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at Thu, 22 Apr 2004 19:42:15 GMT in >,
(Blake Jones) wrote :

>I finally had the opportunity to try Amedei's Chuao chocolate a couple
>months ago, and discovered what an amazing thing it is.

Unbelievable stuff isn't it? Amedei really hit the chocolate bulls-eye with
this one. Bonnat's and Valrhona's Chuaos are but pale imitations.

> I'd say it's
>become my favorite chocolate. After reading (the PR releases which
>claim) how little Chuao chocolate there is each year, I was amazed to
>see that Amedei sells 1kg bars of their Chuao, and that they seem to be
>marketing it for baking/chocolate making. I could see making a pure
>Chuao truffle, but anything more complex than that would be detracting
>from perfection.

Actually, Chuao is a superb chocolate for baking because its power, very
rare for a Criollo chocolate which tend to be far more delicate, will
withstand considerable dilution without suffering from intensity loss. So
you can fearlessly use it in cakes, cookies, etc. and come out with an
intense result. I've bought a 1 kg bloc, and will probably buy another in
the near future as well. Much of it went straight from hand to mouth, of
course, but baking with it is a joy as well.

....

>On that thought, I was wondering if it would be possible to make a cup
>of Criollo (or Chuao) hot chocolate. That seems like another way of
>using chocolate of this quality without compromising it. I usually use
>a hot chocolate recipe similar to Jeffrey Steingarten's from _It Must've
>Been Something I Ate_, which he got from Pierre Herme. It makes a silky
>hot cup of frothy chocolate which is rich enough to serve as a potent
>dessert by itself. It calls for milk, water, sugar, chocolate, and
>cocoa powder; presumably the chocolate adds flavor and cocoa butter
>while the cocoa powder increases the punch.

The cocoa powder has another, critical function - it takes up the milk and
the water. Chocolate won't emulsify in water or milk (try it! - just not
with the Chuao!!) so you need first of all to increase the cocoa density.
However, cream *will* emulsify chocolate, so a better bet IMHO is to start
by making a firm chocolate ganache and then mix hot milk slowly into it.
This will be considerably richer than the normal hot chocolate, but truly
divine. If you want the ultimate, simply melt the chocolate itself and then
use a molinillo - a wooden whisk you can find in Mexican stores - to froth
it up.

> But if I were to use Amedei
>for the chocolate, I'd want a cocoa powder which would complement, or at
>least not get in the way of, the chocolate itself.

Chuao is sufficiently powerful that very few cocoas will actually get in
the way of it. It will overwhelm most cocoas completely, so that's less of
a problem than it might initially seem.

Having said that, since your quest is for the ultimate, there really can be
only one choice - Michel Cluizel's "Dark" cocoa - the best on the market.
The catch is that you'll have to buy a large amount - IIRC 5 kg at a time.
Still, I think with that level of cocoa, you'll have little difficulty
finding uses for it...

--
Alex Rast

(remove d., .7, not, and .NOSPAM to reply)

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