chocolate mousse terrine desert question

[SlaveGirl]

There's a recipe in the cookbook Cocolat that I am trying, a dessert that is basically a mousse terrine, or a type of pate (how to make those accent marks?? ) in a loaf pan. A layer of coffee infused gelatin goes on the bottom, after covering the oiled pan with saran wrap. Chill, then make the chocolate mousse type stuff and place on top, chill.

For a first try, it went well. I had a devil of a time getting the saranwrap smooth on the bottom, and almost no luck getting it smooth on the sides.

So I have two questions:

Any tips for a smooth covering of the loaf pan? I'm sure this comes up in meat and vegetable terrines, but also in other dessert ones.

How to get the saran wrap off smoothly? I chilled the dessert for 4 hours. When I pulled it off lots of the mousse came off as well on the sides, leaving it jagged and not so professional looking. Should I perhaps freeze it, then remove it, then keep it in the fridge until serving, allowing it to thaw out a little first? Should I have fridged it longer than 4 hours? Any tips on releasing the "pate" would be great to have.

I want to serve this at Thanksgiving so I have plenty of time for some more practice runs, God knows I can't eat it all, SO rich! =)

Thanks,

SG

[momoreg]

Parchment paper will not wrinkle, and if you freeze the deseert, it should peel right off. Sounds yummy.

[thebighat]

I know exactly which dessert you are talking about. I like the looks of it. Try spraying the terrine with non stick spray before smoothing out the plastic wrap. And if you let it sit at room temp for a while you could probably peel the wrap right off without lifting the mousse up.

[SlaveGirl]

room temp hmmm! I would think the colder it was the more it would not stick to the saran wrap. No, huh? Next time ill try taking it out and letting it warm up before removing the wrap and see what happens. You guys are the experts! And I'll get some no stick spray to try.

I oiled the pan before putting the wrap in with veggie oil, but if I tried to smooth the walls it just made air bubbles from lifting up on the bottom. I got the bottom almost perfect, eventually, but at the cost of the walls.

I know that part just takes practice.

Parchment. The liquid gelatin won't soak into it? I figured that was part of why they said to use saran wrap. Maybe I'll sort of make one half and half as an experiment. Since the whole point is to get it presentable in a month. =)

I'll let you know how it goes.

SG

[kuan]

Forget the saran wrap. Sides, no matter what you are making always come out messy. Cheesecake, chocolate anything, etc. This is what you do. Slide a knife along the sides of the mould. Then dip the bottom in warm water to release the gelatin and turn it out. Now you have to fix it. Use your spat to smooth the sides. If you want, you can fix the sides by using chocolate shavings or nuts, or sprinkles

Kuan

[momoreg]

In answer to your question, the liquid gelatin should not absorb into the parchment. The warm water trick is good too, but if you've never done it before, it's easy to over-warm it, and then you have a runny (not very refined) look on the exterior.

[W.DeBord]

I do items like this day in and day out and always have the nice results going the simplest way possible. I just spray my pan with "pam" spray and mold dirrectly in the pan (no liners of any sort are are needed).

You can freeze this item (it says up to 2 months, asuming your making the Pate' Trompe' ?) with perfect results. After my items are frozen I use a blow torch (but a hair dry will work fine too) and heat up my inverted pan. The items pop out easily and cleanly. Since it's still frozen I wrap nicely in plastic and either re-freeze or defrost in the cooler.

Very basic and it works like a charm everytime!

[SlaveGirl]

Yep. That's the one.

Wow. So many ideas!

I'll try the pam and freeze with knife if needed. The gelatin was the easy part, so yeah, freezing It sure was sticking to the Saran Wrap. Makes me wonder if she actually ever did it that way and made it perfect. Maybe it's a plot to keep it from perfect!

I'll report back! It sure TASTES good. MMM.

SG

[SlaveGirl]

Ok! I made it and froze it. And it came out much better.
But when I dropped it out, the gelatin stayed behind a little, so it tore a small bit.

Overall though, freezing was great. I think I need to take a little slower dropping it out....maybe I could put parchment on the bottom just to cover the bottom, to help it slide out?

Good enough for me to feel ready to serve at Thanksgiving tho! Thanks everyone!

SG

[W.DeBord]

There's only two possible reasons it stuck. One, you didn't get it warm in that spot when you un-molded. Two, you didn't spray that spot well then you didn't heat it well enough.


I'm happy that it's basicly working for you.