THE PERFECTIONIST

Written by: ROBYN ALEXANDER/ BUREAUX.CO.ZA

THE PERFECTIONIST

Rock-star chef Gregory Czarnecki has secret skills that only a select few know about— anyone lucky enough to try his mind-blowing, guess-the-flavor bonbons will never go back to eating just any chocolate!

PHOTO CREDIT WARREN HEATH/ BUREAUX

A spray-gun and a hairdryer. They don’t sound like usual tools in the arsenal of a professional chocolatier, but then again, ‘usual’ is not a word anyone who knows or works with Gregory Czarnecki would use to describe him. In fact, the award-winning, French-born chef doesn’t even call himself a chocolatier.

“I didn’t study it, it’s not my job,” he explains as he sprays a fine mist of vivid orange cocoa butter into a chocolate mold, occasionally using the hairdryer to warm up the mixture when it becomes too thick.

This is how he creates the delicate shells of his bonbons, but he says a home cook could use a small paintbrush to thinly paint the cocoa butter onto the molds, then use a toothpick to create any pattern, zigzag or swirl, followed by a second layer of cocoa butter in another color to fill in the lines.

I was one of the first people to bring the bonbon to this country—I wanted to offer diners something different,” says Gregory. “I am self taught. Yes, I did work with chocolate when I was an apprentice but now I guess I have more knowledge, more patience, less arrogance. And I decided that if I was going to make chocolates, they would have to be the best-looking ones I could possibly make.

PHOTO CREDIT WARREN HEATH/ BUREAUX

The Restaurant at Waterkloof is situated on Waterkloof Wine Estate on the mountain slopes overlooking False Bay.

PHOTO CREDIT WARREN HEATH/ BUREAUX

A no-limits attitude, a powerful streak of perfectionism, and using only the best quality chocolate as the star ingredient— which he works with at precisely controlled temperatures—are the key to his edible works of art.

If you just melt chocolate, like people do when they want to dip strawberries, you’re not going to end up with a snappy chocolate. You have to bring it to a higher temperature, quickly lower it, then warm it up again so that you can work with it. There are specific temperatures, depending on the amount of bitterness, origin, and type of chocolate you are using.

When the chocolate has been expertly tempered, it is poured into the molds over the set cocoa butter shells. Once the chocolate has had a chance to set, Gregory uses a piping bag to add the ganache filling, taking care not to overfill each mold. The ganache is then left to set at room temperature for 24 hours. Now comes the final touch, a last layer of tempered chocolate to seal the deal.

PHOTO CREDIT WARREN HEATH/ BUREAUX

A spray gun is filled with orange cocoa butter, which Gregory uses to spray chocolate molds to form delicate shells.

PHOTO CREDIT WARREN HEATH/ BUREAUX

Chef Gregory Czarnecki sprays a thin layer of cocoa butter into the molds. He chooses to work in the wine cellar one floor below the restaurant, where the light and temperature are perfect.

PHOTO CREDIT WARREN HEATH/ BUREAUX

Gregory’s experiments in flavor have resulted in mind blowing flavor combinations. “You can go really crazy, like with guava and goat’s cheese, or salted hazelnut and parmesan, where the saltiness comes from infusing parmesan in the cream we use to make the ganache,” he says.

Some of his other famous combinations: Burnt lemon and jasmine, crème fraiche and calamansi, grapefruit and pink peppercorn, clementine and masala, white peach and saffron, mango and piment d’espelette, and blood peach and verbena.

Read more at https://issuu.com/rareluxuryliving/docs/winter_fashion_issue_2021_full_pages/102

PRODUCTION S V E N ALBERDING/ BUREAUX.CO.ZA