The Winter Ember at Prove Leiria

The live Winter Ember demonstration at Prove Leiria Doçaria, on 11 October, in Mercado de Sant’Ana: around 80 bonbons given away, and many people coming back for more.

On Sunday 11 October, Chef Joana Marinho took the stage at Prove Leiria Doçaria, in Mercado de Sant’Ana, to show live, alongside Chef Rui Lopes, how the Winter Ember is made. We announced it here — this is the record of how it went.

The Prove Leiria Doçaria stage with the poster for Chef Joana Marinho’s demonstration, Sunday 11 October, 2.30 pm — The demonstration stage in Mercado de Sant’Ana

The Winter Ember was born from a Leiria memory: the smell of roasted chestnuts on autumn afternoons, and Dona Maria, the chestnut seller so many people in Leiria know. It is the bonbon that won the house first place in the Dessert category of the 16th Cociña con Castaña de Galicia, in A Coruña — and the one the Chef assembled in front of everyone watching.

Chef Joana Marinho explaining the Winter Ember to the audience beside Chef Rui Lopes at Prove Leiria Doçaria

Chef Joana Marinho preparing bonbons at the stage counter in Mercado de Sant’Ana, Leiria

At the end, the Chef gave away around 80 bonbons: the Winter Ember and the Nata Portuguesa, inspired by the pastel de nata.

A plate of Winter Ember bonbons, milk chocolate with a white tip, ready to taste — Winter Ember

Nata Portuguesa bonbons, pastel de nata flavour, in their original design, on a plate before the tasting — Nata Portuguesa

The Chef also brought along the chocolate shells painted by Merche Romero and Zé Lopes when she was on V+ TVI’s «Bom dia Alegria». They were filled with the Nata Portuguesa filling and a touch of caramelised biscuit: a special edition.

Special edition: bonbons in the gold shells painted on V+ TVI, filled with the Nata Portuguesa filling and caramelised biscuit — Special edition painted on V+ TVI

People loved watching and tasting. Many came back for more, and many tasted on the spot and returned to the edge of the stage to thank the Chef and tell her how much they had loved them.

Chef Joana Marinho focused at the counter during the demonstration

Counter detail: red hand blender, bowls and shaved chocolate

Diário de Leiria also wrote about the demonstration, and kept a line from the Chef: “I wanted to show that behind a bonbon, beyond the technique, there is a story.”

Thank you to everyone who came, and to Prove Leiria for the invitation. To see where the Chef will be next, Where to see the Chef gathers the upcoming dates and everything that has already happened.

Photographs by Pedro Thomaz.