School Of Chocolate - General Discussion

[Door County Cherry]

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World-renowned French chocolatier Amaury Guichon mentors eight students who compete for a prize package that includes a career-changing opportunity.

 

[Door County Cherry]

I found myself really enjoying this.  The chocolate concoctions the main guy did were amazing and I liked the idea of a competition show that was also a master class kind of show and that no one was eliminated. 

Amaury was very encouraging with the participants and it was such a refreshing approach. He'd point out the mistakes and then follow it up with "it can happen." 

[yourmomiseasy]

This was very enjoyable.  I'm glad there were not eliminations.  It was great to see everyone work together, collaborate, and be nice and it be more of a master class with instruction.  I thought Melissa was kind of an asshole, but not over the top.

[Rickster]

I’ve seen three episodes and have been enjoying it too. If I were to throw out a criticism, I’d like more focus on showing techniques - which to me are really fascinating - as the competitors make things, and less on talking heads. I’ve seen Thiago before somewhere and he seems to get a lot of air time. 
 

I got nervous when they decided to let the competitors openly vote for the winner in one challenge, which seemed to be an attempt to create artificial drama and conflict, but so far nothing has developed.

Edited November 29, 2021 by Rickster

[RoxiP]

Thiago was on Best Bakers in America and probably some of the assorted holiday baking championship shows at the very least.  I was surprised he didn't do very well because he seemed very competent.

I liked this show a lot (binge watched this weekend) and agree that Mellisa came across very poorly.  

[JBurg58]

I LOVE Chef Armaury! I've watched pretty much every cooking competition for years, from Top Chef to Iron Chef to Holiday Baking Championship to the Great British Baking Show. NO professional chef has ever told cheftestants to come to him if they need help, then offered stellar advice kindly yet precisely. Great guy, great show!

[RoxiP]

On 11/29/2021 at 5:43 PM, JBurg58 said:

I LOVE Chef Armaury! I've watched pretty much every cooking competition for years, from Top Chef to Iron Chef to Holiday Baking Championship to the Great British Baking Show. NO professional chef has ever told cheftestants to come to him if they need help, then offered stellar advice kindly yet precisely. Great guy, great show!

I agree.  He was a great mentor and obviously delighted in his craft...now if he would just get rid of that combover...LOL!

One of the most encouraging people I have ever seen on a baking show.

[Kristi800]

Just watched this and loved it! Chef Amaury is so great and his assistants (are they still called sous chef's here?) were great, too. Loved that there weren't eliminations and the first two "losers" got extra time in the kitchen. That seemed to be the only time, since the second episode had Thiago cutting his finger (I didn't see it bandaged later on) and Daniel stepped in.  

Agree that Mellissa was annoying. Did she really win that many challenges that she should have been in the final? It's true that it's a competition, and I'm not trying to judge her as a a woman. Bitter about losing her restaurant because of covid (the governor took it away)...restaurants were open, just in different ways during covid. Daniel started out very full of himself and came away with more humility. Juan had such as crush!! 

The challenges were amazing!! Would love to learn more pastry work.

[chaifan]

As soon as I started watching, Chef Amaury reminded me of someone.  Took me a few minutes to put my finger on it, and then figured it out:  Nicholas Hoult, currently staring as Peter in The Great (on Hulu). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 2, 2021 by chaifan

[Kristi800]

On 12/2/2021 at 3:06 PM, chaifan said:

As soon as I started watching, Chef Amaury reminded me of someone.  Took me a few minutes to put my finger on it, and then figured it out:  Nicholas Hoult, currently staring as Peter in The Great (on Hulu). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He's grown up nicely!! I definitely see it!

[chaifan]

I finished watching, but I won't post any spoilers.  I do like this format for a competitive cooking show, with no weekly eliminations.  I do like this truly is a "school" type format, and that Chef Amaury will talk the students through issues, make suggestions, etc.  And I like that each of the students has actually learned things over the course of the show - not just processes/techniques, but how to be a better chef overall.

