Ratatouille

I'm not going to pretend to be a movie critic, but I do enjoy when friends recommend fantastic films. In short, Ratatouille was brilliant. It was extremely funny and entertaining. With its adorable story line and incredible animation, this 1hr 50min. film flew by. I actually bought into feeling sorry for rats that are reduced to eating garbage! If I ever encounter a skinny one, I'll think of Remy. This is a must-see, especially for food lovers, and won't disappoint.

Tagged as: [ movies ratatouille ]

Chocolate Series | How to Dip Chocolates by Hand

Once you get the hang of tempering chocolate, the world is your oyster, in terms of design and decoration. Shapes can be formed, decorations can be piped, and all sorts of confections can be dipped. In a previous post on simple ganache, truffles were rolled in cocoa powder to finish them. To finish truffles the professional way, they need to be coated with a thin layer of tempered chocolate. This protects the center, giving products a longer shelf life, and also makes them look pretty.

Equipment Needed:

• kitchen towel
• bowl of tempered chocolate
• appropriate dipping forks
• parchment paper
• a paper weight (to prevent the parchment from moving)
• desired topping(s)
  
• room temperature truffles or confections

Directions:

1. To begin, place your bowl of tempered chocolate onto a towel so it is resting at an angle, with the chocolate reaching the rim of the bowl, as shown below.

This angle makes it easier to dip, if you don't have a filled-to-the-brim bowl of chocolate.

2. Toss a truffle into the tempered chocolate and submerge with your dipping tool. For round truffles, use the circular dipping tool. Scoop up the truffle from underneath and begin to bounce up and down, using the viscosity of the tempered chocolate, to pull off the excess from truffle. It will help to just touch the surface of the chocolate on the downward motion. Click on the picture to see more detailed notes.

3. Before moving over to the parchment paper, catch a bit of the drip on the edge of the bowl that may remain underneath the truffle (this avoids dripping everywhere). Move over to the parchment, hold your hand still, and turn directly over in a quick and steady motion. The truffle should easily release from the dipping tool. If you take too long, the truffle may stick to the tool. Quickly re-dip before the chocolate sets.

4. Once you have placed the truffle on the parchment paper, be careful to not move it. Sprinkle on a topping, if desired, while the surface is still wet. This will make the topping adhere to the truffle. Alternatively, you can line a sheet with a smooth layer of your chosen topping and rest the dipped truffle directly onto the layer of topping. Let set and then remove the truffles. This is a faster method and will give you an even coating of topping on the top of your truffles.

Here I have sprinkled the surface with raw cacao nibs. To obtain a shiny surface on raw cacao nibs, place them on a tray, in a very low oven for 30 seconds at a time. You do not want to heat them or burn them. Just stir them around and take them out as soon as they have a nice, dark sheen.

5. If you discover any bubbles, you can gently poke them before the chocolate sets. Bubbles occur when the tempered chocolate is too cold/thick, or you may have incorporated too much air during the tempering process. Warm the chocolate to the proper range and continue. While dipping, remember to keep the chocolate at the proper working temperature, by occasionally placing it over the bain marie. Stir often and scrape down the sides of the bowl, to keep the temperature of the entire mass consistent throughout. Click on the picture to see more detailed notes.

6. The goal is to have a very thin and even layer of chocolate on the truffle, with a minimal "foot". A foot is the base/underside of the truffle. You don't want globs of chocolate on the bottom, as it doesn't look as refined. If you wind up with a mess, pick the chocolate up quickly and re-dip it before it sets. Click on the picture to see more detailed notes.

Happy dipping! More chocolate work to come...

Related posts:

• Chocolate Series | How To Temper Chocolate
• Where to Find Pastry and Chocolate-Making Supplies
• DontMessWithOurChocolate.com - Maintaining Chocolate Standards
• Chocolate Series | The Simplest Way to Finish the Simplest Truffles
• Chocolate Series | How to Make a Simple Ganache
• Cleaning Up Hardened Chocolate The Easy Way

Tagged as: [ chocolate howto pastry temper tips ]

Food Industry Jobs | My Interview With Chef Ian Lai of Northwest Culinary Academy of Vancouver

When I met Chef Ian Lai at NWCAV, his extraordinary passion for food and teaching was immediately evident. I had the privilege of taking time out of his very hectic schedule to talk about his experiences in the food industry, and how his journey led him down an unexpected, but incredibly rewarding path.

I remember reading an interesting commencement speech for a graduating class at Stanford University, written by Apple's CEO, Steve Jobs. If you don't have time to read the entire speech, one of his main points was:

"You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life."

As Chef Ian shares his experiences, perhaps it will help newcomers to the food industry (or any new career path) realize they don't have to have it all figured out right from the start. By doing what you love to do, things always fall into place.

How did you become involved in the food industry?

Academia was a let down for me. I worked the system and chose the courses where I could just write papers and be done with it. While attending University, I wound up working at Hy’s in Vancouver because my brother was working there. I started in the front of the house by bussing tables. The lure of the money was great. Even though I wasn’t into food at the time, in combination with the ambiance, magic, and drama of the dining room, the restaurant business was exciting.

