Choc therapy

Two words spring to mind when describing fresh, hand-crafted chocolate: "shine" and "snap". Neither affects the taste. Both are indicative of freshness and professional handling. One enhances the appearance, the other the texture and the mouth-feel. Together, they give a finish that contrasts with the matt blocks or dull pebbles of couverture from which chocolate products originate.

Chefs have always decorated their creations with chocolate. Piping and feathering are old favourites, but styles move on. Pâtissiers and chocolatiers are always looking for new ways of presenting their creations.

The great advantage chocolate has over any other garnish is that it's always edible. It's never a superfluous extra. It's a focal part of any dessert where it's used. Needless to say, the better the initial quality of the couverture, the better the chocolate eats.

Couverture's components - cocoa solids, cocoa butter and sugar - can be balanced in many different ratios. That blend will influence the eating quality (as will the type of beans and their processing), but it has a negligible effect on the look. Tempering couverture transforms it into chocolate, and doing so is the basic chocolatier's skill, as essential to his craft as a stock is to a chef's. There are various ways of doing this, both by hand and mechanically, and the aim of the process is to amalgamate fat crystals.

Tempering

Tempering couverture before working with it makes it more shiny and more brittle. Cocoa butter has five distinct types of molecules, each one melting at a different temperature. The tempering process (known as crystallisation) converts those with lower melting points into those with a higher one. A machine will do this automatically, but there are several ways of obtaining the same end by hand.

Stage 1: Heat the couverture as slowly as possible to a maximum 50°C. The result is more consistent if you work with batch sizes of 1.5kg to 2kg or more.

Stage 2: Cool it until it drops to about 32°C.

Stage 3: Pour or ladle about three-quarters of the cooling chocolate on to a cool work surface. Marble is traditional but not essential. Spread it over the surface to a depth of less than 1cm with a palette knife.

Stage 4: Working with a palette knife in one hand and a scraper in the other, transfer the couverture from the edges, where it's cooling more quickly, into the centre. Continue this blending until the couverture reaches 27°C and starts to thicken.

Stage 5: Scrape it into the container holding the rest of the batch, and stir it in.

Stage 6: To use, reheat the tempered chocolate until it melts.

For moulds and decors, work with dark chocolate reheated to 32¼C, milk chocolate reheated to 30¼C and white chocolate reheated to 28°C.

Alternative tempering method

Chop a block of couverture into fine shavings with a heavy duty knife. Incorporate it in a batch of pre-tempered and heated mixture. Stir until completely dissolved and blended.

Modern decors

Not so many years ago, decoration with chocolate fell into two styles: either it was piped or brushed while liquid, or it was scraped and grated when spread out over a work surface when freshly set. These techniques have declined in popularity thanks to the imaginative use of acetate and plastic templates. These allow chocolate to be shaped just before it sets, when it's still pliable.

After making a decor, its gloss and snap will improve after two or three hours if kept in a dry place. This quality will also last for about two weeks.

Sticks

Pour or ladle about 80ml of melted tempered couverture on to a work surface. Spread it with a palette knife to a thickness of about 2mm. You should aim for a band about 30mm long.

When the chocolate is on the point of setting, use a metal scraper, held at an angle to the work surface and pressed flush against it, to remove a neat curled stick. Work your way back along the sheet of chocolate to obtain a dozen or more curls.

This is a neat variation of the technique for "caraque" (chocolate flakes), obtained by a similar process after allowing the chocolate to harden.

Ribbons

Cut a template from a sheet of kitchen film or similar PVC sheeting. The thickness and length can vary but it should be at least 30cm long and about 5cm wide. Spread a thin coating of couverture over the template. When it starts to set, rake it along its length with a comb scraper.

Lift the template off the work surface. Twist the chocolate-coated template from both ends, encasing the chocolate. Set aside to let it set. Remove the piece of film and you will have a series of chocolate ribbons that make ideal decorations for chocolate desserts.

Triangles and squares

Work with square or rectangular acetate templates at least 25cm along the shorter length. Pour or ladle enough melted couverture on to the template to coat it with a thin chocolate film. When it starts to set, cut out the patterns.

