Sharing chocolate secrets

EDITOR'S BLOG

Sharing chocolate secrets
Derrick Tu Tan Pho, technical consultant and director of the Barry Callebaut Canada Chocolate Academy, wowed his audience during a special workshop hosted by the Bonnie Gordon School in Toronto.

January 5, 2011 – Derrick Tu Tan Pho, technical consultant and director of the Barry Callebaut Canada Chocolate Academy, wowed his audience during a special workshop hosted by the Bonnie Gordon School in Toronto.

The demonstration showcased a new line of Cacao Barry chocolates (Saint-Domingue, Papouasie, Ghana, Tanzanie, Cuba, Venezuala, Équateur and Mexique), the flavour of each variety reflecting its terroir. Pho, a master chocolatier, went through the process of making a chocolate macaron with ganache and ‘brownie-brownie.’

Here’s just some of the tips and tricks he shared with us.

• Pho marinated the raspberries for the brownie dessert in Soho liquer, soaking them for two days until they firm up. It was a great touch.
  -He says a microwave is better than a double boiler for tempering chocolate
  -You can use a parchment paper test to check if your chocolate is tempered correctly. Simply dip a little paper in the chocolate and let it rest. If it hasn’t set in three minutes the chocolate is too warm.
• If you microwave a piece of fruit before zesting it will bring the oils out.
  -Chill your choice of liquor for four hours in freezer then pipe chocolate into the bowl of frosty booze in fine strands of any desired pattern. The chocolate will set right away and you will have a beautiful creative topper for your dessert.
• If you over whip your egg whites you can whisk them gently to help the problem, although this won’t fix it.
• He emphasized being careful and respectful of your ingredients – “why beat them” he says – learn how to use the tools on your mixer properly.
• For making ganache: when using white chocolate you often need to double the quantity because there is not a lot of cocoa butter in it. The ratio of cream to chocolate is 1:1 for dark chocolate, 1:1.5 for milk chocolate and 1:2 for white.

If you're interested in learning more about the chocolate academy, check out www.chocolate-academy.com .