Fancy Pants Techniques - Part 2

Welcome to Part 2 of the dessert techniques series! Today I will be covering a technique that is bound to impress: tempering chocolate. If you've cooked with chocolate before, you may have noticed that once you have cooked with it, it can become dull, soft, and even have a white "bloom" sort of appearance on the surface. This happens because when in a solid form, the cocoa butter crystals in the chocolate are suspended. However when it is heated, this suspension is broken and the crystals surface, causing the "bloom" appearance when it is cooled. So whilst it still tastes nice, it doesn't look the best!
The idea of tempering the chocolate is to return the chocolate to it's suspended state and ensure that when you use it, e.g. for chocolate moulds or cake decorating, it maintains that glossy finish and crisp snap. Here's the how-to:

How to Temper Chocolate

What you will need:

• Required chocolate for your recipe
• A cooking thermometer
• A saucepan of simmering water 
• A bowl that sits on top of your saucepan but not fully in it 
• A spatula or spoon

Method:

1. Chop the chocolate in to pieces of the same size, as small as you can get them. Alternatively, you can roughly chop the chocolate and blitz it in a food processor in order to ensure uniformity.
2. Place 2/3 of the chocolate in the bowl and sit it in the saucepan over the top if the water, but not touching it (as contact with the water will make your chocolate too hot and the elements will separate).
3. Melt the chocolate to 50 degrees Celsius, stirring occasionally.
4. Remove the chocolate from the heat and add the remaining 1/3 of chocolate, stirring until the chocolate is consistent and reaches 32 degrees Celsius.

Test: spread your chocolate in a thin layer on to a plate. If it sets quickly and has a shiny, smooth finish, you have successfully tempered your chocolate!

For a demonstration video, click here. 

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/techniques/how_to_temper_chocolate

http://www.cadburykitchen.com.au/kitchen-tips/view/tempering-chocolate/13/

Posted by Clare Mannion.

Fancy Pants Techniques Part 1

Hello fellow foodies,

So I would like to teach you how to use a few fancy-pants pastry chef techniques, and today is Part One in the two-part series! These techniques can be slightly more advanced and are for those of you who are looking to up the ante on your baked goods, pastries, or desserts in general. The techniques I will be laying out include how to temper chocolate, which is basically making sure your chocolate looks nice and shiny and snaps crisply after you have cooked with it, and how to quenelle something such as cream in a slightly more sophisticated fashion than the good old dollop. Both of these techniques are great for the presentation of your dishes, so listen up if you're eager to impress! Today I will be covering how to quenelle.

How to Quenelle 

What you'll need:

• Two spoons of the same size - go for a deeper spoon if you can, as it makes creating a rounder shape much easier! The spoons should be at a temperature warm enough to manipulate the ingredient, but not so warm that they melt it.
• The ingredient you wish to make in to a quenelle shape, e.g. ice cream, whipped/double cream, or mousse. The ingredient should be at room temperature - i.e. Not so firm that it can't be shaped, but not so close to a liquid that it can't hold it's shape. 

Steps:

1. Hold a spoon in both hands and scoop a reasonable amount of the ingredient into one of your spoons. Carefully scoop underneath the ingredient with the second spoon, transferring the contents between spoons. 
2. Transfer the ingredient back to the original spoon using the same movement. You will notice that this begins to create a smooth, rounded surface. 
3. Keep repeating this process, passing the ingredient between the spoons until you have the smooth, oval shape that you desire.

This can be a bit tricky, so if you need help see this video for further demonstration.

Source: http://www.finecooking.com/item/13273/making-quenelles

Posted by Clare Mannion.