Temperature, Tempering, and Temper

Finally folks, a shot of my work from the Plated Desserts module. What do you think?

You’re looking at something called a Pralinette. It’s a chocolate cookie with praline-armagnac cream on top, then another cookie, and more cream. The chocolate ribbon on top and the chocolate wrapper around the dessert are both products of my first official attempt at tempering chocolate, which worked out surprisingly well. I’m still thermometer-reliant (practiced chefs can temper chocolate just by watching its behavior and shine), but was extremely pleased with the strong and shiny result.

The red sauce on the plate is a simple-syrup + fresh raspberry mixture, run through a blender and strained through a chinois (very fine mesh, conical strainer). The sauce looks great on the plate, but looked even better on me (I’m a “Summer” and pink/corals are right up my alley). Let’s just say that if your old, old blender seems to magically shut off, it’s not on a timer: The wiring is bad. It will magically turn on when you least expect it, blowing the lid off, and whizz raspberry sauce all over you, in your eyes, all over your table and anything on it.

I walked around the rest of the class with an old Prince song stuck in my head, “…she wore a raspberry puree…” Make it stop. Please.