Borough Hall Farmers Market

[Miss J]

Think of them as two cricket balls of offal porky goodness.

Gavin, I shall never think of them otherwise.

[rjs1]

Paul who makes the prepped stuff is a reputable pig-botherer.

Have had good jambon persille. the faggots are cooked there and you can buy them in a foil thing with a fork for local consumption.

Very solid. better probably on a plate of mash.

Think of them as two cricket balls of offal porky goodness.

Paul at Ginger Pig's pates, smokey bacon meatballs and his baked beans with bacon are all A1, too.

[Miss J]

It was very cold and wet at Borough Market yesterday morning, so due to the weather and Jonathan Day's recommendation I decided to spring for the hot choc at L'Artisan du Chocolat.

OH. MY. GOD.

Do you think there's a such thing as chocolate rehab? JD, you have a lot to answer for.

[Tonyfinch]

Nah-that's girlie hot chocolate. Far too milky and sweet. I still don't know where you can get that thick, dark, viscous bitter-sweet hot chocolate that's worth moving to Spain for alone.

[Jonathan Day]

Tony, if you had any taste at all you would know that L'Artisan's hot chocolate is objectively superior to bittersweet hot chocolate from Spain. The fact that you don't proves (objectively) that you are no gourmet. The fact that I know this without ever having tasted bittersweet hot chocolate from Spain proves the superiority of my gourmandise ... (you know the rest, just fill in from here).

On a serious note, Anne-Françoise (the woman who usually staffs the stall at Borough Market) might adjust the mixture if you asked her nicely, or even consider offering a more bitter version.

[Vanessa]

The reason why it's thick in Hispanic countries is because they thicken it with things like arrowroot or whatever - yuk!

v

[Tonyfinch]

What's yuk about arrowroot? It's a perfectly natural product. But anyway how do you know this?

[Vanessa]

Dunno (But I think I'm right)

v

Actually, it's usually obvious from the 'mouthfeel' - at which point I refuse to drink it. Also I just checked a reference book which states that chocolate sold for drinking in Spain already has a starch in it to make it thicken. The same certainly applies to Mexico.

[Tonyfinch]

Well even if you're right I can't see it as a negative. We thicken sauces using a starch all the time because they're more appetising that way. I love the texture of Spanish hot chocolate-ideal for dunking churros and other breakfast cakes. I find L'Artisan's very sickly and far too thin.

Edited February 2, 2003 by Tonyfinch (log)

[Vanessa]

OK, we'll agree to differ

If you find yourself one day in Oaxaca and come across the chocolate grinding shop on a street corner somewhere down from the main square, you can get to choose what goes in your chocolate. I remember standing there transfixed a few years ago - we just came across the place by chance. The customers choose whatever proportion of chocolate, spices, nuts and whatever else to suit. It goes in a big metal bowl and then they queue for their turn to have the contents of their bowl ground. Being a bunch of gringas (well, not quite, the other two were residents of Argentina, both native and non-native - in Mexico that's almost worse!), we just went to the other end of the shop and bought ourselves mugs of hot chocolate. But I still remember hating it - I just can't stand how the thickener affects the taste and texture.

v

Correction: I don't think it was chocolate being ground, but rather cocoa beans, so that the end product was chocolate - a gooey mess coming out of the grinding machine - some more gooey than others depending upon the proportions of ingredients.

Edited February 2, 2003 by Vanessa (log)

[Kikujiro]

due to ... Jonathan Day's recommendation I decided to spring for the hot choc at L'Artisan du Chocolat.

Hmpf.

[magnolia]

Nah-that's girlie hot chocolate. Far too milky and sweet. I still don't know where you can get that thick, dark, viscous bitter-sweet hot chocolate that's worth moving to Spain for alone.

OK, there used to be a Spanish bakery on Queensway just across Westbourne Grove from Whiteleys, on the left-hand side - somewhere near those Victorian loos...It might have been called the Churreria but now I can't remember, and I haven't been there in at least two years. Anyway they had that wonderful Spanish hot chocolate, but ONLY until 10am. They also sell - or used to sell - the chocolate itself (for you to make hc at home) at Brindisa.

For the record, l'Artisan du Chocolat's hc is not at all milky.

[Gavin Jones]

I have never eaten any of the Ginger Pig's prepped products.

Dined on Ginger Pig's game terrine - good but for the overly insistent juniper. I think gin is by far the best way to extract the good qualities of juniper rather than the full-on juniper berry which has the irritating effect of a slightly pedantic, nasally inclined monologue - unless I'm describing myself there.

However the double confit pork was outstanding. Not pork pornography but true pork love: the pork first confitted (a strobe & pork fat presumably) then terrined in more fat. Sank like an easily digestible titanic with the Boillot Pommard.

[SamanthaF]

Went to Borough Market yesterday. I couldn't believe how expensive it was We have a fair few Farmers Markets in deepest darkest Kent and they are good 50-75% cheaper than BM.

Had the Hot Choccy from L'artisan and it was yummy

[Tonyfinch]

Had the Hot Choccy from L'artisan and it was yummy

At this rate we might have to organize The Great British Hot Chocolate Brew Off before long.

[Miss J]

Challenge duly noted, Tony. The question is, how are we going to get a cup of your Spanish choccy and a cup of l'Artisan's choccy in the same room, at the same time, in optimal condition?

I support Maggie and Sam's comments. It is not at all milky. And it is barely sweet.

[Tonyfinch]

No no. A brew off means a group of us get together and make our own hot chocolate and then taste and compare. As for me I'd just melt a load of finest dark chocolate and thin it down with a little water.