Belgian chef and chocolatier Marc Leon Pauquet is the head of the Chocolate Academy Centre Turkey for Barry Callebaut, a member of The Chaine des Rotisseurs and Patissierdans le Monde associations and a jury member of the World Chocolate Master pre-selections.

Dawn caught up with him while he was in Islamabad to hold live demonstrations, chocolate-themed high teas and conduct trainings across the country.

Q: What made you decide to work with chocolate?

A: Chocolate impressed me. You have the chocolate that is sold as a commodity of the stock market, like rice, and chocolate in supermarkets as nicely packed bars, and shops where chocolate is displayed like jewellery. This attracted me directly from a young age. My parents have a very old pastry shop in Eupen, which is in the German-speaking part of Belgium. I always say I was raised with chocolate.

From childhood, I got Callebaut chocolate to eat and professionally, I have been working as a chocolatier and using Callebaut in Belgium, in Switzerland and in Turkey. With chocolate, you can do all kinds of things. You can do a plain bar, you can do a bon bon, you can do a chocolate cake, you can do a brownie, you can do cookies; the list is endless.

Q: What is your speciality?

A: We have a lot of specialities. We have a rice cake, which is cooked rice baked into a pie. We have a yeasted dough which has sugar plums and chocolate pieces baked into it. And then of course, chocolate mousse.

I like combining chocolate with traditional recipes. In Turkey, where I am based these days, I take a traditional recipe, like a baklava or a rice pudding, and fuse it with chocolate - and the results are amazing. Everybody loves these recipes. I have even been called to Lebanon to teach this baklava, where I introduced my chocolate baklava into the premium pastry chains in Lebanon.

I love combining fruits into my creations, like passion fruit, or the infusions of spices like cardamom, star anise and lemongrass.

Q: What are the flavours of chocolate you work with?

A: There are many, many flavours. The cacao bean, depending on which region it comes from, gives a unique flavour. We have the Asian flavours which give a bit of a fruity taste. We have the American beans which give more of a floral flavour and the African beans have more of a body and have a woody taste. Exactly like coffee. My favourite is a strong chocolate with berry notes and you can do some very nice things with it.

Q: Did you have to train as a chef to become a chocolatier, or did you go directly into pastry making?

A: I started as a pastry chef. I did an apprenticeship in my parents’ business and a master diploma in bakery. Then I did a master diploma in confectionary where I could really develop my love for chocolate. I make chocolate every day for at least two to three hours. I do trainings in confectionary; we have big customers whom we visit. We are developing chocolate with everybody.

Q: What is the future for this profession?

A: I don’t know Pakistan very well but cooking shows – good or not so good – are popping up around the world. The interest in cooking skills is growing very fast. Before, if you became a chef in Europe it was because you couldn’t do anything else, now you are proud to be a chef. I have visited some good culinary schools in Pakistan and it is possible they produce a young generation of chefs who love chocolate.

Published in Dawn, February 15th, 2018