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Alex Rast

at Sat, 11 Feb 2006 08:44:38 GMT in
. com>,
(mcdruid) wrote :

>Take a bit of French black truffle, wrap it in Valrhona chocolate, and
>sell it for $2,600 per pound.
>Actually, the # 2 looks pretty appetizing, and it is only $854 a pound.
>

Truffles and chocolate? That doesn't sound as though it would work very
well. In fact, it sounds a lot like the well-known disastrous pairing of a
great wine and a great chocolate - an easy way to wipe out the value of
both.

I think a better idea on the same theme would be a truffle-themed dinner -
with the mushroom truffle featuring prominently in the savoury dishes, and
then chocolate truffles for dessert.

If I wanted to make a chocolate confection mostly to command the highest-
possible price, I'd make a chocolate truffle whose filling was pure
unadulterated vanilla beans. In other words, scrape out enough vanilla
seeds to make a filling-sized portion (that'd be a LOT of beans), and
surround it with ganache. Use Valrhona Porcelana Del Pedregal for the
ganache if you want the true highest cost all round.

But for the ultimate chocolate valentine's gift - in the sense of something
that has real impact and delight rather than the mere showboating of high
price tag, I'd make rosewater-flavoured chocolate truffles. Use Guittard
Chucuri chocolate for the best match. The truffles could each sit inside
the petals of a rose. Enclose in a heart-shaped box made of some really
pretty Japanese washi paper.

--
Alex Rast

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