I wonder if Mellisa got the hyper competitive bitchy edit, or if that is her true personality.  I think she had reason a few times to be a little salty about things, but I know these reality talking head segments are all prompted by production and creatively edited, so they all may have been like that at times and we never saw it.

Anyways, if they have a second season I'll tune in.  It's an easy watch, it's nice to have a little behind the scenes look at these creations, and the end results are always amazing.  There's a lot of talent in that room.

 

 

 

[lovesnark]

I'm bingeing this today and loving it. It's so nice to see Chef Amaury offering extremely helpful advice to the contestants and encouraging them. The lack of drama is greatly appreciated! The only drawback is that I've nearly eaten an entire bag of Lindor Double Chocolate truffles while watching and knitting. I'll have to make a run to the store to finish my binge watch because it would be wrong to do it without chocolate 😂

[Marianna]

Juan bugged me so much bitching that Mellisa made him sit out. No one who complained about her doing that seemed to acknowledge that she had to pick someone. No one was saying, it should’ve been so-and-so. And then when he was put in the position to throw someone out, he chose the person he was apparently closest to - and really, hard to believe you wouldn’t pick Cedrick, who was clearly given scut work — although that Juan and Tyricia are best friends thing seemed to come out of nowhere. I mean, total hypocrite. I do agree he should’ve won, but even though Mellisa bugged me quite a bit, I had a soft spot for her and Thiago in the final. 

Also, I did love Amaury. The occasional bitch sessions honestly seemed out of place in this lovely show. 

[BusyOctober]

Just finished.  I’m happy with the winner. But I’m a tad bit happier over who didn’t win.  Cool show, and the format was awesome.  Helpful judge, amazing challenges with adequate ice allotted.  I will be back if there’s another season.

Edited December 8, 2021 by BusyOctober

[Just Carol]

Also loved this show for reasons others have stated.  Loved there were no eliminations, and was aweed by Chef Aubre creations.

 Two problems, though.  First, the show and course were called "school of chocolate" so why all of the emphasis on pastry?  Did not seem fair that Daniel lost ground due to his pastry flavors, because the emphasis of the show was purportedly on chocolate, a medium at which Daniel excelled.  Good of him to make a personal vow to improve in that area, though.  Second, when the four prizes all went to Juan, I sort of expected him to give one toMellisa.  I think that one of the prizes was five hundred pounds of chocolate?  It would have been ice for Juan to give that to Mellisa, since she wanted to open a shop and I am pretty sure that Juan did not.  He is working at Four Seasons according to the Internet.

what happens to all that chocolate?  I cannot imagine anyone eating a chocolate showpiece.

 

 

[RoxiP]

Mellisa wouldn't have shared one ounce of chocolate with Juan.  It just did not seem to be in her nature.

I think the emphasis was on being well-rounded.  Daniel will be stronger because he found where he was weak.

[Evagirl]

This is the first time I'd heard of Chef Amaury and I instantly fell in love.  He's a great teacher/mentor and it doesn't hurt that his accent is out of this world!  I loved the way he pronounced Daniel like we pronounce Danielle.And that he pronounced Melissa like ME-lis-sah.  So charming!

I had a soft spot to the tender-hearted cry-baby.  Can't remember his name, but just the fact that he teared talking about this wife and children were enough for me to root for him.  Too bad he didn't do better.

The only thing that really bugged me was that the winner got so much stuff.  It was enough stuff to have a second and third place winner.  Juan was good and I guess he deserved to win, I just personally didn't care for the guy because I got the feeling he felt entitled to the winner's crown.  As did ME-lis-sah.

I hope they have a second season and I will certainly be looking Tdessert shows that have Chef Amaury!

[RoxiP]

https://www.mashed.com/620933/the-untold-truth-of-school-of-chocolates-amaury-guichon/

 

I hope the above link works.  It is a great article about Amaury's career and kind of gives some insight (or at least it did to me) why pastry was also a big part of the criteria (because that is what he teachers - both pastry and chocolate). 

