It seems like there’s a wave of macaron questions that are sweeping my way. Unlike les brownies or le gâteau weekend (poundcake), successful macarons are more the result of the technique, rather than following a mere recipe. There’s lots of tips and tricks around the web that will help you out with these little devils, including some interesting recipes, too. You can find my chocolate…
Earlier this year I was sent some of the new chocolates from Valrhona to play around with. While I made quick work of the rest of them, one stood out in particular: Xocopili, smooth balls of chocolate flavored with a myriad of spices, including a heavy dose of cumin. Frédéric Bau, a professor and head chocolatier at the fantastic Ecole de Grand Chocolat Valrhona, developed…
Rochoux’s caramel-filled chocolate bar. At the shop, they advise you that after you’ve started it, to store it upright to prevent the caramel from running out. That is, of course, is based on the assumption that there’s going to be any left over in the first place. John-Charles Rochoux 16, rue d’Assas (6th) Tél: 01 42 84 29 45 (Map) Related link: John-Charles Rochoux; Parisian…
A while back it was cannelés. Those little eggy pastries baked with a cracky-crust, that everyone was going ga-ga over and just had to bring home the copper molds to make. (Hands up, folks. How many of you have ever used them?) Then everyone moved on to macarons, dainty little “sandwiches”, made from two crispy almond meringues, with a layer of buttercream or jam in…
My search for the perfect, most luscious and intense chocolate mousse brought me right back from France, to America, to Julia Child’s recipe. Although I have a few other chocolate mousse recipes in my repertoire, her recipe is a classic and has that perfect slightly sticky texture, that sticks to your tastebuds, then hits you with a wallop of pure dark chocolate flavor. This recipe requires a bit of whipping….
Paris chocolatier… Michel Chaudun 149, rue de l’Université (map) 01 47 53 74 40 Michel Chaudun (in Japan)
[UPDATE: La Maison du Chocolat may have stopped making this particular chocolate.] At a recent tasting at La Maison du Chocolat, I sampled at least eight chocolates—not to mention passion fruit ganache, chocolat chaud, plus two of their newest summer flavors: melon and star anise. It was a lot to get through, let me tell you. I normally avoid any hot chocolate that’s offered in…
We’re mid-week into our Paris Chocolate Tour here and we’re having a great time. Everyone’s enjoying the unusually fine weather, and of course, the chocolate. I wanted to post a few shots and notes in my spare seven minutes—it’s 5:34am so forgive any typos or missed links. I’ll catch ’em later…in my free time ; ) Cheerful, and the amazingly-talented, Jean-Charles Rochoux shows us a…
New chocolate-makers are springing up across America, in the most unlikeliest of places. Like Missouri. Who’d a thunk it? Using good ‘ol American ingenuity, a little over a year ago, Alan McClure started grinding up beans and molding them into lithe bars of very dark, and very sleek, bittersweet chocolate. His company, Patric chocolate, makes bars that are “micro-produced,” and he’s got two in his…
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