Lesley C

Pastry chefs can buy as much as they want, praline, puff pastry, almond paste, chocolate. They can all follow the same recipes passed out at Barry and DGF seminars. They can all do stages with the best chefs. But in the end, you'll just end up with a bunch of fine chefs producing the same product. When you bite into a Bernachon chocolate bar it tastes different, and I say Bravo to that. I also used to enjoy walking around the back of the shop and seeing the ladies hand-dipping the chocolates. In ten years, there might not be anybody in those windows.

Oh I agree Steve, couverture making is not part of being a chocolatier. But if ever I was to buy a plain chocolate bar or palet from a chocolatier it would be from Bernachon. And you have to admit, the fact that Bernachon continues to make their own couverture (on the premises no?) is impressive. There are certainly better pastry shops in Lyon but Bernachon has a nice way of preserving the past (a bit like Bocuse who has no interest, really, in changing his style of restaurant). Concerning Le Notre: They also died a slow death here (is there still a shop in Dallas?) but in France they are still considered one of the top ten chocolatiers. The Club des Croqueurs de Chocolat rates Le Notre's Palais Or "perfection." (Edited by Lesley C at 1:11 pm on Oct. 7, 2001)

To add to Steve's post on ganaches: Frédéric Bau (the chocolate God chef of Valrhona) aligns the making of a ganache to that of a mayonnaise. He says to add half the cream to the solid chopped chocolate (never melted), let it sit a few minutes, stir, and slowly incorporate the remaining hot cream to the mix in a thin stream stirring all the while with a spoon ( he shuns the whisk) to incorporate as little air as possible. According to Bau, a proper ganache with retain smooth tooth marks when bitten. Test this out next time you eat a chocolate. To make an even creamier ganache, many chocolatiers will add a few drops of product called Fralase, which breaks down sugars from a solid to liquid state. They put it in those cherry blossom chocolates as well to transform a solid fondant to a liquid within the chocolate's shell. Next we'll be divulging the Caramilk secret (do you have Caramilk chocolate bars in the States?)

Oh I think the palets from Bernachon would be the "ultimate example of the chocolatier's métier," as the couverture is made from scratch. Any other chocolaterie selling a palet would just be chopping up some commercial chocolate, tempering it, and moulding it into a disk emblazoned with their logo. When it comes to cream and butter in chocolates, keep in mind that sugar and fat are conservation agents, so as Steve Klc said, some of these chocolates (sweet buttercreams) do have a prolonged shelf life. I would think that any smart -- responsible -- chocolatier would boil the cream used in chocolates (they might be using UHT cream anyway). Also, chocolates made with spices will deteriorate quickly (ferment) and if a chocolate is not completely sealed, air can get to the filling, and it will spoil. Is there still a Le Notre in New York? We had one here, and sometimes their imported chocolates were iffy quality-wise.

The best chocolate in Montreal comes from a place called the Patisserie de Gascogne. Its chocolate department was opened by Jacques Bélanger in the eighties. Very good, but classic, and more into volume than innovation. Many of their departments (decor, mousse, glace and the like) were opened by MOFs, especially Bellouet and Bélanger. They now work quite a bit with Chevallot of Valrhona.The pastry is excellent but has suffered in quality with every store opening (they have 4). It's probably still the best pastry shop in Canada -- a notch lower than Payard, but considering the ground they cover, impressive. Though in cooking the gap is now practically non-existant, when it comes to chocolate and pastry, we North Americans are still far behind the French.

