1 for truffles and 1:2 for a soft icing or pour-able glaze.  So people be ready for some ganache goodness.

Simple Ganache

Ingredients:

Chocolate                                                                                                     4 oz.

(Your choice, I prefer a combination of Belgian and 75% Dark)

Heavy Cream                                                                                               4 oz.

Procedure:

1) Chop the chocolate as small as you can get it.

2)Heat the cream, do not boil. Stir constantly so it doesn't scald. It just needs to be hot enough to melt the chocolate.

3) Pour over chocolate

4) let it rest for a few minutes before you stir it so you avoid graininess.

5) Stir gently until thoroughly combined. It will look like melted chocolate, not half mixed in chocolate milk.

6) cool as desired. For covering cakes the ganache needs to still be fluid but thick enough to cling to the cake and not making a god awful mess all over your work station. If you are making truffles out of your ganache freezing the ganache would be best so it is firm when you dunk it in the melted chocolate.

BE WARNED CHOCOLATE MAKES A HUGE MESS!!

One possible idea for using ganache is this bad boy.

Can you say ECLAIRS?! Yum! 😛

I hope this will help you guys with some of your chocolaty desires and dessert making. Bon Appatite

Easy Peasy Butter Creamy

Sorry for the title. I was feeling whimsical. Any way are you looking for a way to make some icing? Making a cake for a wedding and want a simple butter cream to layer on that towering piece of art? How about wanting to do a birthday cake from scratch and have no idea how to make that sugary sweet frosting? Well look no further folks. Bellow you can find a simple recipe for butter cream frosting (icing).

You will need a mixer for this, unless you got mad upper body strength and are a hell of a whisk master.

Butter Cream Icing

Ingredients:

Hot Water                             9 oz.

Powdered Sugar                   3 lb. 5.25 oz.

Meringue Powder                1 oz.

Salt                                      .75 oz.

Butter, room temp               5 oz.

Cake Shortening                 1 lb. 13 oz.

Vanilla                                .5 oz.    

Procedure:

1) Be sure all of you utensils are grease free. Mix together the first four ingredients, using your whip attachment. Use the second speed until you reach a meringue consistency. This may take up to 10 minutes.

2) Add the butter and shortening in small amounts, continuing on second speed for another 10-12 minutes to achieve maximum volume. 

Add the flavors during the final mixing time (You can use other extracts like almond or lemon instead of vanilla)

3) Store at room temp, tightly covered.

Feel free to practice our piping skills to properly decorate that cake.

Country Styled Biscuits

Before we get down to the nitty gritty of cooking I want to welcome all of you to the blog of Chef Melodramatic. Here you will find all of the recipes I have personally tried out and occasionally a few originals. I don't hold claim to any of these recipes, even the ones I create for every chef knows that everything has been done, we only find ways to improve it. So without further ado here is a recipe that creates some tasty Country Styled Biscuits. Note most of the baked goods will need a scale to be measured. Weight is more accurate than volume when it comes to the science of baking.

Country Styled Biscuits

Yield: 36 biscuits, 2 1/2 ounces each

Ingredients:

All purpose flour          2 lb. 8 oz.

Salt                               0.75 oz.

Granulated sugar          2 oz.

Baking Powder             2 oz.

unsalted butter, cold     14 oz.

milk                              1 1/2 pt.

Total Dough weight: 5 lb. 2 oz.

Procedure:

1) Sift the dry ingredients together, making sure they are blended thoroughly.

2) Cut in the butter.

 The mixture should look mealy: Do not over mix

3)Add the milk and stir, combining only until the mixture holds together.

4)Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface, press the dough together until it forms one mass, approximately five or six times.

5) Roll out the dough to a thickness of 1/2 inch (or as thick as you want. Judgement is needed here because it can change the cooking times)

 cut the dough with a floured two inch cutter (again use your own judgement if you choose a different size) 

and place on a parchment lined sheet pan.

6) Bake at 425°F until the tops are lightly browned, the sides almost white, and the interior still moist, approximately 10-12 minutes (cooking times may vary). Internal heat will continue to cook the biscuits when they are removed from the oven.

7) Remove the biscuits to a wired rack to cool

I recommend serving these delicious baby's with some sausage and gravy. The taste of these biscuits took me back to my child hood when my mother made biscuits and gravy, even though her's didn't turn out as good (sorry mom). For a bite of nostalgia I beckon you to whip these baby's up and pick you favorite gravy and sausage combination.