Caca Barry Tag

Shocked to learn you can put metal in a microwave to temper chocolate - The Messy Baker   This is me at chocolate class. While Elizabeth Baird looks mildly curious, I look like I'm about to have the "full bore lateral panic" my mother so often threatened. From my expression you'd think the macarons had started to dance about like extras in a scene from Fantasia. Or perhaps Master Chocolatier Derrick Tu Tan Pho was juggling knives blindfolded. But no. He's just showing us how to temper chocolate. This is me reacting as I see Derrick put a metal bowl in the microwave. Ever since my mom bought her first microwave in 1972  "Don't put metal in the microwave!" has been drilled into me. Of course, that hasn't stopped me from starting a small fire with a foil wrapper or showering the interior of the appliance with sparks from a gold-rimmed tea cup. But in all my years of melting butter and reheating cold beverages, I have never once zapped a piece of metal flatware or nuked a shiny silver mixing bowl. And there, in front of  half a dozen seasoned food writers, Derrik, who is also the Technical Consultant & Director of the Barry Callebaut Canada Chocolate Academy, put a big metal bowl of chocolate pistoles in the microwave and hit "Start." As you can see, it took all my self-control not to launch across the table and stop him.