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Is Willie Harcourt-Cooze’s Venezualan Black 100% chocolate available on the market yet? A piece here from the Guardian.

He says that he's targeting the most interesting chefs in the country, but from the tv programme it looks like a cookbook is in the works. Although the recipes don’t look too inspiring so far. Obsessive man married to a Tania with made for TV children makes chocolate spread at 5am in the morning before heading out to the airport, cooks gazpacho with chocolate with side show Ricky his Venezuelan employee, beans and chocolate with Ricky’s wife, hot chocolate and rum to finish off a hard day’s work in the sun and a chocolate marinated pig in an amazing wood burning oven for a cool party. It all feels weirdly colonial, a bit short on real content but I’m interested to see the factory end of things and dying to try the chocolate.

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Is Willie Harcourt-Cooze’s Venezualan Black 100% chocolate available on the market yet? A piece here from the Guardian.

He says that he's targeting the most interesting chefs in the country, but from the tv programme it looks like a cookbook is in the works. Although the recipes don’t look too inspiring so far. Obsessive man married to a Tania with made for TV children makes chocolate spread at 5am in the morning before heading out to the airport, cooks gazpacho with chocolate with side show Ricky his Venezuelan employee, beans and chocolate with Ricky’s wife, hot chocolate and rum to finish off a hard day’s work in the sun and a chocolate marinated pig in an amazing wood burning oven for a cool party. It all feels weirdly colonial, a bit short on real content but I’m interested to see the factory end of things and dying to try the chocolate.

I found this on the web....

"Now, despite setbacks in Venezuela, including an eco-posada project that never really got off the ground, Willie's Venezuelan Black chocolate venture in the UK is going quite well. The 100 per cent cacao bars went on sale in Selfridges in London on 18 February and Willie says he took £700 on the first day. He's been supplying chocolate to his mate Marco Pierre-White, one of London's top chefs, who has been experimenting with it in a number of recipes."

http://www.venezuelanodyssey.blogspot.com/...ory-brings.html

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To be honest I struggle to see the point of 100% chocolate. I mean its basically inedible. Its like if you started distilling 100% alcohol vodka and started selling it - a curiosity but of limited practical use. To be honest a 100% chocolate bar isn't a chocolate bar - its a cocoa solid bar (in the same way as a 0% chocolate bar wouldn't be a chocolate bar; it would be a big pot of cocoa butter)

And I'd add its not as if its anything new. Michel Cluizel has been selling a 99% chocolate bar for years. I first had it wayback in the late nineties. And guess what? It was pretty much inedible.

J

More Cookbooks than Sense - my new Cookbook blog!
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whenever 100% chocolate was delivered by mistake in the kitchen we would use it to play jokes on people!! in my experince there is little difference between that and cocoa powder it is essentially the same thing and i have never found any use for it.

Matt Christmas.

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I guess you could use it as a base cooking ingredient, or for potentially making up your own percentage of milk chocolate, but I agree it's basically inedible.

It was fun watching him cooking all these dishes, and insisting that some chocolate had to go into them. The people on his plantation looked exasperated at times as he got his grater out and started chucking chocolate into absolutely everything.

Also, what is it with these double-barrelled name types and theire entreprenurial exploits? Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstal, John Burton-Race? If I change my name to a double-barrelled surname, will I suddenly gain the braggadacio to start some high-risk food venture, and drag a TV company along for the show?

Lee

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Talk about product placement...

I agree. This is unadulterated publicity for his product, a product he admits he has yet to establish a market for (clearly he is targeting home cooks as well as chefs to broaden the appeal).

I couldn’t help thinking that he must have unbelievable media contacts to pull this off.

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I wasn't following too carefully but it seemed we were supposed to think he was the first person to be doing this in the UK and that was somehow important.

He may be the first owner/producer in the UK today but surely it is the quality of the choclate that counts not who made it. Another chocolate maker is apparently conching in the uk so Slaone may have beaten Willie to some of his claims.

People's families and really not that interesting - not to me anyway.

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Interesting idea, badly produced. Good work channel 4, good work. He comes across a tosser too.

Sorry, having a blonde moment badly produced tv or chocolate?

http://www.allium.uk.net

http://alliumfood.wordpress.com/ the alliumfood blog

"Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, champagne in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming - Whey hey what a ride!!!, "

Sarah Poli, Firenze, Kibworth Beauchamp

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tv, i havn't had a chance to try the chocolate. I'd like to taste it to see, but 100%, as said before seems pointless. If i can't taste anything for bitterness then i dont see any point. I think my personal limit is around 70%, i'll stretch to 80% on rare occasions.

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I wasn't following too carefully but it seemed we were supposed to think he was the first person to be doing this in the UK and that was somehow important.

He may be the first owner/producer in the UK today but surely it is the quality of the choclate that counts not who made it.  Another chocolate maker is apparently conching in the uk so Slaone may have beaten Willie to some of his claims.

So 'bean to bar' v 'pod to palate'.

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I was horrified to see his kids making cakes on this week's programme, which were to be sold in the farmer's market - it all seemed very slap dash and it wasn't clear whether they were selling or just sampling .

Chocolate in mushroom risotto??? The end result looked like something his labrador had thrown up!

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.

Chocolate in mushroom risotto??? The end result looked like something his labrador had  thrown up!

hmm.. sounds like he's been reading the latest Frederick Bau book, I seem to remember seeing chocolate in a risotto there. :wink:

I'd be interested in trying his 100% against others we have..

http://www.allium.uk.net

http://alliumfood.wordpress.com/ the alliumfood blog

"Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, champagne in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming - Whey hey what a ride!!!, "

Sarah Poli, Firenze, Kibworth Beauchamp

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I was horrified to see his kids making cakes on this week's programme, which were to be sold in the farmer's market - it all seemed very slap dash and it wasn't clear whether they were selling or just sampling .

Chocolate in mushroom risotto??? The end result looked like something his labrador had  thrown up!

Cookery shows with the chefs children doing things should be banned altogether. Absolutely hate it.

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.

Chocolate in mushroom risotto??? The end result looked like something his labrador had  thrown up!

hmm.. sounds like he's been reading the latest Frederick Bau book, I seem to remember seeing chocolate in a risotto there. :wink:

I'd be interested in trying his 100% against others we have..

I had the misfortune of tasting a white chocolate risotto (as a main course) once - it was disgusting and the person who ordered it could get beyong 3 forkfulls. The chef who had cooked it had cooked at Tom Atkins for a time.

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