Edited December 13, 2021 by RoxiP
Misspelled chocolate....DUH

[GaT]

Just finished watching this, & I enjoyed it. I really liked the non eliminations, & that it felt that people were actually learning. I'm happy with the winner, & was OK with everyone though Cedric drove me crazy with his apparent inability to do something different.

[jackjill89]

I loved this show. I wish the episodes had been longer and we could have seen more of them making their creations. I enjoyed how it was very positive and no one was eliminated. I feel like everyone learned something. The only negative for me was Melissa. 

[Kristi800]

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what happens to all that chocolate?  I cannot imagine anyone eating a chocolate showpiece.

I always wonder that with any of these challenge shows. So much food/cookies/cake...and the judges only take a small bite. All that work! 

I'm onboard for another season.

I would love to try that sugar globes process using the plastic wrap. I made sugar "glass shards" one time for a party. Had never made it before and it came out a little thicker that I wanted, but was still fun to try on a whim.

[Adiba]

Loved the show, but I wanted to eat chocolate while watching! All of the participants were talented in their own way, and I could imagine any of them making a delicious dessert that I would want to eat—but I think the right person won. He was the most well-rounded in terms of artistry and pastry skills.

[RoxiP]

I saw another woman use the glass globe on plastic method (I think on Holiday Wars) recently.  I have read in the past that the crew and contestants are allowed to eat after the show has been wrapped.

[Spunkygal]

Be sure to check out his IG page! As you can imagine, so many amazing creations and one of my recent faves is him creating a gorgeous reindeer and sleigh. 

[Iseut]

In the process of watching this...agree with all here that it's a lovely twist on most of the mean-spirited reality competition shows. Amaury is absolutely damn delightful. For such a young insanely talented person, he could get away with being a jerk, but he's so nice! I feel like my grandma would have loved him lol and I do too. 

[meep.meep]

On 12/20/2021 at 9:46 AM, RoxiP said:

I saw another woman use the glass globe on plastic method (I think on Holiday Wars) recently.  I have read in the past that the crew and contestants are allowed to eat after the show has been wrapped.

The contestants on the Great British Bake Off have had to make them, at least twice.  They are all amateur bakers.  It's surprising that none of these professional pastry chefs had ever tried it.   It's tricky but not that hard once you know how to do it.

I was surprised at the amount of resentment and pouting from Juan and Stephanie when they were asked to sit out the one challenge.  Think of it as a compliment!  Or listen to the rationalization from the head chefs - they both pointed out that those two were the only ones who hadn't had to miss any of the challenges.

Spoiler

And Juan won anyway.

If there is a second season, it would be better if the contestant's talents are more even.  Either all beginners or all experts.

[Door County Cherry]

I didn't mind the disparity in talents because it led to a most improved kind of award.

 

[Darian]

I started watching this and didn't care if I got spoiled. Read some reviews that were negative because there was so little drama because there were no eliminations each week and all this other stuff that I did not miss at all. I love seeing people do what they're good at and when you have a true master completely invested in helping everyone there get better at their craft, and each person there wanting to win, but also there to improve and learn. Well, I love it. I'm only two episodes in (watching one a night to savor it) so my comments are premature, maybe, but I'm just enjoying it so much. I'd love to see a few more shows with this format, which would lend itself to all kinds of disciplines.   

[Whimsy]

On 12/9/2021 at 7:07 PM, Just Carol said:

Also loved this show for reasons others have stated.  Loved there were no eliminations, and was aweed by Chef Aubre creations.

