White chocolate consomme

[Tri2Cook]

The Ideas in Food people did it. I read about a white chocolate and creme fraiche consomme on another site. They don't give any detailed (or even vague) information about what they actually did on either site so I'm going to figure it out for myself or (even better) with some help from folks here that have already done it or have some ideas for it. I'm going to start with the most basic and obvious version, water and white chocolate, and go from there. Please join in. If you have ideas but don't have the time or the desire to experiment, throw them in here anyway.

[JeanneCake]

I'm intrigued as well. I googled "white chocolate consomme" and came up with a few sites that might give you more inspiration:

The Power of a Passion blog

and this NY Times article discusses gelatin drips to clarify

NY Times article

Sounds like fun!

[CalumC]

Well i guess melted white chocolate, creme fraiche and water mixed up is the only way forward. It doesn't matter if it splits, which it will, because youre clarifying it anyway.

Having said that, theres a HB recipe around where he made a chocolate chantilly with dark chocolate and water, which ive had success with. Maybe you could make that with white chocolate, and clarify that. Dont know if white chocolate would react the same was as dark though.

I would go for the gelatin clarification btw, works a treat. I made a banana consomme ages ago, wasnt nearly strong enough, but as far as clarity is concerned, it was gorgeous.

[Tri2Cook]

The Power of Passion blog is where I saw that white chocolate/creme fraiche version, I just couldn't remember the name so thanks for that.

I'll definitely be using the syneresis filtering, that's pretty much the only way I've been doing clarifications since I started playing around with it early last summer. Sometimes I use a Buchner funnel and vacuum flask for small test batches but otherwise it's the gelatin every time.

That HB recipe is actually a Herve This recipe that HB demonstrated in the chocolate episode of Kitchen Science, he gave HT full credit during the segment (he also did a chocolate and blue cheese ganache in that episode as well as a quick run-through of the Chocolate Delice they do at the Fat Duck).

Thanks for the input, keep 'em coming!

Edited February 2, 2008 by Tri2Cook (log)

[Tri2Cook]

Ok, I have two batches in the freezer. Batch one is at it's most basic, just water and white chocolate. Batch two is water and white chocolate that I bolstered with the flavor components of the white chocolate. I added some cocoa butter, a vanilla bean, a little sugar and some dry milk powder. Both were heated, sealed, allowed to cool, the fat skimmed off, heated enough to dissolve the gelatin, chilled then tossed in the freezer. I'll dump them in filters tomorrow and see what I get on monday.

[CalumC]

Any experimental consomme pr0n for us? Would love to see how you made the base liquid.

[adey73]

what proportions of liquid to solids you use?

[naes]

I'll give you a hint - gelatin filtration.

Edit: Well, that will teach me to pay more attention before I reply. For some reason I just didn't see that there were already several replies to this post. Glad to see that you're making some progress on this.

Edited February 3, 2008 by naes (log)

[Tri2Cook]

Any experimental consomme pr0n for us? Would love to see how you made the base liquid.

←

Sorry, didn't take any pics of the process. There wasn't really much to show. Toss the solids in a pan, add water, heat over low heat. Seal with plastic wrap, infuse until cool, skim fat. Soak gelatin, heat liquid, dissolve in gelatin. I cooled it in a water bath just to speed things up a little. Fridge until gelled and toss it in the freezer.

The liquid in both batches tasted nicely of white chocolate before filtering with a nod to the bolstered batch for strength of flavor but maybe just using more white chocolate would have worked just as well. It seems too simple at this point so I'm not feeling confident that I'll have what I'm looking for after filtering. Then again, toast is pretty simple and I can't think of one good reason to make it any more complicated so we'll see.

[TheSwede]

I've tried doing something similar, "brown" chocolate consomme. I basically did a classic drinking chocolate (receipe from one of Steingartens books, cocolate, cocoa, milk, sugar, heat/blend/froth - tastes wonderfully) and then did a gelatine filtration. The end product was clear, light brown and didn't taste very good.

The taste was a bit harsh and chemical, even though I used reasonably upmarket ingredients and the chocolate tasted good before filtration. There was definitely a chocolatey taste to the consomme, but not a nice one.

[Tri2Cook]

Interesting. I've done regular chocolate consomme several times and I've been happy with the results but I use Sam Mason's recipe or variations on that (except that I clarify it with gelatin instead of a raft). For some strange reason, I haven't used it in sweet applications much. The last time I made it, I used it and a grapefruit consomme with fish.

I have my first white chocolate consomme. The pics will have to wait until tomorrow but the first impression is both good and bad.

The good:

It tastes like white chocolate. Not just sweet and vanilla but actual white chocolate, the cocoa butter left it's mark. I think the one that I didn't add anything to is the better of the two. It's lighter in flavor but it's not as sweet. Maybe I'll try a batch with vanilla bean and extra cocoa butter but no extra sugar just to see how that goes.

The bad:

1. It didn't clarify as much as I would have liked. There's not a lot of cloudiness but there's more than I can live with so I'm going to try a second filtration.

2. The color. It's not the greatest. Of all the colors it could be it had to go with "watered down urine sample yellow".

I'll get a picture tomorrow before I hit it with more gelatin for a second filtering.

[TheSwede]

Interesting. I've done regular chocolate consomme several times and I've been happy with the results but I use Sam Mason's recipe or variations on that (except that I clarify it with gelatin instead of a raft). For some strange reason, I haven't used it in sweet applications much. The last time I made it, I used it and a grapefruit consomme with fish.

←

Ok, thanks. Will try again with some other chocolate (think I used Lindt the first time) and no milk and sugar.

