Hi, I am very new at pastries, I have become fixated on learning how to make those perfect little hard chocolate garnish swirls I have seen in some "fancy" desserts, I've tried several times melting good chocolate and swirling it onto wax paper, they never turn out quite right, I read somewhere that you need to "temper" chocolate, it talked about heating it to a certain temp, something to do with the cocoa butter in the chocolate? I am not kidding when I say fixated, I have been searching for DAYS online, for information. Also any advice for a good pastry/dessert cookbook, with great pictures for inspiration? I love your site, can anyone tell me about this "tempering"? Thanks, Cary Martin

By tj on Saturday, July 29, 2000 - 08:00 pm: Edit

i think tempering chocolate has been discused in this forum for death.its a simple prosses of heating and melting the chocolate to 50deg.c. then cooling it down to 26deg.c. and reheating it to 29-31 deg.c. its that simple.what way you use to get it in temper does not matter,what does matter is the careful monitoring of the temperatures.then the chocolate will set right.to make those garnishes, spread some tempered chocolate on a plastic strip.let it rest for a minute.draw a cake decorating comb through it ,creating straight lines in the chocolate strip.let it semi set.than either cut small sections of the strip and curl them ,or wrap the whole strip in a spiral arround a rolling pin covered with plastic food wrap.and let it set in the cooler.then take it off the rolling pin and peel the plastic strip from the chocolate and you have your garnishes.....enjoy......

By Raine on Saturday, July 29, 2000 - 10:26 pm: Edit

What do you mean by swirls? Are you talking about spirals like @,or free hand curls, or a marbled effect? For more tempering info, have you tried the Godiva site?

By Cary Martin on Sunday, July 30, 2000 - 12:40 pm: Edit

Thank You, so very much, I did do a word search of this site before asking and did not see anything re: the tempering... I believe in learning the basics before going any further. I have a very stressful job (Transplant Surgery) and I have always used baking as a way to unwind. I have truly enjoy it and want to get into more artistic creations. I just ordered Jacques Torres "Dessert Circus", any other suggestions. Raine, actually they did look like freehand work. I had a wonderful white chocolate mousse at "the Brave New Restaurant" here in town, and they were placed in the top, they seemed to be just thick drizzled swirl shapes. THANKS to you both. And I will check the Godiva site out...

By the Baker on Sunday, July 30, 2000 - 02:05 pm: Edit

Chocolatier Magazine has very helpful information on tempering.. its in the back
they even tell you how to use a microwave to get a perfect temper.(i never tried the Microwave)
you can get it In the US at large Barnes and Nobles book stores....

If you cant find it I will scan the page and send it to you via Email if you like.

By Raine on Sunday, July 30, 2000 - 06:37 pm: Edit

... thick drizzled swirl shapes...

Since I haven't actually seen what you're refering to, I'm going to guess. They were probably made with melted chocolate and a pastry bag. If this is the case, it just takes a little practice to steady the hand ( being a sergeon that shouldn't be a problem). For more elaborate designs, trace an image on the back of parchment paper and copy it on the front of paper, making sure that all lines connect or it will break.

By Quartet (Quartet) on Sunday, July 30, 2000 - 11:13 pm: Edit

I think that the info given here on tempering could be a bit more complete. It's not a complicated process at all, quite simple, really, but you need to know what you are doing and have the right tools, namely a good thermometer. If you plan on doing a good bit of tempering, get yourself a high quality lab thermometer, one with a range going up to approximately 130 degrees F. and no farther (from your hospital, maybe?). This will make the therm. a lot easier to read. Basically you do this: melt your chocolate over hot water, not boiling, not simmering, and be patient, stirring frequently. This will take a good deal of time if you are working with a large amount of chocolate. I like to use at least three pounds, because the large quantity holds its temp. longer when in use, which is important. Anyway, you want to take the temp, for dark chocolate, up to about 120-123 degrees to make sure all the crystals in the cocoa butter are uniformly melted, then you reduce the temperature to about 80 degrees. I do it over ice water, but you can use a marble slab or whatever works. My method, and I do this at home, involves putting the bowl of melted chocolate over the ice water, stirring until a layer begins to set on the bottom, then removing the chocolate from the ice bath and stirring to rid myself of that layer and then returning to the ice, until you reach the right temperature. Once you have, put the bowl of chocolate back over the hot water and, stirring, raise the temperature up to 86 - 89 degrees. This is the range you should be working in.

