Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Masterchef Wraps with Chocolate

Sunday was the final for Masterchef Australia, and what was the final, make-or-break challenge to test those terrific amateur chefs? ... Chocolate! In one memorable moment Poh put her tempered chocolate baton in the refrigerator to cool, and in hundreds of living rooms around Australia, a collective "Noooooo!"rang out from every employee of The Chocolate Box, every chocolate manufacturer, and every professional pastry chef or amateur cook who has ever worked with couverture chocolate.
Some don'ts about tempering coverture chocolate:
1. Don't put it in the fridge, and
2. Don't get water in it
Remember chocolate is very sensitive to changes in temperature and if it changes too quickly, it will become dry tasting and develop a white powdery bloom after it has time to settle.

You can find the tempering guide for our chocolate pastilles here.

You have probably seen commercial chocolate bars advertised as suitable for keeping in the fridge - but what you need to know is that those bars are made of compounded chocolate. Couverture chocolate, the chocolate lover's chocolate, is a trickier substance to temper, but worth it for serious chocolate afficianados. If you would like to know more about the differences between couverture and compound chocolate read about it here.