 Two problems, though.  First, the show and course were called "school of chocolate" so why all of the emphasis on pastry?  Did not seem fair that Daniel lost ground due to his pastry flavors, because the emphasis of the show was purportedly on chocolate, a medium at which Daniel excelled.  Good of him to make a personal vow to improve in that area, though.  Second, when the four prizes all went to Juan, I sort of expected him to give one toMellisa.  I think that one of the prizes was five hundred pounds of chocolate?  It would have been ice for Juan to give that to Mellisa, since she wanted to open a shop and I am pretty sure that Juan did not.  He is working at Four Seasons according to the Internet.

what happens to all that chocolate?  I cannot imagine anyone eating a chocolate showpiece.

 

 

Which Four Seasons is he working at, just out of curiosity?  I haven’t googled. 
 

Turns out my daughter went to culinary school with Daniel. He was getting his bachelor’s when she was getting her associates, I believe she said. They worked together at one of the campus restaurants.  Ne also gave us his chocolate cake recipe to use (he’s such a sweetie in real life too) for my very small cupcake business.  I am very far away from these people’s realm of knowledge and success, but I do have one AMAZING chocolate cake recipe!!  So, I think his pastry is probably still quite good, just not what chef Amaury was looking for.

[Door County Cherry]

45 minutes ago, Whimsy said:

Which Four Seasons is he working at, just out of curiosity?  I haven’t googled. 

It looks like Chicago according to his Instagram.

 

[Leeds]

On 12/19/2021 at 12:32 PM, Kristi800 said:

I always wonder that with any of these challenge shows. So much food/cookies/cake...and the judges only take a small bite. All that work! 

 

(Sorry, asked and answered above,)

Edited January 3, 2022 by Leeds

[Whimsy]

10 hours ago, Door County Cherry said:

It looks like Chicago according to his Instagram.

 

I was curious because my daughter worked at Four Seasons in Hawaii for her externship. 

It was really fun to watch someone that has a connection to our family. I do remember being introduced to him, but it was literally less than a minute conversation. It was graduation day and all the restaurants on campus were super busy. 
 

 I really enjoyed the format of this show too. Except for Stephenie, no one had the cutthroat mentality. Although, I don’t entirely blame her, either. They had a rough year and she is trying to provide for her family. 

[Darian]

Since this is streaming and has been out awhile, I figure I don't need to spoiler-tag anything about what one of the chefs has been up to since the show. If you're behind you could take it as a sign that the person won the money and used it for this, though they also might not have. So stop reading or not. 

I posted on my FB page about this show and a local friend said Thiago is opening a patisserie in her downtown area. It's a good place for him, I think, and I'm thrilled for him and the friend who gets to go there (I'm homebound and she offered doorstop delivery, so I might, too). 

In case anyone reads more, I found an article.  

[TomGirl]

On 12/7/2021 at 12:26 PM, BusyOctober said:

 I’m happy with the winner. But I’m a tad bit happier over who didn’t win.

My sentiments exactly!

[laserlady]

On 12/6/2021 at 10:58 PM, Marianna said:

Juan bugged me so much bitching that Mellisa made him sit out. No one who complained about her doing that seemed to acknowledge that she had to pick someone. No one was saying, it should’ve been so-and-so. And then when he was put in the position to throw someone out, he chose the person he was apparently closest to - and really, hard to believe you wouldn’t pick Cedrick, who was clearly given scut work — although that Juan and Tyricia are best friends thing seemed to come out of nowhere. I mean, total hypocrite. I do agree he should’ve won, but even though Mellisa bugged me quite a bit, I had a soft spot for her and Thiago in the final. 

What really irked me is that Juan specifically told Mellisa not to worry because everyone knew she had to cut someone, so nobody would be offended by her decision, and then he acted like she'd committed an unforgiveable offense by picking him.  Apparently what he meant by his comment was, "Don't worry about offending Thiago or Daniel.  They both know I'm better than them, so they'll understand that you had to cut one of them in order to keep the best person on your team."

Mellisa annoyed me a lot, and I'd liked Juan up until that episode, but I found his hypocritical reaction to Mellisa's decision very off-putting.

[Amethyst]

I've seen Amaury Gichon's stuff on IG, so was looking forward to this.  It's nice to see such a kind man behind the talent.  Seeing him coach the contestants showed how he really cares about his craft and how he wants the others to enjoy it as well.

