Comments on: Ganache Recipe http://www.reluctantgourmet.com/blog/baking-recipes/ganache-recipe/ You Have To Eat, So Learn To Cook & Eat Well Thu, 17 May 2012 01:18:45 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 hourly 1 By: Jenni http://www.reluctantgourmet.com/blog/baking-recipes/ganache-recipe/comment-page-1/#comment-151402 Jenni Tue, 15 Mar 2011 13:56:53 +0000 http://www.reluctantgourmet.com/blog/?p=1760#comment-151402 Hi, Mary. As with most pastry-type items, look up ten recipes, and you'll see at least seven different methods for making it! It can be confusing. The beauty, though, is that when you understand *how* recipes work and which techniques yield which specific results, you can apply the correct technique every time. The trick with making ganache is that you're trying to force an emulsion between two emulsions. Cream is an emulsion of fat and water (with a little bit of milk solids, etc). Chocolate is an emulsion of what is basically powder (the cocoa solids) and fat (cocoa butter). Introducing even just a drop of water to a melted chocolate emulsion can cause the solids to clump together, leaving the cocoa butter just sort of swimming around. That's what happens when chocolate seizes. So, when combining chocolate and cream, the goal is to combine without making the chocolate seize. The techniques you describe in your question both attempt to do just that. Most classic techniques for making ganache involve heating cream to just below a boil and then pouring it over chopped chocolate. The issue here is that, as the first bit of cream is introduced to the chocolate, some seizing can occur before all the cream is added, and this can result in a ganache that, while tasty, may have a couple of small lumps in it. This is probably not an issue for most of us, but if you wanted to use it to pour over a cake and it needed to be perfect, those couple of wee lumps might mar your beautiful cake. For that reason, more and more pastry chefs now like to heat the cream to just-below-a-boil and then introduce the chopped chocolate to the cream while whisking steadily. Having said all of that (and I admit it's quite a lot!), I don't find that there is any reason to bring cream to a rapid boil. A simmer, yes. A very gentle boil for a brief period of time, fine. But to bring it to a rolling boil seems like overkill to me. So, how did the ganache turn out? I hope it was smooth and creamy. Welcome to the wonderful world of ganache, Mary! <em> Thanks Jenni for your great response. - RG</em> Hi, Mary. As with most pastry-type items, look up ten recipes, and you’ll see at least seven different methods for making it! It can be confusing. The beauty, though, is that when you understand *how* recipes work and which techniques yield which specific results, you can apply the correct technique every time.

The trick with making ganache is that you’re trying to force an emulsion between two emulsions. Cream is an emulsion of fat and water (with a little bit of milk solids, etc). Chocolate is an emulsion of what is basically powder (the cocoa solids) and fat (cocoa butter). Introducing even just a drop of water to a melted chocolate emulsion can cause the solids to clump together, leaving the cocoa butter just sort of swimming around. That’s what happens when chocolate seizes.

So, when combining chocolate and cream, the goal is to combine without making the chocolate seize. The techniques you describe in your question both attempt to do just that. Most classic techniques for making ganache involve heating cream to just below a boil and then pouring it over chopped chocolate. The issue here is that, as the first bit of cream is introduced to the chocolate, some seizing can occur before all the cream is added, and this can result in a ganache that, while tasty, may have a couple of small lumps in it.

This is probably not an issue for most of us, but if you wanted to use it to pour over a cake and it needed to be perfect, those couple of wee lumps might mar your beautiful cake. For that reason, more and more pastry chefs now like to heat the cream to just-below-a-boil and then introduce the chopped chocolate to the cream while whisking steadily.

Having said all of that (and I admit it’s quite a lot!), I don’t find that there is any reason to bring cream to a rapid boil. A simmer, yes. A very gentle boil for a brief period of time, fine. But to bring it to a rolling boil seems like overkill to me.

So, how did the ganache turn out? I hope it was smooth and creamy. Welcome to the wonderful world of ganache, Mary!

Thanks Jenni for your great response. - RG

]]> By: Mary http://www.reluctantgourmet.com/blog/baking-recipes/ganache-recipe/comment-page-1/#comment-151089 Mary Mon, 14 Mar 2011 13:27:44 +0000 http://www.reluctantgourmet.com/blog/?p=1760#comment-151089 I made ganache for the first time yesterday and was confused by two things: some recipes gently melted the chocolate then added cream, but others boiled the cream then added chocolate to melt. My mom taught me not to boil cream for the reason you mentioned. Why would cream be boiled? <em>Hi Mary, great question and one I know Chef Jenni can respond to. Thanks - RG</em> I made ganache for the first time yesterday and was confused by two things: some recipes gently melted the chocolate then added cream, but others boiled the cream then added chocolate to melt. My mom taught me not to boil cream for the reason you mentioned. Why would cream be boiled?

Hi Mary, great question and one I know Chef Jenni can respond to. Thanks - RG

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