After I had been promoted to waiter, Hy’s planned to expand to Ottawa. I was fortunate to be on the opening team and moved out east to help set up and train new staff members. In Vancouver, I trained busboys, but in Ottawa I also trained the waiters and waitresses. I was recruited to be Banquet Captain at the Ottawa Congress Centre, which was excellent experience. I was in charge of many people, but in my youth I didn’t have the management skills. I was a nice guy and I could get things done, but lacked the training to direct and supervise a larger staff, including people who were much older than me. My nickname was Baby Face; how can you be taken seriously when people call you that?

At what point did you start working in the kitchen?

I started working in the kitchen because my roommate was the Executive Sous Chef at Hy’s Ottawa. One day they needed help slicing prime rib in the lounge. I used to hang out in the kitchen all of the time; so, I put on some whites and sliced for a few hours. I went home and came back to do another shift in the evening. The kitchen gave me odd jobs. I’d make crème brulée, cheesecake, and other desserts. I helped with the general mise and found that exciting. I was able to see another aspect of running the business.

I also realized I felt better as a person being a cook than I did as a waiter. I didn’t have to have that service smile. The money wasn’t better, but I went home feeling good about myself. I was able to have my fit or tantrum and that was it. It was acceptable in the kitchen. In the front of the house, you had to follow protocol and the customer is always right. I knew it was time for me to switch to the back of the house, when I started getting bitter about not getting a 15 percent tip from every table.

After being in the industry for so many years, why did you feel the need to go to school to formalize your training?

Basically to have credentials. With any job, you have to have validity in how you manage a place or manage people. If you know somewhere down the road you are going to be looking after people, I think you should have an academic background. It makes you a better manager, teacher, and trainer. Apart from my University courses, I completed the Provincial Instructors Diploma and the Adult Education Diploma. It was such an asset to take those courses. I was in school with other teachers who wanted to become better at what they did, so we were all in the same frame of mind. Everyone learns differently and you need to know how to approach each person with an appropriate set of tools.

One of the most important things I learned was that you can’t win them all. You could say one thing or do one action that counters that person’s core values and that event will stay with them. You can try, however hard, but if they have decided you see things differently than they do, you have lost them.

At the end of every semester at NWCAV, we go over our evaluations from students and we reflect on how we approached certain events. You look at the evaluations that are on opposite ends and try to figure out what you said or did that resulted in a very high or very low numerical response. 99 percent of the group may indicate that something was wonderful, but what did I do or say that affected someone else’s values? You use that for the next semester to reassess, and you need to be aware of when, how, with whom, and what you bring to the table.

Is there anything you didn’t like about a kitchen?

Sometimes the mise list was just too big. Not with difficult things, but just too many little time consuming items. Somehow you found a way to plow through it by service time, and then you’d have an amazing service. It wasn’t about being inundated with work; it was about your line-mate or your brigade that night that made it happen for you.

Do you ever miss working in a professional kitchen environment and would you consider returning to one?

Yes, sometimes, I miss the rush, the pans, the heat, and it’s a different kind of stress. Being able to put it all together, even when the orders don’t stop, is exhilarating. Sometimes, I miss the camaraderie of a big organization with all those different cooks and characters that you meet, but then we find those characters in the students that we teach, so it’s just the same. The only drawback is that you have a professional relationship with students and you can’t really get to know them as much as you would if they were your coworkers.

I think I have done my time in high-pressure kitchens. I’d like to help out in designing and troubleshooting. I definitely like to watch a busy kitchen run now. I love watching service in action, and like to be an observer watching the next generation deal with it, and live vicariously through their actions.

You taught at Dubrulle for 4 years and have been at NWCAV since 2003. How do you enjoy teaching?

Teaching is extremely rewarding. It is so different from the industry. At the end of the day, in a kitchen, you know if you did well or not. With teaching, it is rewarding every single minute to see that you can make a difference with somebody.

Do you think the industry for younger people?

It depends on what part of the industry you get into. With new high-end restaurants, it doesn’t matter how old you are as long as you have the stamina – the mental, psychological, and physical fortitude to put up with being paid for 8 hours a day but working 12-14.

You also have to look at your shelf life. Where are you in your life? Not age wise, but are you still single, are you married, and do you have kids? How much longer do you want to work? Every Olympic athlete has "x" amount of time. They look ahead at when they are going to peak and say, "This is where I want to be in this amount of time and I’ll do whatever it takes to get me there". That’s what they do. With high-end restaurants, it’s pretty much the same thing. Remember, too, that not everyone fits that Olympic stature, so that’s how people have to see it. Not everyone has to be a famous Chef either. You need to decide which level of competition best fits your needs and your time frame.

Are Chefs or cooks able to be involved in the food industry and still maintain somewhat of a decent lifestyle?

Absolutely. You can be a line worker and be respected 100 percent. You will probably work at a smaller restaurant or hotel where you will put in your 8 hours, go home, and leave the rest to the next shift. That is fine and I respect you 100 percent. You probably have a family, a mortgage, you’re probably settled in quite well, and are a creature of habit. A lot of people want that. TV creates that stir about being a famous Iron Chef or in Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen, but that is such a small percent of the industry. Does being a celebrity mean you have a better lifestyle? I’d say probably not. So, again, it is about finding balance within your own self and where you feel most comfortable. There are lots jobs in the hospitality industry that allow you to still have a family or personal life. I believe there is a place for everyone at the table, but you have to be honest with yourself. Success is what you feel you have accomplished in your lifetime. Success is something that you can be proud of and is not the image others have of success.