[schneich]

why would anybody want to do a white chocolate consomme??

in essence the flavour of white chocolate is just the added vanilla (or vanillin). cocoa butter doesnt have a strong enough taste to be consommified

cheers

t.

[Tri2Cook]

cocoa butter doesnt have a strong enough taste to be consommified

Ummm... the liquid I have will disagree with you on that.

I'm not sure if there is much of a point to it. I'm just having fun.

[jumanggy]

That's the spirit T2C

I hope we will get to see pictures soon, even the ones that aren't quite so clear

[mkayahara]

Just a quick note that Alex and Aki at Ideas in Food mention, in this post, that they put buttermilk in their white chocolate consomme, to balance it.

I don't have a lot of experience with the gelatin filtration process, so I'm watching this thread eagerly! I'd love to hear more about the dark chocolate consomme, too. Can Sam Mason's recipe be found online somewhere?

[TheSwede]

Just a quick note that Alex and Aki at Ideas in Food mention, in this post, that they put buttermilk in their white chocolate consomme, to balance it.

I don't have a lot of experience with the gelatin filtration process, so I'm watching this thread eagerly! I'd love to hear more about the dark chocolate consomme, too. Can Sam Mason's recipe be found online somewhere?

←

Basically, he just dissolves chocolate and cocoa in hot water:

http://www.foodite.com/foodite/2006/10/pushing_chocola.html

As for the gelatine filtration, it is pretty simple. Dissolve 0.75% gelatine by weight in the liquid, freeze, and thaw in a fridge over a colander. There is a NY Times article on the subject by McGee. Perhaps someone has a link?

[CalumC]

McGee - Gelatin Clarification from NY Times

[adey73]

you can get by with 0.5% but use sheet gelatin as it seems to be more reliable than powder.

Let it set and then freeze.

[mkayahara]

you can get by with 0.5% but use sheet gelatin as it seems to be more reliable than powder.

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I realize this is starting to veer off topic, but what do you mean by more reliable? I just found a source of sheet gelatin near home, but it's many times more expensive than powder. Consequently, the only time I use it is when I don't want to dilute the liquid I'm gelling with the water I use to bloom the powder. Are there other reasons to go with sheets? And do you know of a Canadian mail-order source that might offer them at a lower price?

To bring this back on topic, though, has anyone had any luck heating chocolate consomme? Someone mentioned in the gelatin clarification thread that they can't be heated. I'd love to hear that that's not the case.

[Jenni]

Wow. This sounds amazing and I'd love to try it! Is there a vegetarian alternative to using gelatine or eggs to clarify? Would agar agar do the same thing?

[adey73]

mkayahara, I tried to get by using powder because it was cheaper but could not rely on it's consistency. I made a few of the consommes that ideasinfood posted on their notebooks and the liquids didn't set uniformley. I found this explanation from Dana on tastingmenu blog...

"Those of my readers that work in professional kitchens will know this product well. Granulated gelatin is second rate. The amount of gelatin and the quality of the gelatin within the granulated form varies. The powder can contain a high amount of broken protein that will never re-bond into the triple helix’s that create the web like junctions. It can contain more or less of viable proteins from batch to batch, creating stronger and weaker gels than you expect. Plain and simple, it’s inconsistent. Unfortunately, it’s the only gelatin readily available to the average cook. I highly recommend finding a source for sheet gelatin if you plan to use much of it at home."

www.tastingmenu.com/2007/10/11/perfecting-panna-cotta/

I have access to wholesale here in the UK I do not know about Canada, sorry.

[Tri2Cook]

So here are the promised pics of round 1. As you can see, "white chocolate broth" is probably a more accurate description than "consomme" at this point. The flavor is very much white chocolate and was identified as such by 3 taste testers that were not given even the slightest hint about what I was having them taste (I have brave, but brutally honest, taste testers always willing to lend an opinion ). The information about the buttermilk is interesting, I hadn't seen that so thanks! I can see where they're coming from with that, the stuff is pretty sweet. The first word out of two of the tasters mouths was "chocolate" followed by "actually, I'd say white chocolate" (the other taster said "white chocolate" right off) so I feel confident that the cocoa butter lends itself to the result and that it's not just me wanting it to be there.

The little design in the bottom of the glass is under ~5 cm (2") of the liquid which gives some idea of the level of cloudiness (but not a completely accurate idea, I have a decent camera but I suck at photography and the pics turned out somewhat grainy this time for some reason). This batch is back in the freezer with more gelatin for round 2 of filtering and I'm going to get a new batch going with some of the ideas that have come up tomorrow.

[TheSwede]

Wow. This sounds amazing and I'd love to try it! Is there a vegetarian alternative to using gelatine or eggs to clarify? Would agar agar do the same thing?

←

Agar wouldn't work. I guess you need a gelling agent that is thermo reversible, ie melts when the temperature gets higher and sets when it gets lower.

Anyone have suggestions?

Edited February 6, 2008 by TheSwede (log)

[Tri2Cook]

Wow. This sounds amazing and I'd love to try it! Is there a vegetarian alternative to using gelatine or eggs to clarify? Would agar agar do the same thing?

←

Agar wouldn't work. I guess you need a gelling agent that is thermo reversible, ie melts when the temperature gets higher and sets when it gets lower.

Anyone have suggestions?

←

Yeah, I'm not sure about that one either. The freezing does something to the structure of the gelatin that causes it to release the liquid upon thawing. I have no idea if agar reacts the same way. I'm willing to give it a try and let you know though. That is, unless someone pops in with a definite answer before I get to it.

Edit: A quick google search seems to indicate that agar is one of the things used to help combat syneresis so I'm not too hopeful... but I'll still give it a try.

Edited February 6, 2008 by Tri2Cook (log)