Associate Editor Aileen Mack joined Dockwalk in July 2018. She is a graduate of the University of Florida with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. If she’s not at a concert or coffee shop, she is lost in a book, movie or a YouTube rabbit hole. Email Aileen at aileen@dockwalk.com.
Since courses shifted from in-person in Palma to online as the mymuybueno Academy of Culinary Arts, CEO and founder Justine Murphy recognized the gap in the offerings as they hadn’t adapted their popular chocolate course. With Chef Hannah Rose of Phoenix2 on their Private Chefs agency books and keeping in touch over the years, Justine knew she’d be the perfect fit, as she radiated all their core values and uber talented with chocolate.
Across six modules, the chocolatier course covers the step-by-step process of six different chocolates from preparing the molds, making the fillings and the capping process to airbrushing and finishing. The chocolates covered are a miso caramel, a Tahitian vanilla bean and N25 Kaluga caviar, a salted almond praline bar, a burnt cocoa and chili, a strawberry Champagne and a Difference Coffee.
While other chocolate courses may require chefs have special equipment, mymuybueno’s simply requires tools already on board and a polycarbonate mold. But for those extra finishing touches, a high-volume low-pressure spray gun with cocoa butter colors will help elevate your chocolates, which is all fully covered in the course as well.
“We very much designed this course with Hannah with [yacht chef limitations] in mind,” Justine shares. “Hannah is confident her chocolates can be made regardless of any environment. With her tips, skills and techniques, ensuring if you follow each step, you will achieve the same desired results.”
The pair spent months deciding on flavors, wanting to cover a variety from nut and fruit to lighter and dark chocolate, along with showing different designs, skills and techniques.
“The course takes you through how to do it with a bowl and spatula,” Hannah shares. “It’s how I learned and how I teach everybody. I do everything by hand, so nothing is with machinery, additives, Mycryo or cocoa butters added.”
As an online course, chefs can watch the videos in each module at their own pace and in their own time, receiving a certificate of completion at the end. Because of the academy’s unlimited access, you can revisit the course at any time to rewatch, relearn and download recipes to build your confidence and arsenal over time.
While chefs have many skillsets, Hannah feels few make chocolate on board because they don’t know how to do so in a galley. “If you take this course, you’d be able to be someone who can do it on board and execute it for the guests, which is a massive thing,” she says. “It’s not only going to make your guest experience better, it’s going to improve you as a chef and your yacht ideally. So it’s a win-win in all spectrums.”