I think at NWCAV we are aiming to help students learn about themselves more, rather than saying you all have to be successful Chefs. By learning about yourself, you will find your own route. We are switching the teaching and the direction away from an institutional training apprentice-style school to a school of life skills, personal achievements, and acknowledgments.

I know for me, a students’ success isn’t based upon their academic performance or their pizzazz during final practicum. Their success for me, as a person, is to realize what they are capable of and who they are. This is an important step in their personal development. I know most of the students are probably not going to be famous Chefs, but if they get a good start and realize these are the skills that I have learned, these are the coping skills and tools I have learned, and this is who I am, then they’ll be more successful at anything they do. Cooking is secondary, really. Be honest. Be honest with who you are, and if you come honest to the table, I know where and how to direct you, in order for you to achieve your goals at my table.

People are surprised when they hear that new kitchen staff are sometimes paid $8.50/hour, even in high-end restaurants. Why is the pay so low?

I think this type of job is front-end loaded. You pay all of your heavy dues at the beginning. As you progress, the investment pays back. It is a front-end loaded industry with low pay and lots of work. If you are in places like that, but have a good mentor, it is worth it. You will eventually collect the right ticket to move on to better jobs, which have better pay.

How many years does it take to move up, or is it more individual based?

It is about the person and the drive. Corporately, you can make 6-digits once you get into a big property. One of the Chefs I know is being transferred to San Francisco and will be making $120,000.00+; another is in Vegas making $240,000.00. In the beginning, the more elite the place is, the more unpaid hours that you are going to be there. As a cook, you know that if you stay there and put up with the pressures, that this current job will allow you to get into the next. At some point, you will have put up with so much that you actually make it to the top. You’re then in middle management. There will be a different kind of pressure to deal with because you then have to deal with upper management. When you go from line worker to middle man, you get it from both sides.

Does attaining a Red Seal get you further in the food industry?

Some people obtain their cooking diploma, apprenticeship, and then gain their Red Seal. I think it opens a lot of doors for you in management. It sure gives you credibility. Most management levels actually require you to have it.

Do all managers in the industry have to have formal management training?

No, but I think they should always have an education at least one level higher than the staff. Most managers are there because of tenure, or someone has quit and they are already there. Many managers in the industry can cook very well, but they lack the management skills and the social interaction that is involved with the softer side of the business. They are often of the opinion that it is "my way or the highway", or they become dictators, burn up, lose face, and then move on to a different restaurant. The thing people forget is that your reputation follows you, because the industry is very small. People know people and they talk. You can go to as much training as you want, but if you never engage yourself in situations, you’ll never understand them. Without the tools, you’re either hitting walls all of the time, or you may be lucky and be able to pull it out of the bag sometimes. Most managers have to work at being managers. They have to assess what they did that day, how they could be better, what could be different, and how they could have brought their team a lot further with the skill sets they have.

When Chefs take on newcomers in the industry, what should they try to keep in mind to help those new individuals thrive?

I think that managers, not only Chefs, have to remember where they came from and the route that got them there. They have to remember what made them successful, who made them successful, and what about that person made them successful, and follow in that suit. They were in shoes of a newcomer once. So for managers and Chefs, just remember how you got there, and don’t try to make it as difficult. We all strive to be what our parents were not. That applies in the kitchen as well. Strive to be not what your Chef who treated you was. No matter how much we may not want to be like our parents, Chefs too have these same patterns, and we can wind up with some of the same traits. We can have the traits but we can have different values.

What things should a cook who is entering the industry be conscious of?

Think about management. As cooks starting out, they are always thinking of moving ahead in line positions, but rarely think about what happens when they become management. How would they have dealt with that situation? As a line cook, the more times you think abut how a situation could be dealt with when it arises, you will have already done the mental mathematics. Every situation has a different set of tools to use. Going to management courses and using those skills that you learn are very important in a career. I enjoyed going into work with newly learned managerial skills and trying those new techniques with people. It’s amazing when you actually step back and see that people respond positively to what you are doing. You see the light of day, and it sets the bar differently.

Learn about your ingredients. The more you know, the better you are at incorporating new things into your repertoire.

Travel to see the world from a different perspective. This helps you understand the cultural aspect of the food you cook.

Read voraciously, and don’t just read cookbooks. Everything is interconnected – history, politics, religion, philosophy, and geography. Food has a wider base than simply the ingredients.

Inquire. Learn from others that are willing to share.

Reflect. Always think about what just happened and how it gives meaning to your personal story. Share in your accomplishments and challenges. You will realize that others have gone, or are going, through the same thing, and you will build supportive networks.

Acknowledge the people around you that make it happen for you.

Frolic. Take time out to decompress and live.

---

Thank you, Chef Ian, for all of the wonderful advice!

Stay tuned for a follow-up post on his latest project and how he's connecting the dots.

