I hope your TGIF began on a sweet note, because mine did!
I woke up pretty late this morning after a good night's sleep, and began shooting my beautiful chocolate bon bon I've done yesterday during class. However, before I get down to showing you my end product, let me just run through what Chef Marc did during his demo class yesterday!
Chef Marc demonstrated in total, 6 different dark chocolate bonbon; Rochers, Mendiants, Muscadine, Orangettes, Tuiles au chocolat and Grinottines.
Out of the six recipes, we get to do the first four. =)
Working with chocolate is not an easy feat, but it is not all that difficult either.
It is just all about the right temperature, and using the right techniques for each stage.
For the chocolatier, they will normally be working with chocolate in a controlled environment with the right temperature and humidity level as chocolate tends to set between 21℃. For the chocolate, it is important to know the right temperature to unlock the full potential of that particular chocolate.
For instance, temperature between dark, milk and chocolate for melting is different, ranging from 45-55℃, the temperature required during the tabling stage is also different (27 - 29℃), as well as the the temperature required before use (30 - 32℃) - all these also depends on the type of supplier you source for your chocolate.
My school uses Cocao Barry's chocolate, by the way! Remember that each chocolate brand is different, if you uses lower grade of chocolate, your chocolate bon bon will not taste as good as compared to a better grade chocolate!
Here, we have the Tuiles au Chocolat a.k.a chocolate biscuit, which is a really thin 2-3mm chocolate chip with chopped almonds. I did a raspberry tuiles before, which is used as decoration for a plated dessert, and this chocolate tuiles can also be used in the same way.
The Muscadine is a type of chocolate ganache with cointreau and cocoa butter, piped to allow it to set, and then cut into 6cm pieces of chocolate sticks, dipped in tempered chocolate and coated with icing sugar. It is one of my favourites, more on that below!
The Mendiants is a mixed dried fruits & nuts chocolate bon bon, piped and spread in a round flexible mold, decorated with walnuts, orange peel, almonds, pistachio and hazelnuts. It's a beautiful piece of work, and it's a little unfair that Chef Marc gets to use almond pralines, which is pink in colour, adding a nice flair of colour to the bon bon!
Next, we have the Rochers, a.k.a Rocks, which is something similar to Ferrero Rocher's. Another one of my favourites, consisting of dark chocolate, almond praline and feuilletine for added crunch, it's mixed together and molded into balls, before being coated in tempered chocolate with chopped almonds.
The Grignottines is a beautiful bon bon with almond sticks and blonde raisins, it's something just like the Rochers, but slightly more crunchier and does not have a smooth inner texture like Rocher's. You'll see more, later in my post. =)
Last but not least, we have the Orangettes a.k.a candied orange covered in dark chocolate. Basically, you just dip the orange sticks into the tempered chocolate and place them on transfer sheets with beautiful prints. After it sets, you get the cocoa butter transfer prints onto the chocolate, which some chocolate houses printed their own logo instead, for marketing purposes!
Alright, I know what you guys' been waiting for!
Without much further ado, I present to you, my variety of chocolate bon bon!
Never, has there been a prouder moment in my practicals so far with chocolate.
The practical yesterday couldn't have been a beautiful, sweet success if I didn't have great teamwork with Mew. It was our 19th practical so far, and we've been working along really well together, but because chocolate is a much dreaded ingredient to work with, tight teamwork was even needed so that things get done fast before the chocolate starts to set.
This particular practical is a little tricky, we have to first each do 2 separate recipes (Muscadine and Rochers), before tempering our own 500g of chocolate to do the remaining other two recipes.
Mew did the Muscadine and I did the Rocher.
The Muscadine, which I've mentioned earlier, is a chocolate ganache which is piped and allowed to set, chopped into sticks of 6cm, before dipping it into tempered chocolate and coated with icing sugar. See the fork's mark? It is an indication of the smooth, delicious texture, which is exactly how it should be; melt in your mouth type of texture.
Chef Marc said that if it doesn't have your teeth mark, it is not a good ganache. I wanted to spare you guys with that image of my teeth mark, so I used the fork instead. =D
It takes time to get the ganache to the right piping consistency, so while we were waiting for the ganache to cool down in a big bowl, Mew was helping me out on weighing the rochers at 20g/ball while I roll them into balls.
The Rochers are extremely delicious. The inside of the rochers is smooth and crunchy, all thanks to the added feuilletine. The recipe is easy, but to get the mixture to the right consistency for rolling, is not. Once the mixture is done, we need to let chill for 1-2 minutes, before reaching the consistency which is not liquid, but not too thick till it is already setting on the sides - just have to see that it is well combined together to form a ball. Roll it again a second time after chilling it for another 1 minute.
After which, we dipped it into the tempered chocolate with chopped almonds, roll it around and allow the excess to drip before placing it on a chiller tray wrapped with cling wrap.
Next, we did the Orangettes, which is the candied orange sticks dipped in the very same tempered chocolate (We had 500g per student to temper) and placed on transfer sheets with prints made with cocao butter.
Beautiful, isn't it? It's important to remove excess chocolate so that the chocolate doesn't form a pool on the transfer sheet, resulting in a bigger chocolate piece surface, otherwise it's not nice, obviously. I'm not sure if you can see the shine on the chocolate, that is what I always anxiously look out for after each chocolate related practical; to see the shine is already an affirmation that the chocolate was tempered well. =)
Last but not least, we have the Mendiants, the mixed dried fruit and nuts chocolate bon bon!
Chef Guillaume was pretty amazed and impressed with my chocolate presentation thus far. He actually had nothing to say, except that it's beautiful, everything was nicely done! When he was examining the bottom of these mendiants (Which was shiny, by the way) he was asking on how did I go about doing my mendiants; is it piping one by one and then putting the fruits or what.
I said that I piped the chocolate into the flexi molds, gave it a little shake to spread the chocolate and then worked quickly together with Mew with putting the nuts in before the chocolate sets.
Chef Guillaume said, "whatever you did, it works!". =D
I also peeled the skin off the pistachio a little, adding a little green to the whole chocolate bon bon, otherwise it's just pretty much brown. All in all, I'm really glad my products turned out so well!
&...that's a wrap guys!
Leaving you with this picture of the "behind the scene" of my photo shoot for the bon bon, and least but not least, the recipe for the Rochers! =)
Till then!
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ROCHER (Makes 14pcs, 20g each)
INGREDIENTS
100g dark chocolate (58% Cocao Barry Dark Chocolate Couverture), melted
150g praline almonds
50g feuilletine
300g dark chocolate, for tempering & coating
-Melt chocolate till 45-50℃, tablage till 27℃ and re heat till 31-32℃ before use.
100g chopped almonds, for adding into the tempered chocolate
STEPS
1. Melt dark chocolate in bowl using Bain Marie. Mix Praline in using spatula.
2. Combine feuilletine in when chocolate mix is below 35℃.
*Chill in fridge 1-2mins to let cool and reaching the right consistency (able to form balls), before weighing into 20g each and rolling into balls. Chill in fridge 1-2mins and roll again.
3. Add chopped almonds to tempered chocolate and coat the chocolate balls. Remove and place on baking sheet, let the rocher set by chilling, or at temperatures below 24℃.
Keep refrigerated. If tempered well, the chocolate will not melt at all.
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