Metallurgy and Chocolate

mete

mete

Joined
Jun 10, 2003
Messages
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I just made a rare watching of Alton Brown making chocolate truffles . He had an expert in food chemistry ,Shirley Corriher, on the show.She expained about heat treating ,tempering and forming different crystals in chocolate.It was beautiful ,I thought I was in a metallurgy class !!!
 
LOL..well, I have to admit, the title of the thread drug me in. I thought steel didn't develop crystalline structures?
 
Hershey's heat treats they hershey bars to be harder and brittle, while they heat treat they're Tootsie rolls to be soft and pliable!
 
Since I saw Altons show on hard candy, and the little temperature chart he used to equate the different states of heated candy, I've wondered if anyone has published a phase diagram for sugar disolved in whatever it is they use. I've seen them for salt in water, CaCl2 in water, I'm assuming some enterprising individual has made them for sugar in water, sugar in corn syrup, sugar in Pam cooking spray and whatever else a candy maker might use to disolve sugar.
 
BTW , the temperature range to get the right crystal structure is very narrow and he was using a fancy infrared thermometer !
 
mete said:
BTW , the temperature range to get the right crystal structure is very narrow and he was using a fancy infrared thermometer !
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my sister had a business making truffles and shipping them all over the country, her husband designed a computer controlled chocolate tempering device with a temperature control of a half degree

-Page
 
This was the show I was referring to in another thread when it was suggested that a cook doesn't need science to prepare a great meal. Watching this show you realize that science is there and working for the chef whether he wishes to recognize it or not, and that if he can recognize it and use it, then the food can get REALLY GOOD. All of the chemistry and very specific heat and time applications that is expalined in that show really opened my eyes as to why guys litke me to just grab stuff out of the cupboard and ad to the post until it tastes right can do a decent job at making a good meal but will never be able to invent any new world class recipes and expect to keep up with these guys. The show on fudge was a fascinating diplay of heat, phases, solubility, and crystalline structures, it looked an awful lot like a metallurgy class.
 
tootsie rolls are not chocolate! ha. and alton brown is one of my heros. his show has the greatest information. i wouldnt be surprised if he has made a knife or two in his day. and he has his own line of kitchen knives through ker shaw.
-Lou
 
TekSec said:
LOL..well, I have to admit, the title of the thread drug me in. I thought steel didn't develop crystalline structures?
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Apparently steel is crystalline in nature, and apparently has no molecular structure :confused::confused:
 
L.K.Smithy said:
tootsie rolls are not chocolate! ha. and alton brown is one of my heros. his show has the greatest information. i wouldnt be surprised if he has made a knife or two in his day. and he has his own line of kitchen knives through ker shaw.
-Lou
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OK they are a CLO (chocolate like object);).
 
Welcome to BF Jesus =) I've seen some of your cruible steel blades elsewhere and hope now that I see you here, to see more =)

Hrm, something to keep this post on topic... umm ...maybe you can add a chocolate bar to your next steel melt !
 
Maybe it will help to get in the "right frame of mind" when heat treating to eat a bunch of chocolate?
 
The best thing about chocolates is that they really help get women in the mood!

The chemistry is fascinating, but with Valentines Day coming up,… intuition and experience tell me that you might want to leave that part out,... if you want to get laid. :D LOL
 
How come solid caramelized sugar doesn't taste as sweet as granulated sugar?

I'm actually an amateur candy maker myself...
 
I got a real easy candy recipe, and it tastes great! The wife and kids will love you for it!

Take a cup of granulated sugar and heat over a medium heat in a pot or pan, until it caramelizes. Then, mix in up cup of "nuts" or seeds, or both. Stir it up real good and pour it on a ceramic plate. When it gets leather hard, turn it over and stretch it out a little. After it cools break it into pieces.

Enjoy! :)
 
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