Tagged as: [ career culinary industry interview jobs nwcav ]

Food Industry Jobs | My Interview With Chef Kalimar

I met Kalimar while working at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington, DC. He has a very friendly persona and loves to chat. That combination made it very easy to get to know him. We had independently visited the same culinary school to inquire about their courses. When Kalimar shared with me his plans to leave the IMF and go full-time into culinary school, I couldn’t believe we were both thinking of the same thing. I found his leap to be very inspiring. Although I took baby steps and started off by enrolling in part-time culinary and pastry classes, Kalimar just went for it.

We formed a dinner club with 3 couples and had a fabulous time together. Each of us took turns and cooked something different every time, which ended up being quite elaborate. The last dinner club Kalimar hosted with his wife, Gretchen, was just before Marcelo and I moved to Vancouver. The 9-course tapas meal was phenomenal and his developed kitchen skills were evident. One of the things that most impressed us about the evening was Kalimar served all of these wonderful dishes, and still had time to sit down with us during each course. He didn't disappear for long and wasn't stuck in the kitchen all night, which was what most of us wound up doing. Here is a list of what he made:
 

 

Born in Brasil, Kalimar moved with his parents to the D.C. Metro area when he was one. Over the next 31 years, his family went back and forth between the U.S. and Brasil, detouring to other parts of the world. He and his wife recently took another leap and decided to make beautiful Florianópolis their home. Who knows, Marcelo and I just may decide to join them there one day

Being that his parents worked for the Brasilian Embassy, Kalimar had the advantage of traveling to many different countries and experienced European, Asian, and other South American cultures. I wanted to interview Kalimar because he is ambitious and open to trying anything new, plus it will be interesting to follow his journey in the food industry while he is in Brasil. Here he shares his experiences from culinary school, the jobs that he has taken on so far, and the things he has learned about the industry.

What job(s) did you have prior to entering the food industry?

I have always enjoyed physical fitness. I was an instructor teaching children’s martial arts and tai chi for seniors, and have managed a fitness center. Aside from working on my Master’s Degree in Mathematical Modeling of Biological Systems and being a professional student, I was a college laboratory instructor. I wound up working at the IMF because the benefits were advantageous at the time.

I decided to go into cooking because it was something that I felt more passionate about. Cooking is the combination of art and science, and I enjoy both. In the kitchen, I get to work with all of my senses, at any given time. I get to smell, listen, look, and touch things. I also get a big kick out of the lack of political correctness that occurs in the kitchen. People can be pretty funny.

Which culinary school did you attend?

I attended the professional culinary program at L'Academie de Cuisine in Maryland. The program consisted of six months of intensive learning in the kitchen, followed by a six-month paid stage. During the six-month stage, we attended weekly presentations, hosted by some of the area's best chefs. I worked at Taberna del Alabardero in D.C. for six months and it was fantastic. The school recommended I work there and I felt the match was perfect. The Chef and I are good friends to this day. For my 30th birthday, he and I jumped out of a perfectly good airplane.

What criteria did you look for when researching schools?

I didn't want to go to college again, so I tried to find a school that focused solely on cooking. I was also looking for a school with solid connections to the food industry. L'Academie matched my demands perfectly. We were in the kitchen every day, learning at least three new recipes and the fundamental techniques behind them. The program emphasized preparation for a high-end kitchen. We focused on developing the palate, techniques, speed, and proper conduct. I really enjoyed the program.

What surprised you most about culinary school?

Culinary school was very physically challenging.

How well did the program prepare you for the industry?

The program prepared me very well for an entry-level position in any gourmet kitchen. It also made it possible to move through the hierarchy very quickly. I would say that culinary school is the equivalent of a military program in college. It opens doors for people just entering the business.

What were your expectations upon graduation?

I expected to attend culinary school, work in kitchens for about five years, and then open a restaurant. However, the culinary school I attended made it very much a point to explain where we would be upon graduating from the program. It was made clear to us that culinary school wouldn't give us any special credit in the kitchen. Basically, if you've never worked in the industry, the culinary program gets your foot in the door of a fine dining restaurant. By going through a stage and graduating from culinary school, it gives a newbie an opportunity. Of course, this doesn't mean the restaurant will worship you. I think this a mistake many culinary graduates make. In reality, most restaurants will give you a chance, but their expectations might even be higher. Once you are given the chance, your best bet is to show humility, bust your ass, and smile.

What jobs have you taken on in the industry so far?

I worked on the line at Taberna del Alabardero, primarily with fish.

I then worked for a very large catering company as a contract Chef. This consisted of showing up for the events and finishing and plating dishes for parties ranging from 15 people to 700 people. This was great experience to learn how to work under any condition, as fast and as efficiently as possible. It's hard to get rattled once you've worked a few of these events.

I also started my own personal Chef/catering business. This was an interesting experience but not really my cup of tea. I would rather work with more people and concentrate on what I'm good at. Working alone requires the business owner to put on many different hats.

I finally worked with a large food distribution company as a sales rep. This was interesting because it allowed me to see what happens in many kitchens. I also learned a lot about restaurant management, food costing, menu balancing, inventory, etc. It allowed me to see the restaurant from many different points of view.

What were some of the challenges you faced when working in kitchens?

I'd say one of the biggest challenges was breaking into the clicks in the kitchens. Many kitchens in the D.C. area employ a great number of Latin Americans. Although I'm Latino, being from Brasil, most Latinos think I'm American. It's very hard to connect with people who think you want to take their job. When these people finally saw you didn't have such intentions, they opened up and were a joy to work with.

