A chocolate lesson

It’s been so long since I’ve written (this is a recurring introduction for ‘recent’ posts …) that I almost feel like I need to explain why I’ve been absent and reintroduce myself to my own blog. Suffice it to say that I have left Shanghai (tear) and have spent a wonderful past two months not in one place … For a month, I was tasting my way through continental Europe with A; another week was spent visiting the Northwest on a ‘bon voyage’ trip with my sis, and most recently, I completed a crash ‘Pastry & Baking’ course at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA), up in the beautiful Napa wine country.

Naturally, all of these experiences have produced enough memories and pictures for a blog ‘novel,’ and perhaps I will be motivated to revisit some of them in future posts … But for now, as a reintroduction back into writing and my first post back in the US, I thought it most fitting that I write about – yes, chocolate. :)

My ‘chocolate lesson,’ if you will, was the last day of the CIA one-week pastry & baking course. I learned a lot (hard not to when your teacher is the former pastry chef of the French Laundry!) and found every day immensely fun (also hard not to be when the subject matter is sweet treats and your classmates are a fun group of folks, united by a common love for food and goal to get our daily recipes out by dinnertime!). But of all days, my favorite was – unsurprisingly – the chocolate day – where we made chocolate ganache tarts, chocolate soufflés, flourless chocolate cakes, and a host of chocolate candies – rochers and lots and lots of truffles …

I have tried my hand at making chocolate confections before – less because I enjoy them (which I do immensely) but more because I love making small packages for friends. And I consistently find that small candies are always a hit, no matter how ‘perfect’ the end result is. Whether slightly melted, deformed, extra sweet or extra bitter, chocolate always finds some way to be good. So based on the wisdom my class imparted on me, I want to share with my fellow home cooks truffle making – a process seemingly complicated (and sometimes is, with high-end boutique chocolatiers making perfect shapes with meticulously imprinted designs) but that is in essence, really quite simple.

Truffle making (for the home cook)

Truffles are no more than a melt-in-your-mouth creamy chocolate center (‘ganache’), which is often but not always surrounded by a more solid chocolate exterior. The flavor and shape are flexible and sometimes more wonderful when completely inventive, which makes truffles virtually impossible to ‘mess up.' Below, I’ve listed not a specific recipe but general principles so that you are incentivized to use your imagination to create any varietal you’d like – because that’s the beauty of chocolate. It’s good with almost everything!

1. Make your ganache center - Mix two ingredients: heavy cream and chocolate. Bring the cream to a boil and pour it into a bowl of chopped chocolate to melt the contents together, mixing to incorporate. Pending what type of chocolate you use, your proportion of cream to chocolate will be different; the rule of thumb is for dark, the ratio is 1:2 while for milk and white, the ratio is 1:3. Cover and chill the ganache in your refrigerator, preferably overnight so you can roll it easily the next day.
   
   Tip 1: Flavorings Your time to experiment and add what you might love. Bits of candied fruit peels? Chili? A favorite liqueur? Just add to ganache mixture to taste until you are content with the flavor. One of my personal favorites is a tea infusion – just steep your tea bag into your hot cream until the flavor has fully permeated the cream.
   
   Tip 2: Efficiency A food processor could speed up the process and help you handle chunks of chocolate that seem too stubborn to melt. Put your chopped chocolate in a food processor, pour the hot cream in it, and turn on the mixer. Your ganache will be done in a couple of minutes.
   
   Tip 3: Texture Note that some recipes call for butter, which gives it an even more rich texture. You can add or exclude it based on your individual taste. Shape into balls (or cut into squares, though this is harder), either by using an ice cream scoop (make sure it is completely dry; water moisture is the end of good chocolate) or a pastry piping bag.
   
   
2. Enrobe in chocolate exterior (optional) –Assuming you want to a hard chocolate shell surrounding your ganache, melt your desired couverture (the chocolate you are using for the shell) completely, saving a solid piece for later. Once melted, remove chocolate from heat and mix the solid piece you just saved into the chocolate to slowly bring the temperature down and instigate recrystallization of the solid chocolate. Once it reaches a working temperature range (Dark: 87-91 F; Milk: 84-87 F; White 81-84 F), the chocolate is ready. Dip your rolled ganache centers into the chocolate (two coatings; one is too thin).
   
   
3. Coat with final layer – Dip your truffle (with or without the chocolate exterior) into any other desired toppings (e.g. dried coconut, chopped nuts, cocoa powder, etc). Rest on parchment paper to set.

That’s it! Enjoy on the spot or put them in small cupcake wrappers or bakers ‘chinese takeout boxes,’ tie with a small ribbon and send to your friends. Be warned though that since it contains fresh cream and homemade (meaning no additional added preservatives or stabilizers), they’ll keep for about a week before they go bad. So enjoy quickly!