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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The initial seed for this macaron sandwich had a rather esteemed pedigree. It was while I was interviewing Adriano Zumbo that he mentioned watching Ferran Adria speak of making a strawberry shaped item made of something else entirely. And because Zumbo is know for his gorgeous macarons my mind wanders to macarons when talking with or about him.

I wanted to do a macaron strawberry that looked kind of like a strawberry. The only issue is that I have an issue with the Wilton colouring gels that I purchased. The colours fade, and badly at that, so I tend to resort to using liquids if I want a bright red colour. So I was only able to add a certain amount of liquid before stopping, worrying that I would affect the texture of the macaron. This week was also the week of horrifically hot weather so my mind was muddled when I made these macarons and I accidentally mixed in the icing sugar to the egg white mixture. It didn’t quite beat as glossy stuff as it would have and I think this is why I didn’t get the “foot” on the base. However taste wise, these are gorgeous.

Like all divas, it’s a little bit of trouble, the entire thing can’t be assembled too far ahead of time as the mousse will make the macaron too wet. Also affixing the black sesame seeds as “pips” might be frustrating unless you try and convince yourself that it’s an adult’s version of the game “Operation” where a steady hand is paramount.

Strawberry season is nearing an end here, as witnessed by some truly woeful looking strawberries on offer. But I picked through 3 punnets in order to get some decent looking specimens. You could of course make these in a heart shape for a special romantic dinner or anniversary, although as a strawberry it does evoke a similar reaction of lust. This is fiddly, but it is deliriously light and melt in the mouth. The white chocolate mousse is the perfect foil for the sweet macaron.

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I got my greedy paws on some crystallised violets while in London (along with a load of other things that Nigella talks about but are impossible or cost prohibitive to buy in Australia). They sat here for a while with no real destination in mind until one night when I was separating egg whites from yolks and I thought what better to make than some Violette Macarons.

In France Violet is a very popular flavour, when we recently visited, I often saw it popping up on menus and in cakes. I’m sure some people would find it too “soapy” tasting, which is quite true. Indeed the lollies above are very soapy tasting and strong. You could always combine Violet with another flavour if the idea of eating Violets seems a little odd. Violet and Blackcurrant or berry would be gorgeous together. To fill them I used white chocolate ganache as I had some in the fridge although of course a buttercream is more traditional. I adapted Nigella’s Pistachio Macaron recipe because I am clinging onto it for dear life as that was the only one that worked for me.

Crystallised Violets £2.59

As you can see I still have some problems with Macarons, namely the “frilly foot” that comes and goes. Also making them all the same size is a challenge although I always find a match for each half. It’s more a matter of making each macaron the same size. But as they say, they still taste very good going down!

Violette Macarons

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