Has your perception of the industry changed, compared to what you thought before entering school and entering the work force after?

The big thing I learned in the kitchen is how many challenges a restaurant owner faces. There are so many variables coming at you, so quickly, that managing to simply keep a restaurant in business is amazing. Now that I am aware of the challenges, I am now more reluctant to open my own restaurant. It would have to depend on the circumstances. My partner would have to share the load. I would want to work behind the scenes of the restaurant with marketing, menu planning, staff training, manual development, franchising, etc. We would have to have a very solid business plan before jumping into it.

What do you like about working in a kitchen?

When you work in the kitchen, generally speaking, you are given your position because you deserve it. If you don't produce results, you don't work in a kitchen for very long. Your boss is there for a reason. He or she can probably cook you under the table. I’m fortunate that I have always been treated very well in the kitchen.

What do you dislike about working in a kitchen?

The kitchen is blue-collar work and, as such, it is very under appreciated. Although star chefs probably make lots of money, most kitchen staff don't. To compare, an office assistant who can barely work a photocopier, will usually make more than an average line cook.

Have you witnessed anything that you think needs to change in the industry?

Restaurant employees deserve better benefits and work hours. The food industry is at least twenty years behind in employee relations, purchasing, etc. I think the only exception to this is in the large hotel restaurants.

What advice would you give to students going into culinary school?

Work in and/or visit as many kitchens as possible. Cooking at home has nothing to do with working in a kitchen. The kitchen is about speed, efficiency, endurance, and consistency.

Research! Go and work in restaurants - even for free. Go and ask to be a prep cook somewhere and chop onions all day. If nothing else, ask to stand in a corner (not sit) and observe folks at work. You should definitely get used to standing and the heat.

I think I did my share of research. What I didn't take into account enough was the long-term exhaustion. After a year of working like that, my knees were hurting a lot. Many chefs I know look about 10 years older than they are. The late hours, combined with the intense environment, takes its toll on people.

What are your next steps in the industry?

I enjoy teaching kitchen fundamentals and have applied to teach culinary arts here in Brasil. I want to also consult and promote the culinary arts here in Florianópolis. I would like to work occasionally in the kitchen for special events.

What things have you learned that you would pass on to others?

Develop a palate by tasting as much good food as possible. Learn to season your food properly. Develop knife skills. Never assume you know more than someone else. Although working in the kitchen is about speed, efficiency, etc, you can still learn a lot from Grandma.

Which culinarians have inspired you?

Different people have inspired me for different reasons. Jamie Oliver is my favorite celebrity Chef. He is down-to-earth and prepares tasty food. Alton Brown demystifies the art of cooking. Rachel Ray - you either love her or hate her. I don’t think her cookbooks are well written, but she has some great food ideas. There is nothing like being able to throw together a meal in 30 minutes. The cuisine of Spain inspires me. It just makes me want to cook because it is so delicious and beautiful.

Which culinary books would you recommend?

The Joy of Cooking

Alton Brown, I'm just here for the Food

Culinary Artistry

The Cookery Repertory (Le Repertoire De La Cuisine) – for historic value.

Rachel Ray – 365 Every Day Recipes Just be careful preparing her recipes. If you try to follow them to the letter, they probably won't work. Most of her dishes require gigantic sauté pans and very powerful burners. You'll have to adapt. I like it for the flavor combinations.

 

 

Stay tuned for a few of Kalimar's favorite recipes.

Tagged as: [ career culinary industry interview jobs school ]

Chocolate Series | How to Temper Chocolate

I previously posted on how to make chocolate truffles from simple ganache and the easiest way to coat them. The professional way of finishing a truffle is to cover it with a thin layer of couverture chocolate. Aside from it looking prettier, there are many reasons for wanting to do this. To successfully coat items with a thin layer of chocolate, one must know how to temper it. Tempering is the process of heating, cooling, and re-heating chocolate to achieve a desired state, which allow us to be able to work with it properly.

Why do we Temper Couverture Chocolate?

The goal is to take manufacturer’s blocks or chips of quality couverture chocolate and turn them into your own personalized delicacies. By using tempered chocolate, it allows you to coat candies or pastries, make molded and filled chocolates, or create any imaginable shape, showpiece, or decoration. Chocolate’s structure is quite complex, and if you simply melt it and allow it to harden, you will not wind up with a glossy end product. By going through the tempering process, the finished result will be aromatic, aesthetically pleasing, hard, and although it will have a good snap when you break it or bite into it, it will luxuriously melt in your mouth. Proper tempering encourages chocolate to shrink as it sets, so molded chocolates will release easily from their slots. Tempered chocolate also helps to extend the shelf life of products.

Improperly tempered chocolate results in many disasters. Chocolates can become stuck in molds because it cannot contract. It can turn streaky gray, develop fat bloom quickly, be gritty, or melt quickly when you handle it. It is a headache and waste to spend all that time creating a tasty center and not get the finished product out of its mold. For all of these reasons, it is important to know how to temper.

Chocolate's unique structure has six different fat crystals. Two of those are stable and are responsible for producing glossy, hard chocolate. The remaining four crystals are unstable. If chocolate is not tempered properly, those four crystals dominate the entire mass and make it impossible to work with.