Ok, so that's something that you can more or less read in every cookbook that deals with the subject. What they don't tell you is that you can do all this without any thermometer at all by learning how chocolate that is in proper temper looks and feels. Taking the rubber spatula and putting it to that very sensitive spot just below your bottom lip, you can teach yourself what the proper temperature feels like at each of the three stages you must go through to properly temper chocolate. Once you've done it three or four times, it's easy, but still time consuming. Patience is a must for this kind of work, as is the acceptance that you probably won't get it right the first time out.
One thing I've taken to doing, and they impress people to no end, is to temper white chocolate (which should be worked in a lower temp range than dark) and then paint some on the side of a small tupperware container with a pastry brush. Then pour tempered dark chocolate in over the white, pour out the excess, let it set, and you've got a brilliant marble chocolate dish that you can fill with anything you like.
Anyway, have fun with it. It's easy, but it's like riding a bicycle. You'll probably fall a couple of times and then, once you've gotten it, wonder how you ever found it so difficult. Good luck.

A nice book, by the way, is Elaine Gonzalez's CHOCOLATE ARTISTRY. That may be out of print, but I know she has another very good one. I get them confused. If you can read French, or have a decent French/English dictionary and a lot of time on your hands JG Bellouet's L'Art du Chocolat is fascinating, albeit expensive.

By Quartet (Quartet) on Sunday, July 30, 2000 - 11:33 pm: Edit

Short ps.

Make a habit, an absolutely obsessive habit, of wiping the water off the bottom of your bowl everytime you move it off the double boiler or off the bowl of ice water. The smallest amount of water will ruin your chocolate, causing it to seize. And though you may be able to salvage it for some uses, you'll never be able to temper it. Fear water when working with chocolate.

Also, if you temper, like I do, way more chocolate than you need to use, you can pour it out, as long as it is still in temper, onto a baking sheet lined with parchment, spread it thin, and let it set briefly in the fridge, and it's ready for another use. No waste at all. Have fun.

By W.DeBord on Monday, July 31, 2000 - 08:55 am: Edit

Doc, I cheat the whole tempering process and unless your opening a chocolate shop I'll tell you to do the same. Tempering is only needed when you want to keep the molded pieces at room temp.. Although tempering isn't as hard as transplanting organs it's a step that can be bypassed with-out killing the patient.

...Assuming your goal is making the chocolate garnishes and not just perfecting your tempering skills. You go about melting your chocolate and making your garnishes but when your finished (immediately after) you refridgerate your chocolate instead of keeping it out at room temp. Chocolate done in this manner actually melts in your mouth nicer then tempered chocolate. Sealed nicely they will keep in the refridgerator for a very long time.

There are countless books (go to your local book store) on chocolate desserts and most of them have a section on tempering...they also will help you understand how to acheive the desire affect your looking to copy.

By W.DeBord on Monday, July 31, 2000 - 08:56 am: Edit

Doc, I cheat the whole tempering process and unless your opening a chocolate shop I'll tell you to do the same. Tempering is only needed when you want to keep the molded pieces at room temp.. Although tempering isn't as hard as transplanting organs it's a step that can be bypassed with-out killing the patient.

...Assuming your goal is making the chocolate garnishes and not just perfecting your tempering skills. You go about melting your chocolate and making your garnishes but when your finished (immediately after) you refridgerate your chocolate instead of keeping it out at room temp. Chocolate done in this manner actually melts in your mouth nicer then tempered chocolate. Sealed nicely they will keep in the refridgerator for a very long time.

There are countless books (go to your local book store) on chocolate desserts and most of them have a section on tempering...they also will help you understand how to acheive the desired affect your looking to copy.

By Mikeh (Mikeh) on Monday, July 31, 2000 - 09:35 am: Edit

W. DeBord, I don't agree with your statement that untempered couverture has a better mouthfeel than tempered. But, if you are making a small garnish where mouthfeel isn't important, then why not use coating since it won't require refrigeration and the small amount in the garnish won't make taste an issue.

By W.DeBord on Tuesday, August 01, 2000 - 06:44 pm: Edit

O.K. it melts in your mouth differently. Using coating is a bit of an insult even for a beginner.