The Catalan TableIngredients
Servings:
4
Ingredientes
- Chocolate sheets
- 100 g70% or 80% couverture chocolate
Nutritional Information
Per Serving (Approx.)
Calories
137 kcal
Protein
1 g
Fat
8 g
Carbohydrates
15 g
Disclaimer: These values are estimates based on ingredient types and may not be precise.
Step-by-step Guide
Preparation: Chocolate Sheets
- Clean the kitchen countertop with a clean, damp cloth, ensuring there are no residues, and dry it completely with a dry cloth to prevent the chocolate from sticking.
- Melt the couverture chocolate in a saucepan using a double boiler, ensuring the temperature does not exceed 45ºC. Note: Very Important, while melting the chocolate in the double boiler, make sure NO Water Drops from the saucepan's bath get in, because if they do, the chocolate will harden and cannot be recovered.
- Pour approximately 3/4 of the melted chocolate onto the clean countertop and use a scraper to spread it into an even layer. This will help it cool gradually and evenly.
- When the chocolate begins to set but is still flexible, gather it with the scraper and return it to the bowl where 1/4 of the melted chocolate remains.
- Stir the chocolate well to ensure it is fully integrated until you achieve a smooth and uniform texture.
- Pour the tempered chocolate onto a sheet of parchment paper, and using a scraper, spread it to form a sheet as thin as you desire.
- Let the chocolate sheet sit at room temperature until it solidifies completely, approximately for 30-45 minutes.
- Once the chocolate is cool and solid, scrape it with the scraper to make shavings and store them in the fridge until ready to decorate. Note: If you spread the chocolate on plastic wrap, as it begins to cool, you can slightly roll the sheet and let it finish solidifying. By carefully removing the plastic, you will obtain shavings with a slightly twisted texture.
Preparation: Chocolate Strings
- Melt the chocolate alone in a double boiler. Note: Very Important, while melting the chocolate in the double boiler, NO Drops OF Water from the pot bath should enter. If a drop of water gets in, the chocolate will harden, and there's no way to fix it.
- Add a small amount of oil (never water) to the melted chocolate to give it more shine and prevent it from hardening too quickly.
- Remove the chocolate from the double boiler and aerate it with a spoon, letting it fall back into the pot from a certain height. Cool it slightly, for approximately 5 minutes, until it has the right consistency for making threads.
- Place the cake on a slightly elevated surface (for example, with a plate underneath) and position it over another plate to catch any chocolate that drips down.
- Take a spoonful of chocolate and let it fall in a thread back into the same bowl. When the thread is thin, move the spoon and make several passes over the cake from a certain height, ensuring that the threads cover the surface evenly.
Recommendations & Tricks
- Begin by preparing the space: thoroughly clean the kitchen countertop with a damp cloth and then dry it completely to ensure there are no traces of moisture.
- Melt the couverture chocolate in a bain-marie, taking care that the temperature does not exceed 45ºC, using a kitchen thermometer.
- Ensure that not a single drop of water from the bain-marie falls into the chocolate; this would spoil it and cause it to harden.
- Pour 3/4 of the melted chocolate onto the clean and dry countertop and spread it evenly with a scraper to cool it more quickly.
- When the chocolate on the countertop begins to thicken a little but is still manageable, collect it with the scraper and return it to the bowl containing the remaining 1/4 of melted chocolate.
- Stir the collected chocolate well with the chocolate left in the bowl until it is fully integrated and has a homogeneous texture.
- Using another sheet of parchment paper, pour the chocolate and spread it with the scraper to achieve an even and thin layer, ideal for delicate decorations.