I have been avoiding this post for a while because I knew it would difficult and lengthy to explain, which you will understand if you make it to the end of this post. No matter what you read, there is no magic formula that will make it work for you every time. I will try my best to explain the process, but nobody would expect someone to pull off perfectly tempered chocolate on the very first try. It is not solely about having temperature guidelines and away you go. A big part of tempering chocolate has to do with the environment of the kitchen you are in, and since that easily fluctuates, you just have to practice going through the tempering curves to know what to look for during each stage.

There are three steps to tempering chocolate: melting, cooling, and reheating. It seems easy, right? Chocolate, however, is very temperamental and you can either love or hate working with it. Some days, I hate it. It’s funny how I was never really stressed out years ago while working with chocolate…this is because I wasn’t aware of all the reasons one should temper!

When I look back, I can thankfully say that my chocolate eating and my chocolate making skills have evolved. Years ago, when I ran a small chocolate-making business out of my home, I will admit, I didn’t really know what I was doing, in terms of “technical” chocolate making. I picked up books, gathered recipes, tweaked them, and away I went. I didn’t push myself to develop a more advanced line of chocolates, because I was happy with the end results. I’m not tooting my own horn, but I think one of the reasons I didn’t bother to research more technical ways of doing things was because I always got excellent feedback from my customers. My chocolates tasted great, looked pretty, and were beautifully packaged. I think a lot of it had to do with the care I put into it. All the truffles I made were based on simple ganaches, which were rolled in different toppings. They did not have a protective layer of couverture chocolate around them.

When I think back to those chocolate making days, I giggle. I never really understood why my chocolates came out glossy, and at other times they had a matte finish. I didn’t investigate the reason why - all I knew was that they tasted yummy. Knowing what I know now (and there is so much more to learn), I get a kick out of looking back and understanding why things worked and why they didn’t. When I broke up large sheets of nut bark, sometimes they would have a clean, hard, snap, and sometimes they didn’t.

The importance of tempering obviously wasn’t something that I was aware of back then. Even though I took an amateur chocolate course at the Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, I was a bit lost in translation. I had a semi-decent translator for the most part, because I was the only English-speaking person there. I remember the Chef demonstrating the temperature curve of the tempering process, but the focus in that course was more on putting the pieces we built together. If I would have caught on a bit more, it might have made my life a little easier when I was back in my own kitchen, twisting and slamming flexible plastic molds to get the morsels of chocolate out of them. I drove my brother crazy during those years with all of the noise of banging molds.

 

Recently, I made a bunch of chocolates to give to our family. I put the task off until crunch time, because I wanted the centers to be as fresh as possible. Unfortunately, the days that I was forced to make them turned out to be the hottest days so far this year in Vancouver. I couldn't get good air circulation through my kitchen to keep things cool, so, in turn, it was a chore to keep my own cool! Frustratingly, I managed to temper the chocolate, although, I had to go through the motions a few times. I had lost the tempering range because my kitchen was so hot. It made me think of the pastry chefs out there who encounter the challenge of dealing with the heat from culinary kitchens, baking ovens, and steam. Quite often pastry chefs have little space in which to work and need to be able to adapt to the environment. When the ideal room temperature for working with chocolate is between 68-72ºF (20-22ºC), and my kitchen was hovering around 84ºF (29ºC), things got tricky.

In the end, I managed to make the chocolates, but it wasn’t the least stressful round ever. To not drive myself completely crazy, I wound up scaling back from 10 flavors to 5. My end products were acceptable, and although I could tell it wasn’t my best work, nobody else noticed because, once again, they tasted delicious. Marcelo actually thought the "bloom" on a few was an intentionally cool design…what they continue to not know won’t hurt them; right? Lesson learned: if you don’t have a cool kitchen or air-conditioning, and especially if you are a novice at tempering, don’t bother trying this on a hot day.

Methods for Tempering Chocolate

Assuming your kitchen is dry and cool, you are calm and relaxed, your biceps are rearing to go, and perhaps you have a nice glass of red wine tucked off to the side, you can begin…

There are many ways to temper chocolate, however, the three most common and basic methods are: 1) using a marble; 2) seeding; or, 3) using a cold-water bath. Each method has their pros and cons. On a marble, extra beneficial conching (agitating the chocolate) is performed, but this method can be messy, as you are required to pour a portion of melted chocolate on to a marble and work it around using tools, such as offset spatulas, to cool it down. If you aren't coordinated, the chocolate could wind up all over the place.

If you are using large amounts of chocolate, the seeding method is useful. Here, bits of chocolate are slowly added to the melted chocolate to bring the temperature down. However, you can wind up with lumps in the chocolate if you don’t know when to stop adding. What is funny is that in those old chocolate-making days, I unintentionally used the seeding method of tempering without knowing it. It worked beautifully!

I think the easiest method for home use is the cold-water bath method. It is the fastest, but it involves working with chocolate's number one enemy - water. The utmost of care must be taken with this procedure, as just one tiny droplet of water or steam will cause your entire bowl of chocolate to seize and render it completely useless. So, be careful, and most of all, be patient. This task can be very trying!