On 12/30/2021 at 6:03 PM, Darian said:

Read some reviews that were negative because there was so little drama because there were no eliminations each week and all this other stuff that I did not miss at all.

I felt the same way, with the bolded.  There's a reason that shows like The Great British Bake Off are so successful.  I think people are growing tired of the cutthroat reality series, especially since so much of the drama is manufactured.  Given the last few years, it's nice to see people helping each other, and being kind. 

Juan annoyed me at first because he was such a braggart, but he grew on me by the end.  He wasn't necessarily wrong about being cut, even if he did pout about it.  Mellisa kept saying it was a competition before anything else, and her main competitor was either Juan, Daniel, or both, so why not get rid of Juan so he couldn't shove her out of the spotlight?  Him not being cut for one of the challenges before was a good reason, I just don't think it was the real reason she cut him.

Another reason I think Juan won was because he made an effort to get his team to try new things instead of just telling them what to do, and said that he wanted to win for all of them, not just himself.  Amaury did mention that leadership would factor in the final competition.

On 12/5/2021 at 3:39 PM, chaifan said:

Anyways, if they have a second season I'll tune in.  It's an easy watch, it's nice to have a little behind the scenes look at these creations, and the end results are always amazing.  There's a lot of talent in that room.

IA.  Regardless of who won, those were some impressive creations.  

[aradia22]

I think Amaury makes for a good judge. His critiques are generally kind and thoughtful and even when he's harsh, it's fair and he's not just trying to be mean or break the contestants. Anything I dislike feels like producer prompting (like him saying there was a tie and asking the contestants to vote). I wish we could spend less time on the manufactured drama between contestants so we actually got a sense of who Amaury's assistants are and what their role is in the show. I feel like they're obviously doing something like advising Amaury or helping the contestants but that was mostly cut down to showing one of them calling the poor performers of the week into an office meeting and announcing the amount of time left. Which could be done by anyone. 

It's not quite Bake Off, but it's not American Idol/X Factor either. I think they're going for Top Chef. It's very similar aesthetically. My least favorite parts are the parts that feel the most like a reality show. I like that no one gets eliminated and there's a cash prize but they're there to learn. I like that it's generally low stakes but also everyone takes it seriously in that bake off way so there's some drama. I hate the personal backstories (when it doesn't come up during the challenge) and phone calls to home, establishing shots (that have zero bearing on the show since it isn't even like Top Chef where the city they're in plays into the challenges), the scenes at the house, the producer prompting, the talking heads, the challenges to provoke drama... it's all very Bravo. Just let them make things and improve at different paces. I don't need manufactured drama.

I do not like the way some of the episodes were divided strangely. You know I'm going to binge watch it. It felt very insecure. The episodes already have variable lengths. Either make each episode however long it needs to be or get your editors on the ball. 

I thought the contestants sucked after the first challenge so it was nice to see many of them step up rather soon after. I am curious how much time they have between challenges. Those are long work/filming days.

Edited February 23, 2023 by aradia22

[aradia22]

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what happens to all that chocolate?  I cannot imagine anyone eating a chocolate showpiece.

I feel like you could eat one of Amaury's showpieces (unless it was being displayed for an extended period of time) but I have my doubts about the contestants' work. It's the same way that people who make huge wedding cakes make them with the intention that you can eat everything and work cleanly in their professional kitchens but when they go on Food Network to compete on cake making shows, they're a lot sloppier. I think they would try harder in the real world for commissioned pieces but here Juan is forgetting to wear gloves and I'm sure if something falls on the floor, they'll just glue it back on because the goal is to have something finished to present for judging. 

[aradia22]

It didn't take up too much of the episode but Juan and Stephanie were giant babies about being left out of the showpiece challenge. Your ballerina box was just a box. Be quiet.

[RoxiP]

This is one show I wouldn't mind seeing another season of.