St. Marie's Academy for the Pâtissière: Kashino

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Chocolat Chaud

Kashino teaches Ichigo that she shouldn't waste any chocolate and one way to do that is to make chocolate chaud with your leftover chocolate for a tasty drink that will pick you up. Kashino's uncle, the chocolatier, taught him and now we're learning how to make it together!

What is it?

Chocolat chaud is also known as hot chocolate or hot cocoa and has three main components - chocolate, liquid and sugar. The chocolate can be shaved, melted buds or cocoa powder and the liquid is usually water or milk. Drinking chocolate is similar but made of melted chocolate shavings or paste. It was first believed to be a drink of the native Mayan peoples and the an important drink in Aztec culture until it was discovered by Europeans conquering Mexico and then spread around the world. Modern hot chocolate is usually sweet but since sugar hadn't yet come to to the Americas, it was originally spicy and bitter. Some say that there are great health benefits to chocolate but others will say that there are great health risks related to consuming large amounts of it due to the high fat and sugar content. Click here to see pictures of chocolat chaud.

Where can I try it?

Chocolat chaud is something that you can find around the world and in most coffee shops today. While it shouldn't be hard to find, there are many varieties and styles and one should try multiple just to see these differences. Some people like to distinguish that cot cocoa is made from powder while hot chocolate is made from bar chocolate already containing cocoa, sugar and cocoa butter. In Europe, they often add a thickening agent such as corn starch such as the Italian cioccolata densa or occasionally the Spanish may prepare it with the viscosity of warm chocolate pudding. In some Belgium cafes, ordering a chocolat chaud would get you a cup of steamed white milk and a small bowl of bittersweet chocolate chips to dissolve in to the milk!

These scans are by Cookie Dough.

How do I make it? (according to the official cookbook)

Coming soon... as soon as cookie dough releases the translation! ;)

How do I make it better? (recipe: David Lebovitz)

Ingredients:
2 cups whole milk
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate finely chopped (at least 70%cacao)

Directions:
1. Heat the milk in a small sauce pan.
2. Slowly stir in the chocolate and until melted with a whisk, keep stirring.
3. Add brown sugar to taste and boil down further for a thicker drink.
4. Pour in to your favorite cups for four "parisian-sized" servings.

Hints and tips from the show:

- Use left over chocolate from other recipies to keep from wasting any chocolate.

Hints and tips from the real world:

- Chocolate is hard to clean up from chopping boards because it melts so easily, use a smooth cutting surface to aid in cleaning.
- It may take some practice to get used to cutting a chocolate bar, doing it on a lower surface helps your arms from getting tired.

Ideas for variations:

- You can experiment with the kind of chocolate you use and different amounts/kinds of sugars/sweeteners.
- Add accents such as whipped cream and cinnamon sticks to vary both the presentation and the flavor!
- Try making Mexican Hot Chocolate for a cinnamon taste using Abuelita's or Ibarra's chocolate!
- Try the cold drink variation that is famous all around the US! Frrozen Hot Chocolate!

References:

http://ribon.shueisha.co.jp/recette (Ad for Official Cookbook)
http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2005/11/parisian-hot-ch-1/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_chocolate
http://www.tazadechocolate.blogspot.com/2008/02/nostalgia-can-sometimes-play-tricks-on.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abuelita
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibarra_(chocolate)

CLICK HERE TO SEE MY ATTEMPT AT MAKING CHOCOLAT CHAUD!

Monday, September 6, 2010

Kashino and Chocolate

Kashino is a master at chocolate tempering and artwork who puts the pros to shame but it's only through intense study and practice that his knowledge and ability to work with chocolate are able to shine!

What is Chocolate Exactly?

Chateau Seika's Cocoa Plantations on the Ivory Coast

Chocolate is made from the seed pods of the Theobroma cacao tree that has been cultivated in Mexico, Central and South America. It is Harvested by cutting the pods from the tree and the the cocao beans and pulp are removed and allowed to ferment.

Chocolate makers use the harvested beans to make couverture chocolate and chocolatiers use the couverture to make chocolate candies.

Types of Chocolate

Milk Chocolate: 25% dry cocoa solids, milk powder or condensed milk, burns easily

Dark Chocolate: 15% chocolate liquor or 35% cocoa solids

Semi-Sweet Chocolate: dark chocolate with low sugar content

Bitter-Sweet Chocolate: chocolate liquor with some sugar and more cocoa butter and vanilla, more liquor and less sugar than semisweet chocolate but interchangeable in baking

White Chocolate: cocoa butter, sugar, milk, no cocoa solids, no theobromines and can be consumed by animals.

Cocoa Powder: natural and dutch cocoa powder both are pulverized defatted chocolate liquor with dutch processed with alkali to neutralize its natural acidity and requiring baking soda for natural cocoa to create a leavening action during baking

Compound Chocolate: coca combined with vegetable fat to replace cocoa butter and is used in candy bar coatings

Raw Chocolate: unprocessed chocolate that hasn't been heated or mixed with other ingredients

Couveture Kashino Gathered on Their European Tour

Couverture Chocolate has a high amount of cocoa butter and is used by professionals for things like dips, coats, molds and garnishes. It is a very high quality of chocolate that can be purchased tempered or untempered and depending on what it is used for, may need to be tempered again.

Do not substitute when other chocolate is required because the high cocoa butter content may change the final sweet product.

Tempering

When using chocolate for molds, dips or coats you want to give it a smooth and glossy finish and make it more resistant to breaking and melting. This is done by heating and cooling the chocolate and cooling. Usually, this consists of breaking the chocolate by grating or pounding and then melting it down. It is important for water to stay away from the chocolate during the entire process and to not overheat the chocolate. Tempering takes plenty of practice to do well and properly.

Chocolate Sculptures

Chocolate sculptures are becoming a very popular form of art in both the culinary and the exhibit art world. It takes not only great knowledge of chocolate and how it behaves but plenty of practice and physical fitness - chocolate is really heavy!

Food Network Challenge has even had competitions where chocolate sculptures have been created around a theme much like in the Cake Grand Prix!

People around the world have erected great statues and to-scale replicas of famous buildings with chocolate and there have even been a few instances of life-size houses and bathrooms built of chocolate (for display only!)