Award-winning chocolatier embraces Taiwan with inauguration dessert

Award-winning chocolatier embraces Taiwan with inauguration dessert

2024-05-13

For the first time, the state banquet following the inauguration on May 20 is to be held outside of the capital, in Tainan. The menu is always a matter of interest, with this year’s dessert to be themed around international excellence. Made especially for the event, a Taipei chocolatier created a sesame oil and osmanthus flower chocolate inspired by sesame tangyuan, a classic Taiwanese dessert reinterpreted to share with the world.

Heated cream is poured into chocolate and mixed until a slight sheen appears. This is the key to melt-in-the-mouth confectioneries. Then comes the most important part: Taiwan’s own cold-pressed black sesame oil.

Cheng Yu-hsuan
Chocolatier
The pairing of black sesame represented by the sesame oil actually does an incredible job evoking flavor memories.

The unique and rousing dessert is to be the grand finale of President-elect Lai Ching-te’s inauguration banquet on May 20. Tucked inside is also osmanthus from Changhua, fortifying its strong association with Taiwanese culture.

Cheng Yu-hsuan
Chocolatier
When developing it, I discovered that osmanthus and sesame are both flavors with deeply held associations from eating osmanthus and sesame tangyuan. Taiwanese and visitors alike find it to be a combination that packs a punch.

When 36-year-old Cheng Yu-hsuan got the invitation to prepare a course for the banquet, he was named as Taiwan’s most refined dessert chef. But Cheng actually studied foreign languages in school, and only started learning to make chocolate at age 19. He later went to France to study and became the first Taiwanese to be named on 50 Next’s list of Gamechanging Producers. He’s also presented in the Salon du Chocolat Paris exhibition.

Cheng Yu-hsuan
Chocolatier
To me, chocolate is like the perfect bottle of perfume. You need to understand the different effects each component will create at each stage as it’s being eaten. The entire team has worked hard to evoke Taiwanese culture in each chocolate.

For 17 years, Cheng has been using chocolate to bring Taiwanese flavors to the world. Playing from the international excellence theme of this year’s dessert, he is sure to bring the inauguration banquet to the perfect conclusion.

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國宴主廚曾獲頒"未來50" 特製巧克力帶出台灣風味

2024-05-13

520國宴腳步越來越接近，今年首次離開首都，移師台南舉辦，當天的國宴料理，也成為矚目焦點，其中甜點部分，以國際之光為主題，邀請台北人氣甜點店加入，主廚特別製作"麻油桂花夾心巧克力"，概念發想來自"桂花釀芝麻湯圓"，用一顆巧克力向世界分享台灣味道。

滾燙的鮮奶油，倒進巧克力裡，攪拌到出現柔和光澤，這是夾心入口即化的關鍵步驟，接下來重頭戲，倒入台灣本產的冷壓黑麻油。

[[國宴甜點巧克力主廚鄭畬軒]]
“麻油象徵的黑芝麻，搭在一起其實就是一個很棒的甜點的風味記憶”

獨特又衝擊的風味，是準總統賴清德520國宴，壓軸登場的甜點，裡頭還加入來自彰化的桂花，要讓人一吃，就聯想到台灣文化。

[[國宴甜點巧克力主廚鄭畬軒]]
“在做的過程中就發現說，桂花跟芝麻其實是深處在我們的味覺記憶裡面，就是我們吃的這個桂花釀芝麻湯圓，不論對於台灣當地的朋友，又或者對於外賓，都會是一個非常具有風味衝擊的食材”

今年36歲的主廚鄭畬軒，受邀加入國宴團隊，被稱為台灣味覺最精準的甜點師傅，不過他其實是外文系畢業，19歲開始自學巧克力，後來也到法國進修實習，是台灣首位獲得世界50最佳餐廳頒發的未來50餐飲人獎，也曾登上法國巴黎巧克力大展。

[[國宴甜點巧克力主廚鄭畬軒]]
“對我而言，巧克力就像是一瓶完美的香水，你必須理解哪一樣食材，在哪一個階段，會在口中產生什麼樣的效果，整個團隊一直努力做的事情，就是表現台灣的飲食文化在巧克力之中”

17年來鄭主廚把台灣的風味，透過巧克力帶向世界，今年的國宴甜點就是以國際之光為主題，要替520做完美結尾。

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For more Taiwan news, tune in:
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