Adriano Zumbo

The last time I saw Adriano Zumbo before today was at the Masterchef Live event in Sydney. My friend Gina and I were wandering around the hall and suddenly we noticed that there was something in the air that changed. Immediately there were heaving chests, girls flicking hair and giggling and whispering and pointing at someone. One girl stage whispered to another “I can’t believe he’s so close to me and that I’m going to get to meet and touch him!”. And this was perhaps even before she saw the Willy Wonka tattoo on his arm!

Photo by Nadine Saacks Photography

My how life has changed for Adriano Zumbo.

Today, he is now making between 4,000 – 5,000 macarons a day, he is being flown all over the world to demonstrate the methods to his madness and he also has a new television show coming out called simply “Zumbo” for SBS which is a 6 part series observational documentary that starts this Thursday night, February 10th, 2011.

I was lucky enough to see some of the new series and it is fascinating how it takes us through the creation of the 60 flavours for macaron day including the pig’s blood macaron, the 23 carat macaron and the infamous hamburger macaron which is where whole hamburgers were infused with cream blended up and used in the filling. Feeling that this wasn’t enough, he then added more patties, cheese made using agar and other bits and pieces to arrive at one of the hits of the macaron day. During the series he also goes home to Coonamble for his father’s birthday and it covers the reveal of his catwalk parade called “Summer Love”.

Today we are having a macaron class with Zumbo to celebrate the start of the series. We are not making the hamburger macaron or the pig’s blood and chocolate macaron (yes real pig’s blood that apparently tasted incredibly smooth and buttery) but a more stately sounding but still slightly unusual passionfruit, basil and white chocolate macaron using a recipe that Zumbo claims as “foolproof” and guaranteed to produce perfect macarons every time.

He starts off with a bag of Callebaut velvet chocolate which is a new type of white chocolate which he uses because it is less sweet than other white chocolate as he figures that macarons are sweet enough as it is. We take a taste and it is very milky although still quite sweet. He pairs this with leaves of fresh basil which he vacuum packs at home. He simply simmers this so that the chocolate melts.

The caramelised sugar syrup (with yellow food colouring)

He makes a syrup to whip with the egg whites and he always advises to add the water first to the saucepan and then the sugar so that the sugar doesn’t sit on the bottom which means that it is more prone to burning. Doing it this way also means that there is less stirring necessary and stirring sugar deposits the crystals on the side of the pot which means that it is more prone to crystallisation (that horrible thing that happens when your sugar seizes to the point of no return). He also adds the liquid colouring at this point so that the water will evaporate off from the colouring which may otherwise change the consistency of the macarons.

Adding the syrup to the egg whites

He shows us the Tant Pour Tant (TPT) which is an equal parts mixture of almond meal and icing sugar. The TPT here is 1200grams but a typical batch of macarons uses a TPT six times larger at 7.2kgs. To this he adds half of the egg whites and then he whips the other half of the egg whites with the caramel slowly pouring it into the egg white mixture in a steady stream until the mixture reaches 50C and it becomes…well the colour of Big Bird!

Testing the mixture after slapping it against the sides of the bowl

We empty this out into the TPT mixture and he mixes it so that it become amalgamated. The key now is to slap it against the edge of the bowl to deflate it of the air (which is admittedly against instinct). He tests the mixture to see whether a trail or point holds and if it does, it needs to be deflated even more. He fills up a piping bag and it’s off we go with piping the macarons. He show us how to pipe the macarons where the key is to:

Holding the tip close to the baking tray

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My dream job list at some stage of my life has read:

Personal shopper

Chocolatier

Taste tester

Can you see a common thread? The need to consume! So when I was offered a place at any of the Fisher & Paykel Sydney Cooking School classes I naturally chose the chocolate one. That afternoon, when Mr NQN and I were on our way, we spied the temperature which read 37C. *gulp* “That won’t be very good for the chocolate” I tell him.

