50 Best’s first-ever e-cookbook, Home Comforts: simple lockdown recipes from the world’s best chefs and bartenders, does more than just give you 50 unique recipes and 25 picture-perfect cocktail pairings – it is also raising money for the hospitality industry as part of our 50 Best for Recovery programme. Enjoy a sneak peek with this sweet recipe by Janice Wong and click here to get the e-cookbook for a $10 (£8) minimum donation
The winner of the Asia’s Best Pastry Chef Award in 2013 and 2014, Janice Wong is the chef-owner of 2amDessertBar, a cerebral sweet-focussed restaurant in Singapore. After learning alongside some of the world’s best chefs – including Thomas Keller and Grant Achatz, as well as chocolatier Oriol Balaguer and Pierre Hermé – Wong focussed on progressing her thoughts and designs on ‘edible art’, which culminated in her career-defining book, Perfection in Imperfection.
For Home Comforts, Wong shared the recipe for her Chocolate Fondant Tarts. “This is one of the first recipes that I introduced at 2amDessertBar and it’s still as popular with our guests 12 years later,” she says. “It has a wonderful hot and cold texture to it. It’s also really easy to make at home – it’s great for all the family. It’s one of my favourite desserts and I crave it all the time.”
The Home Comforts fundraising e-book includes recipes from world-renowned chefs such as El Celler de Can Roca’s Joan Roca and World’s Best Female Chef Clare Smyth of Core by Clare Smyth, along with cocktail pairings by some of the world’s best bartenders. Downloading a copy also gives you access to #50BestRateMyPlate, an Instagram challenge for cooks of all abilities to recreate dishes from Home Comforts for a chance to win tickets to The World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards ceremony in Antwerp, Flanders, in 2021. So what are you waiting for? Download your copy of Home Comforts and think creatively, be inspired, get cooking!
CHOCOLATE FONDANT TARTS
SERVES: 6
PREP TIME: 1 hour
COOKING TIME: 15 mins
Ingredients
280g Valrhona Manjari Dark Chocolate
140g butter
10g frozen orange zest
112g pasteurised egg yolks (available in cartons from supermarkets)
27g caster sugar (a)
10g cornflour
170g pasteurised egg whites (available in cartons from supermarkets)
14g caster sugar (b)
6 pre-cooked, 3-inch pastry cases (either shop-bought or pre-baked)
Method
Over a bain-marie, melt the chocolate, butter and orange zest to 55C / 131F. Using a whisk, homogenise the mixture.
Using an electric stand mixer, whisk the yolks, sugar (a) and cornflour until ribbon stage. Wait for the chocolate mixture to cool and then fold in the egg mixture – be careful not to over-fold. Stop once it has all combined.
In a new stand mixer bowl, whisk egg whites and sugar (b) until it becomes a medium-peak meringue. Fold the meringue into the chocolate mixture until the meringue is not visible, being careful not to knock out all the air.
Transfer the mixture into a piping bag, keep it refrigerated for approximately 20 minutes and set oven to pre-heat to 180C / 356F. Add the fondant into the pre-baked tart cases and bake at 180C / 356F for 5 to 7 minutes. Ideally, you want to aim for approximately 40g of chocolate fondant into a 3-inch tart shell.
Serve hot with your favourite sorbet or ice cream.
In Home Comforts, Wong’s dish is paired with a bourbon-based cocktail created by Sophia Kang of Manhattan bar in Singapore, No.11 in The World’s 50 Best Bars 2019. The cocktail’s aromatic flavours brighten the sweetness of the tarts. Click here to buy a copy of the e-cookbook and learn how to make the Arancia Kopi to accompany this delicious dessert.
Visit the Restaurant Recovery Hub and the Bar Recovery Hub to explore useful resources during the coronavirus pandemic and read the stories of chefs and bartenders around the world. Follow 50 Best on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube for the latest news and videos.
