| 1 | From: shelley rodgers (jolly rodgers:the portuguese pirate! (1:16?2)) |
| 2 | perfect chocolate curls? you need patience and the right tool. |
| 3 | Have perfect chocolate curls eluded you? with these tricks, success is assured. |
| 4 | the secrets are the tool - a standard flexible-blade vegetable peeler ~ and the technique - getting chocolate to just the right temperature. |
| 5 | White and milk chocolate curl most readily; dark chocolate can be finicky, though not too difficult to work with. |
| 6 | ~=>easy chocolate curls for a quantity of curls, warm each bar as you need it. |
| 7 | Use a regular oven if your microwave is 500 watts or less; lower-wattage microwaves can heat unevenly. |
| 8 | place chocolate, scored side down, on a sheet of cooking parchment or foil, uncovered, at full power (100%) until edges of chocolate give slightly to gentle fingertip pressure. |
| 9 | Warm for 15 seconds, check, then warm for 5 seconds at a time until chocolate tests as indicated. |
| 10 | Total time will be 15-40 seconds, depending on oven"s wattage and the kind of chocolate. |
| 11 | in a conventional oven, place chocolate on foil on oven rack in a 150°F oven until edges give slightly to gentle fingertip pressure, 1 to 1-?minutes. |
| 12 | if chocolate gets too soft, let it cool for a few minutes. |
| 13 | set chocolate on paper or foil on a counter, aligning a long sdie of bar with counter edge; let paper or foil hang over edge. |
| 14 | Stnad with your hip to the counter. |
| 15 | With 1 hand, gently hold end of chocolate bar closest to you. |
| 16 | With the other, hold peeler perpendicular to edge and rest blade on opoosite end of bar. |
| 17 | Firmly and evenly, pull peeler toward you along bar, peeling off chocolate to make a curl. |
| 18 | if chocolate strip splays out instead of curling, neaten it up with your fingers. |
| 19 | Some curls will wrap around themselves; other break off in short sections. |
| 20 | with tip of peeler, lift each curl to a flat surface tocool and firm. |
| 21 | Turn paper 180°F and repeat to make curls from poopsite long side of bar. |
| 22 | As chocoalte bar gets thin, it"s inclined to break; just pull peeler over smaller pieces. |
| 23 | if chocolate is too firm to curl smoothly, or if it firms as you work, rewarm in a microwave oven on full power (100%) for 5-10 seconds at a time, or in a conventional oven at 150°F for 30 seconds. |
| 24 | save chocolate scraps for other uses. |
| 25 | [note: i really can"t believe they *really* put that last sentence in. *scraps*? of chocolate??? get real.] if made ahead, store curls airthight up to 1 week. |
| 26 | A 3-ounce bar makes 1-?to 2-?ounces (1-?to 2 cups) of curls. |
| 27 | [ sunset magazine, sometime 1991 ] |
| 28 | ** -=>this comes from the bottom of the files of shelley rodgers <=- |
