I’ve been wanting to make some chocolate covered strawberries and this weekend, I finally took the plunge. I have learned a lot of things in the process.

The first rule is Mise en Place. Prepare everything before you start cooking. For example, do not wash and dry the strawberries as you individually place them in the chocolate. This only slows down the cooking and can lead to burned things.

Watch the melting chocolate in a double broiler carefully. Once the water comes to a boil, turn it down to a bare minimum. Do not let the chocolate get too hot. Do not let the water run out in the broiler section. This only allows the top to get hotter and discolors the pan.

Do not attempt to rescue chocolate that has too much moisture cooked out of it (see above for reasons why this might have happened). Adding wet or dry goods to hot chocolate will cause it to seize. And now you have lost the tempering. A broken chocolate looks a lot different than tempered chocolate.

And in taking this picture, I have learned some things about food photography. I need a props library. I only have one set of plates, a section of marble, and some plastic cutting mats. These are not very photogenic items.

I can see why you need food stylists. The strawberries have been sitting in the refrigerator and collected condensation. Wicking away the moisture with a napkin was fun. Also, some moisture has weeped out of the strawberries. I had to clean up that mess after the strawberries were in place.

Hot halogen lights will melt chocolate. Set up the camera and the lighting, with a dummy in place to work on focus, color balancing and placement. At the last second, transfer the strawberries in and take photos.

I also tried soaking a batch of strawberries in Wild Strawberry Schnapps before covering them with chocolate. The liquor was not as intense as I hoped it would be. Maybe, for the next time, I need to think about ways to get rid of the moisture in the strawberries before I attempt to replace it with flavored alcohol. Perhaps with salt? Or maybe a food dehydrator?