From what I saw on a recent trip to Belgium, the most reputable commercially made chocolates are Neuhaus. The best artisanal chocolates come from Wittamer in Brussels (I toured their pastry shop -- incredible). At Wittamer they sell pralines and creams separately. The creams have a shelf life of one week. I tried one 8 days after purchase and the interior was like Roquefort. Some chocolates -- like a nougat Parisian or a straight praline -- have a long shelf life. Ganache has a pretty decent shelf life if the cream is boiled, but an egg-based ganache is only good for two weeks. And when I say shelf life, I mean cool shelf. The French make the best chocolates right now but the Belgians still have the big reputation (thanks to some brilliant advertising by Godiva in the 70's and 80's). Most Belgian bon bons, in my books, are awful: sweet, granular and moulded -- not cut or piped. Moulded chocolates are a no-brainer for real chocolatiers (I believe they are not allowed in competitions such as MOF). Also, when poorly executed, the walls, and base, are thick -- a huge faux pas for serious chocolatiers (thick walls on any chocolate can also be due to poor tempering). What makes Bernachon chocolates so special is that, for the most part, they are made with their own couverture (rumour has it the Sharffen Berger guys worked there and stole all the secrets). Everyone else is buying from either Valrhona, Barry, Callebaut or other. But besides the couverture, the Bernachon's chocolates are classic and not as sophisticated as those of La Maison du Chocolat, Jean-Paul Hévin, or Michel Chaudun (I was not impressed by Christian Constant's chocolates). What makes French chocolates so good? Intensity of flavour, size (small), enrobage, quality of ganache, creativity (Belin in Albi may be the best for that). The Belgians are considered the masters of "pralines" but the French are the masters of "ganache." When well executed, both are superb.

I'm not ashamed to say I have a microwave in my kitchen. I don't cook with it but I do use it to melt things: chocolate, butter, cocoa butter, and the like. I've also been known to use it to re-heat a cup of coffee (I'm sure some of you started to shake when you read that). Cooks hate microwaves, but all the best pastry chefs I know use them in the most creative ways. It's just another kitchen tool to me. About Le Cake, I served it with wild blueberries. It worked, but I like the bitter orange idea better. I wonder if the notorious American sweet tooth may have something to do with my chef friends -- French and Belgian -- not liking the cake. Perhaps Europeans prefer something less sweet ( though some of those Belgian chocolates make Hershey bars taste like Valrhona). According to Frédéric Bau, many chic Parisians munch on squares of unsweetened chocolate -- sans caviar. added).

Great follow-up Steve! Thanks. I'll try it again but next time I might omit the white chocolate insert altogether. I used Valrhona Ivoire and all other instructions seem correct (does anyone melt chocolate over a bain-marie anymore?). I think this dessert needs an added element though. Some sort of fruit to offset the sweetness of the cake and ice cream. At Citarella do they serve it with just the cake and ice cream on the plate? You mention a sauce. Is it a coulis? ~Lesley

Yes, I think dark chocolate cake works better hot. The white chocolate is a bit too rich, sweet and cloying and the cake also has an off-putting eggy flavour. I prefer using vanilla beans in crème anglaise-based preparations like ice creams or Bavarians where the beans are steeped, allowing them the chance to release their full perfume (Hesser is right about cheesecakes). Even cookies. Butter cookies or pound cake made with vanilla beans will taste better after a few days than if eaten an hour out of the oven. All that to say, I prefer my vanilla cold.

I made that "killer warm vanilla" cake for a few friends last night. It wasn't a hit (and that's putting it mildly). Stated by one especially frank pastry chef: "What's this, warm white chocolate? Yuk!" Guess I'll be going back to the old -- hard to beat -- Jean-Georges moelleux au chocolat.

Okay Mr. Shaw, here's your answer (finally). The difference between Canadian and American hard wheat flour is minimal. Flours from the same mill can vary from crop to crop and bag to bag. The protein content of American bread flour is typically 14%. Canadian flours run at about 13%. Many consider Canadian flour to be the superior product because of its milling process and superior grain. We may not have winning hockey teams anymore, but we do have good flour! Off to make some bannock, Lesley C.

First, when I worked in France, for a famous chef no less, we'd sift the flour to remove the bugs (no kidding). Second, you can use pastry flour in place of all-purpose by adding equal amounts of pastry and bread flour to equal the amount of all-purpose flour called for in your recipe (150g of AP flour can be replaced by 75g of pastry flour and 75g of bread flour). Third, here in Canada, 1 cup of AP flour weighs between 135 and 150g. I use 150g because I prefer to always weigh recipes slightly in excess.