Spent 6 months learning to temper chocolate by hand, a pastry chef did it in 5 minutes

I was at a workshop in Chicago last fall and the instructor kept saying Hershey's was fine for tempering. I believed her for way too long. Tried seeding method, tabling, all that. Ended up with bloomed, streaky messes every time. Finally a pastry chef at a dinner party saw me struggling and showed me his trick with a marble slab and a heat gun. Took him 5 minutes flat. I had wasted half a year on bad advice and bad chocolate. Anyone else had a mentor shortcut that saved you months of frustration?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_thea11d ago

Read somewhere that cheap chocolate has more cocoa butter substitutes that mess with tempering.

robin59111d ago

Oh yeah, totally agree with this. The cheap stuff is loaded with palm oil and other fillers instead of real cocoa butter, and it just never sets up right no matter what you do. Your mileage may vary but in my experience you really do get what you pay for with chocolate.