On Monday, March 16, the St. Louis Dames and invited guests were treated to a lesson in cooking with chocolate hosted by Master Chocolatier Patrice Bruchec, Executive Pastry Chef of The Ritz-Carlton in St. Louis. 

Bruchec, who was once told by a teacher to pursue another career, themed his presentation, “Chocolat a Paris,” and set out to teach the art of creating chocolate butterflies, foliage and remarkably curled garnishes at home using practical and sometimes, unusual methods! He selected a favorite recipe, “Blood Orange Pâte a Bombe” created using chocolate and coconut pain de gene, milk chocolate feuillantine, blood orange and gianduja mousse, white chocolate and nougatine ice cream.

Bruchec quickly mixed dry cocoa into pans creating a white and dark chocolate mix that combined for a smooth, undulating pan of chocolate. Testing the temperature of the chocolate sauce with his finger, he explained that temperature determines how quickly the chocolate crystallizes to how much it shines.

In a heavy French accent he exclaimed, “The microwave is my best friend!” If the chocolate falls below 31.6 degrees Celsius, he advised heating it for a few seconds. “If the chocolate temperature goes down, okay! But, never up (never over 32 degrees).” Bruchec then demonstrated how a digital temperature gun could take the fear out of a finger test! “Always whisk when taking the temperature. You need to see what happens on the bottom,” he explained.
 

He then spread the chocolate directly out onto green colored transfer sheets to create leaves and onto a butterfly stencil placed atop a transfer for another affect. “The chocolate must be very, very, very thin,” Bruchec said, as he cautioned to wait 10 minutes and not to rush the process in the refrigerator lest it loose its shine. “You must work chocolate like a kid with play doh!”
 

He dropped a chocolate coated transfer sheet into a round tube mold where it would cool into a tight curl that would become a melt-in-your mouth garnish strip. Once it has set, “Pull the transfers off in whole sheets, not one-by-one,” said Bruchec. He suggested applying cocoa butter to the plastic to keep chocolate shiny and prevent it from sticking to the transfers.

At this point, the kitchen looked as if he had unfolded his tool belt onto the counter! “Everything you need to work with chocolate can be bought at the hardware store! This (spackling knife) is $5 but in stores (for cooking supplies) it would cost $20!” He spread the chocolate with a spackling knife, sliced with an exacto knife and suggested using a hair dryer to quickly adhere chocolate to the transfer sheets and a painter’s air brush to spray fine, even coats of cocoa.

Chef Bruchec’s finished desert was a masterpiece to the eye and to the taste. Despite the use of at least five different chocolate applications and half a dozen tools, his tips for cooking like some of the world’s finest chocolatiers were both practical and very, very, very Parisian!

Blood Orange Gianduja Mousse
Blood Orange Pâte a Bombe
150 gr sugar
240 gr yolks
120 gr blood orange puree
¼ orange zest

Method:
Cook sugar at 118C.
Whip yolks with cook sugar for 10 minutes
Add warm blood orange puree and orange zest

Gianduja and Blood Orange Mousse
180 gr heavy cream
675 gr gianduja
15 gr gelatin, soaked
210 gr blood orange pâte a bombe
780 gr soft whipped cream

Method:
Whip the soft heavy cream
Melt the gianduja
Boil 180 gr heavy cream; add the soaked gelatin, then add to the gianduja
Mix gianduja mix with the soft whipped cream with whisk and plastic spatula
Add the blood orange pâte a bombe and mix with the plastic spatula

White Chocolate Ice cream and Nougatine
kg whole milk
500 gr skim milk
265 gr sugar
170 gr white chocolate
200 gr glucose syrup
300 gr sugar
200 gr almond flake
 

Chocolate Pain De Gene
360 gr. almond paste
380 gr eggs
120 gr melted butter
65 gr all-purpose flour
6 gr baking power
20 gr cocoa power
20 gr coconut shavings
Method:
Warmed almond paste and whipped with the eggs
Add melted butter
Mix all dry ingredients and add to the mix with plastic spatula
Baking temperature 365F for 12 minutes

Milk Chocolate Feuillantine
350 gr milk chocolate
125 gr praline paste
200 gr feullantine

Method: melt chocolate, add praline and feullantine.

For more information about this recipe, please contact Lori Willis (St. Louis).