Equipment Required:

• Bain marie
• Medium-sized stainless-steel bowl
• Cold-water bath that your medium-sized bowl fits into
• Two clean, dry towels
• Large spatula

Step 1. Melting the Chocolate

To successfully temper chocolate, you must start off with a healthy amount, a minimum of 2 to 3 pounds. The more chocolate you use, the greater control you will have over fluctuating temperatures. Place the bowl of evenly chopped chocolate (or the manufacturer’s chips) over a bain marie that has barely simmering water. Make sure to adjust the water level so that the bowl does not touch the water underneath, and keep an eye on it to replenish so it doesn’t completely evaporate. Evenly chopped chocolate will melt evenly over a shorter period of time. Stir often. Low temperatures must be used when melting and reheating chocolate, as all types of chocolate scorch easily; milk and white chocolate have a higher milk solid content than dark, and will scorch at lower temperatures. Stir often, as chocolate loves to be stirred.

With practice, you will recognize the chocolate’s appearance to determine what stage it is at. Each of the 6 fat crystals melt at different temperatures, so you need to heat it well enough to ensure everything is broken down. To avoid scorching, do not exceed these temperatures.

Dark chocolate: Melt to 115-120ºF (46-49ºC)

Milk or white chocolate: Melt to 110-115ºF (43-46ºC)

Step 2. Cooling Chocolate and Promoting Crystallization

Be careful when you take the bowl of chocolate off of the bain marie, as there will be water droplets attached to the bottom of the bowl. I always set the bowl on a towel and wipe it dry. Carefully place it into the cold-water bath and continually stir, scraping down the sides and the bottom of the bowl. You will need to keep moving the bowl in and out of the cold-water bath to slowly and evenly bring down the temperature. Again, wipe any water away from the exterior of the bowl. If you don’t scrape the sides of the bowl, hard chunks of chocolate will form and it will be harder to work with and melt out evenly during the next phase. Keep stirring, be patient, and keep your hands dry. You should see the chocolate getting thicker.

Dark chocolate: Cool to 80-82ºF (26-28ºC)

Milk or white chocolate: Cool to 78-80ºF (25-26ºC)

Step 3. Reheating to the Working Range

Moving on and off the bain maire, while constantly stirring and being careful of water droplets, gently increase the heat of the chocolate as follows.

Dark chocolate: 87-90ºF (30-32ºC)

Milk chocolate: 86ºF (30ºC)

White chocolate: 82ºF (28ºC)

At this point, you will need to test the chocolate to see if you have successfully tempered it. There are many ways to do this. You can dip an offset spatula into the chocolate and set it aside. You can use a small piece of parchment, or a metal pastry tip , and dip either in the chocolate and set aside, or you can simply drizzle some onto a granite counter top or marble. The chocolate should firm up and be glossy within a minute or two. If it sets really fast, your chocolate may be a bit too cold. No worries there. Momentarily put it back on the bain marie and stir…but be careful. You don’t want to exceed the temperatures mentioned above and fall out of the temper range. If the chocolate doesn’t set at all, you haven’t been successful in going through the stages, and will have to start all over again – yes, all over again. The chocolate will have to be brought back to the melting temperature, cooled down, and reheated. That is the only way to properly form the crystal structure, and this is where frustration can set in.

These temperatures are guidelines, and your environment plays a huge roll in the success of tempering. It is best to not get accustomed to using a thermometer, as they are not always accurate and different brands of chocolate have different tempering ranges. By continuing to go through the process, you will start to recognize what the chocolate should look like, how it feels when you are stirring it, and the viscosity of how it drapes over what you are covering. It all takes time, practice, and most of all, patience. Did I mention patience?

Dipping Chocolates and Ganache

The viscosity of tempered chocolate is crucial when coating chocolates. If the chocolate is too cold, it will not drape and conform to the shape of whatever you are trying to cover. You will wind up with a thick and goopy mess. As you are dipping items, you will have to shift from dipping to placing your bowl of tempered chocolate on and off the bain marie, to keep it at a consistent working temperature. Once you have reached that tempered stage, you also have to work to keep it there!

Keep in mind, if you are dipping ganache that has a high butter content, or if you are dipping a butter cream center, and your chocolate is too hot, part of the center will melt, ruining both the shape of the candy and the supply of tempered chocolate.

Dipping cold items can also throw tempered chocolate out of whack and the coating can cool too quickly, creating a fat bloom on your chocolate. The drastic change in temperature can alter the finished appearance. When starting out, try to dip items that are at room temperature.

Fat Bloom Versus Sugar Bloom

There are two kinds of bloom: fat and sugar, both of which are unappealing. Fat bloom creates unattractive gray streaks on the surface of chocolate. This can be caused by improperly heating and cooling chocolate during processing, or the chocolate has been stored at too warm a temperature. The emulsion breaks down and the fat begins to melt and separate from the mixture. Think of a chocolate bar that has been left in a hot car. When it solidifies, it most likely will have streaks of gray on it, and the chocolate will not snap because it is out of temper. While fat bloom doesn't affect the taste of chocolate, it doesn’t look as pretty. Here are some truffle shells that have developed fat bloom while in storage. You can still use them because they will eventually be covered with couverture anyway.