We reach there and it’s a small class with a teacher Brad Reiher who is a pastry chef at Dolcetti and a facilitator Brett who usually teaches the classes like the very popular Duck & Pinot class. Some classes are more interactive whereas others are a bit more sit back and learn like this one. Today we are going to learn some background of how to make chocolate truffles, some basics and a ganache filling for a chocolate brulee tart. The class is a mix of basics like tempering chocolate along with some very handy tips.

First of all Brad shows us his chocolate machine which keeps chocolate at a constant temperature. For chocolatiers who make dozens of chocolates at one go, it is important to keep chocolate at a consistent temperature. This machine is from Europe and doesn’t use a water bath underneath it which is an advantage as water seizes chocolate.

We start with a  basic ganache. A ganache which is a filling for truffles is a mixture of chocolate and cream. Here they use two types of chocolate: Callabaut and Cacao Barry. Temperature is very  important for chocolate making and we take the cream to a boiling point and then pour it over the chocolate. However Brad tells us that we shouldn’t start stirring straight away and we should let it melt first. Stirring or whisking it reduces the temperature of the chocolate ganache mixture and to give it a little more warmth, he puts it on top of the saucepan that held the cream and then stirs it until just combined, never over mixing it.

The recipe for ganache should always be the same, however if the weather is hotter you can change the amount of cream to be less and if it is colder, you can add a little more cream. If you were using this ganache to ice a cake you would need to refrigerate this overnight to get the consistency that you want. Also Brad points out that you infuse the cream with basil using basil leaves and then strain the cream, then the basil leaves will absorb some of the cream and you always need to ensure that you have the correct amount of cream after infusing and straining. These pastry chefs are very precise!

We then get started on the truffles. Brad tells us that chocolate molds need to be polished between uses with cotton wool balls in order for the chocolates to pop out easily. They never use soap or detergent to wash the molds, simply hot water and at first glance the molds may look clean but once you rub them with cotton wool, the chocolate that is left on becomes apparent.

We first need to temper the chocolate. All couverture chocolate needs to be tempered in order to get the glossy look and that crisp snap when you bite into it and the glossy top. And did you know that with truffles, they only use tempered chocolate on the top that shows? The bottom of the chocolate isn’t tempered so you can use chocolate that is at a slightly higher temperature in order to fill in the gaps after you pipe the ganache in.

To temper dark chocolate you really need an electronic thermometer. Brad tells us that it’s almost impossible to do this otherwise although some people that are expert in it can tell with a lip test but this takes years to do and a lot of practice. A candy thermometer will not do the job as it doesn’t get precise enough and mostly works on higher temperatures.

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My parents are funny creatures. We seem to have swapped roles over the past few years and we seem to be parenting them somewhat and they’ve taken the role of child. I think the advent of technology and having to teach them about the internet has played a large part as we’ve had to teach them hand and eye coordination (i.e using the mouse) and how to use email. Case in point my mother and Mr NQN’s mother need to be under constant supervision.

At Christmas dinner Tuulikki, Mr NQN’s mum accidentally mistook one of the candle holders as a drinking glass claiming “We thought that it was a very fancy glass”. They then proceeded to pour some drink into one to much raucous laughter. Realising their mistake Tuulikki wanted to put it aside on the windowsill where a breeze and an occasionally flapping blind caused Mr NQN’s cousin Sam to tell them “Not on the windowsill! You’ll spill it!”. A few minutes later my mother then knocked a glass of drink over. “If you two don’t behave, you’ll have to sit on another table” I told them half jokingly.

My father is not immune to it too. I offered him some tomato sauce and he shook his head “I don’t eat tomatoes”. My sister Blythe had to point out to him that tomato sauce was not in fact sauce to eat on top of tomatoes but a sauce made out of tomatoes. How he managed to live here in Australia for almost 40 years and not know this is certainly one for the books. Another thing that completely dumbfounded both of them was when my sister brought me back some truffles from Paris. “Are they really $2,000 a kilo?” my mother asked wide eyed. “Why and how can this be?” she said looking closely at the small bottle containing three tiny truffles. They were fascinated by them and so I decided to prepare truffles the way I love them best: with eggs.

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