Innovation has always been part of how I understand chocolate. In this section, I share the techniques I have developed and perfected throughout my career, such as water-based ganache, and other methods that will help you understand chocolate from a new perspective.
Ganache holds a special place for both professional pastry chefs and home cooks. It is one of the purest and most exquisite expressions of chocolate.
Ganache is that smooth, creamy chocolate texture found inside truffles and chocolates, as a filling for cakes and tarts, or even as a coating.
If you consult any reference book or search online, you will find that ganache is usually defined as a mixture of chocolate and cream.
When I started working in professional kitchens 35 years ago, cream was always used. But in 2002, something changed.
After tasting authentic chocolate, made with freshly fermented and dried beans, lightly roasted and without vanilla, I realized that the cream was harming that new flavor profile: it masked and dulled it.
That was when I understood that, with certain chocolates—especially the highest quality ones—we needed to work with a liquid that didn’t add flavor: water.
From then on, my way of understanding ganache changed. To me, a ganache is simply chocolate and a liquid.
And when the chocolate is truly special, my first choice for a liquid is water.
If you have gone to the trouble and invested money in buying good chocolate, or even in making it yourself, you want that exact flavor to remain intact in your mousse, your drink, or your chocolate.
Water ganache is light, pure, and refreshing. It will change your understanding of what chocolate desserts and chocolates can be.
For 25 years, these recipes have been served in numerous Michelin-starred restaurants and have received various recognitions and awards throughout this time.
I have kept these recipes secret for years. Many have asked me for them, some have even tried to claim them as their own, and I only shared them with three close friends. Now the time has come to share them!
I would like more people to be able to discover and enjoy a world where water and chocolate coexist in perfect harmony.
Discover my Water Ganache courses and learn to master a technique that will forever change the way you work with chocolate.