 

 

Sugar bloom occurs when the chocolate has been exposed to too much moisture in storage. This is one of the reasons you should not store chocolate in the refrigerator. Sugar bloom can appear like fat bloom but the chocolate can feel gritty. You can still use sugar-bloomed chocolate in recipes, but it is much harder to temper for couverture use.

Some chocolate info:

• If a droplet of water splashes into your bowl do not stir it. You can try to save the bowl of chocolate by scooping out a large area around the water droplet to try and salvage what remains.
• Don't keep the chocolate on the cold-water bath for long periods of time. Put it on and take it off to bring the temperature down slowly.
  
• When stirring chocolate, avoid incorporating excess air into the mass, which makes the chocolate thick and unmanageable.
• When working with all types of chocolate, the ideal room temperature is between 68-72ºF (20-22ºC) with low humidity.
• Never heat over 49ºC (120ºF) since it may cause the cocoa butter to break down and make proper tempering extremely difficult.
• A serrated knife works well to chop chocolate blocks into small, even pieces.
• Every type and variety of chocolate tempers slightly differently. High quality chocolate will display the recommended temperature curve on its packaging.
• High quality chocolate uses quality cocoa beans and quality processing techniques. The longer chocolate is conched (stirred and agitated), the more luxurious and expensive it is.
• What does 60/40 mean? Manufacturers of high quality chocolate will display the grade on the package. 60/40 means that there is 60 percent cocoa solids and 40 percent sugar in the mixture. If the mixture contains less than 60 percent cocoa components, the couverture is considered semisweet. If it is higher, it will be classified as extra bitter (i.e., 70/30). Milk chocolate has approximately 36 percent cocoa solids.
• The total fat content affects the viscosity of the couverture. For chocolate to be classified as couverture, it must have a minimum of 31 percent cocoa butter. The higher the total fat content, the greater the viscosity. Protect the chocolate that you love by supporting the current standard. 
• Dark chocolate contains cocoa butter, cocoa mass, and sugar. Milk chocolate contains cocoa butter, cocoa mass, milk solids, and sugar.
• White chocolate is really not “chocolate”. It contains cocoa butter, milk solids, emulsifiers, sugar, and vanilla. There are no cocoa solids in white chocolate.

Want more blog entries?

Here are a few relevant posts on chocolate:

• Where to Find Pastry and Chocolate-Making Supplies
• DontMessWithOurChocolate.com - Maintaining Chocolate Standards
• Chocolate Series | The Simplest Way to Finish the Simplest Truffles
• Chocolate Series | How to Make a Simple Ganache
• Cleaning Up Hardened Chocolate The Easy Way

Enjoy and feel free to comment and share your experiences, add more tips, and info to this list!

Tagged as: [ chocolate howto pastry temper tips ]

Bizcochuelo de Tia Teresa | Uruguayan Sweet and Savory Cake

If you like ham and cheese, Uruguay may be the place for you. Both find their way into sandwiches, eggs, pastas, and on top of pizzas, hamburgers, and salads. For almost any dish you can think of, Uruguayans will have a ham and cheese version. This one takes the cake though. Literally!


Our Aunt (Tia) Teresa is a Master in the kitchen. I was amazed at the number of delicious things she would prepare from scratch for every meal. She made this cake for Marcelo's parents during their recent visit to Uruguay. Uruguayans often make it for celebrations and birthdays, and Marcelo's mom treated us to it this past weekend. The combination sounds a little strange, but it is surprisingly tasty. This fluffy cake is filled with cubed ham, Gouda cheese, and whip cream, and is then topped with more whip cream and caramelized sugar. It's sweet, savory, and downright interesting. If you are a ham and cheese fan, you should to try this out.

Ingredients:

1.5 cups granulated sugar (for caramel) 200 g. all-purpose flour 1 tsp. baking powder 6 large eggs, room temperature 200 g. granulated sugar 1 cup small-diced cooked ham 1 cup small-diced Gouda cheese 500 ml. whipping cream salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.

2. Using 1.5 cups of sugar, prepare the caramel by following these instructions on how to make dry caramel. Pour the caramel onto parchment or a silpat, which is resting atop marble or granite to cool and harden.

3. Lightly butter a 9" x 13" pan (or spray with cooking spray). Set aside.

4. Sift the flour and baking powder together. Set aside.

5. Place the eggs in the bowl of a KitchenAid Stand Mixer. Using the wire whisk, start to whisk the eggs on slow (+) speed. Once a bit foamy, increase the speed to medium and gradually add the sugar. Increase the speed to high and continue to whisk the mixture until it turns light in color and very fluffy, approximately 10 minutes.

6. Using a rubber spatula, quickly but gently fold in the flour and baking powder. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and immediately place into the oven. Bake for approximately 35 minutes until golden brown or when a wooden skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool completely on a cooling rack.

7. Dice the ham and Gouda cheese.

8. Remove the cake from the pan and slice evenly into two layers.

9. Whip the cream and divide in half. Fold the ham and cheese into half of the whip cream and spread evenly onto the bottom layer of cake. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Stack the second layer of cake and top with the remaining whip cream.

10. Break up the harden caramel into small pieces and sprinkle on top.

11. Cut into approximately 1.5-2" square pieces and serve.

Yield: Approximately 40 pieces.

Tagged as: [ culinary pastry recipes uruguay ]