For triangles, divide the chocolate into two halves. Divide each one into 5cm strips. From the top of each strip, cut down at an angle to the bottom of the next one. You'll obtain 20 or so triangles.

Alternatively, cut the chocolate into 5cm squares. While the chocolate is still pliable, roll up the sheet of acetate across the diagonal and fasten it in place with a piece of adhesive tape. Leave it to set - about 20 minutes. Unfasten the template and open it up. The lightly curled triangles or squares will fall off the acetate.

Teardrops for individual desserts

Work with acetate templates roughly 15cm x 5cm for each portion. Spoon a little melted couverture on to the template to coat it completely with a thin layer. When the couverture is setting but still pliable, lift the template off the work surface and shape it to form a teardrop.

Fasten the ends together with adhesive tape. Stand the teardrop on a sheet of silicone paper until set. Fill with chocolate, ganache, mousse or bavarois, or a similar mixture, and remove the acetate before serving.

Tear droplets for garnish

For garnish, tear droplets can be "painted" on to sheets of silicone paper with the end of a small kitchen knife. By pressing the blunt part of the blade down the centre of each droplet and pulling away, it's possible to create a kind of split through the middle of each one.

Cut-outs

These are the simplest forms of decor. Spread a layer of melted couverture to the required thickness and use standard cutters to cut out squares, rectangles, hoops and rings as required.

Working conditions and storage

A cool, dry area, at 18°C or lower, is preferred for chocolate work.

If you temper couverture in a conventional pastry kitchen, ensure there is no flour dust in the atmosphere, as it can affect the gloss.

Chocolate is porous. Keep it away from unwanted scented aromas, both when working with and when storing it.

It's better to work with small batch sizes and store for as short a time as possible. Rotate the chocolate each week. Decors and garnishes may be retempered after this time, rather than thrown away.

Store in a cool, dry place, ideally at 10°C. Avoid conventional fridges; they may be humid.

The Harrods chocolate experience

All the pÁ¢tisserie, and nearly all the hand-made chocolates, both dipped and moulded, are prepared in the store's sprawling kitchens, where Philadelphian William McCarrick works as the executive pastry chef, with Nicole Illa as his chocolatier. The duo teamed up to win a Best in Show and Gold Medal for chocolate work at Hotelympia 2002, and are bringing a new sense of style to a very traditional institution.

McCarrick joined Harrods a year ago, head-hunted by a director who had admired his work at the Dubai Ritz-Carlton. Before that, he had followed a career that moved him from Lucerne to Salzburg and from Colorado to Taipei, by way of various Grand Hyatt and Shangri La hotels.

Nicole Illa has specialised in chocolate-making since leaving her Bremen pÆ'tisserie college. She was working at the five-star Bayerischer Hof hotel in Munich until joining Harrods in 2001.

Trick of the trade

A simple free-form chocolate stand can be made by filling a container with ice-cubes (whole or broken) and pouring melted chocolate over them.

Leave till the ice-cubes melt, then remove the set chocolate shape.

Tools of the trade

*\ Palette knives Choose flexible knives with a crank in them at the handle end. These are useful because you can work the couverture without knocking your hand on the surface.

*\ Metal decorator's scrapers These are essential for tempering and for preparing some chocolate decors (see Sticks). A serrated metal scraper can be helpful for marking chocolate or making wave patterns in it.

*\ Plastic dough scrapers These are useful for decors and for working with melted or setting couverture.

*\ Dipping tools These are mainly for truffles.

*\ Knives A heavy-duty serrated knife is ideal for chopping up couverture blocks. A small "economat" is an essential all-purpose tool.

*\ Moulds: These may not be necessary for pastry chefs working mainly on desserts.

*\ Silicone paper: Used for storage and piping bags.

*\ Transparent acetate and plastic templates These are essential for preparing simple, modern decors.

*\ Thermometer A must for checking chocolate temperatures during heating and melting.

*\ Cutters and stainless steel strips Used for boxes, etc.