Chocolate Macarons

Since I tried Pierre Herme's Macarons in Paris I fell in love with it. As macarons are one of the trickier pastry items to make even for the professionals, I for a while played it on the safe side and simply experimented on different flavors where changes are made to the filling rather than the macaron cookie itself. I find it intriguing though and have been both curious and afraid to make chocolate macarons. Chocolate macarons are a bit trickier since another component is added to the meringue which may affect its balance. I chose to put my bet on Pierre Herme's recipe, the french version.

Having been able to test different macaron recipes from french, spanish to italian style ones even to those that add a bit of flour, I have set my vote to the french macaron. The simple almond meal, egg white and icing sugar version. Trickier to make and more temperamental than its more stable contemporary the italian meringue, I still like it better. It gives a soft interior crumb and a delicate crisp shell that just melts in your mouth the instance you bite on it. I also find it less sweet.

Molded Chocolates

When I was a girl I used to play the piano. I remembered my grandmother sitting on the lounge listening to me practice my piece... I had to. I cannot get out of it until I get the rhythm right. The movement of my fingers should be graceful and curled, not stiff and straight. It also makes a difference to press the key longer or its opposite as my instructor tells me " staccato!" meaning short hopping sounds. My back straight with a little sway that goes with the beat of the music. The foot, pressed on the pedal to indicate an emphasis on a note and released to proceed to the normal tune. All these details just to get the right sound creating music.

Chocolate making is very much similar I reckon. Everything has to be in rhythm. I was tasked to work on molded chocolate most of the time this week. Chocolate molds comes in myriad of shapes and sizes. We use polycarbonate ones at work. These were the molds that we carefully polished the last time I posted. We are always careful not to scratch it because a little nick won't release the chocolates correctly.

Molded chocolates are one of the simpler procedures in chocolate making.Like playing piano, It has to be in rythm. Left hand firmly grasping the chocolate molds, Four fingers at the bottom, thumb on top. Right hand holding the scraper, four fingers on one side thumb on the other. Press the pedal to stop the chocolate machine from churning out chocolate, release the pedal then count one... two... filling the mold with just the right amount of chocolate. Too much and chocolate will start dripping all over your hands firstly feeling like silk then a few seconds later becoming sticky like glue then seconds more, hard. Hmmm... Won't be able to work with chocolate dipped hands you see. The cleaner your hands are, the better. It is then rattled to remove bubbles on the surface of the praline and give it a perfectly shiny surface. Not too long though, you don't want a really thick shell encasing your smooth ganache. Then tip off excess chocolates, take out too much and the shell will be too weak. Once the molds are banged on the table to release, the weak shells will crack. Scrape the top of the mold of its excess. Once, at most twice. Too much and it will be damaged. Have to be confident, sure and precise with every movement. All equipments ready within arms reach, not to mention, chocolates properly tempered. Everything has to be in rhythm.

First Day

I've just changed jobs. I have been a pastry chef for a good number of years already that I stopped counting. Today I have pressed the pause button for that chapter of my career and decided to take a turn to another field in my profession. Chocolates.

Its my first day as a chocolatier. Yes, I have been working with this ingredient through out my pastry life, making mousses, tarts, cakes, chocolate cigars, little garnishes here and there. But this time, its all I'm going to be working with. Just chocolates. I will be using liqueurs, nuts, fruit purees and sugars to transform chocolate in the hundreds and thousands of ways it can be seen, smelt and savoured. It is not an easy feat. It is both bitter and sweet.

BITTER: First Monday of the month. Deliveries come in and everybody in the kitchen has to help out, check the stock, HACCP standard- check temperatures, lot numbers and expiration dates. Make sure all deliveries are in, count all the boxes. We also have to load it to the chocolate storage room. Heavy stuff? Yes. Need muscles? Yes. Do I enjoy it? No. Unlike hotels where there is a receiving guy and a steward to take care of these things and fold the boxes for us, in here, we don't.

It is also the start of production week. So we need to polish all the chocolate molds. Scrape the excess chocolates and use cotton swab to take out the cocoa butter left from the previous batch using our fingers. 50...100...150... I lost count. We have to do it all. Tedious? Yes. Repetitive? Yes. Why? It is important to start work with clean molds. It ensures the chocolates come out easily from the molds once it is sealed. Shine, contraction, consistency. That's why. It is IMPORTANT. That's lesson number one.

SWEET: It is a dream come true. As a pastry chef I always feel handicapped not knowing chocolates fully. Just using it as a part but not as a whole of what it can be. Working with chocolate now completes the whole picture for me. Like all artisanal skill, this cannot be learnt by just reading books and watching shows. It has to learned by doing.

The day went smoothly, finished cleaning down 4pm on the dot. Oh yes! I have regular working hours now. Monday to Friday 8am to 4pm. For some, this would not mean anything, but for a pastry chef like me who has worked 4 am breakfast shifts all the way to dinner shifts ending at 12 midnight or during crazy nights 1am, this means a lot. Saturdays and Sundays for a pastry chef is near non-existent. So for me to have these working hours, It is one of the sweetest things I can have.

Also, I can see that I am part of a team of passionate chocolatiers, mostly pastry chefs in the past as well who have joined the company with the same objective as me. Its looking good, tomorrow is another day I look forward to.