"Chocolate Desserts" by Pierre Herme (Part 1)

[Patrick S]

Patrick, I love the pictures you post -- thank you for taking the time to do this.  The Korovas look perfect.  Looks like you used chocolate chips -- did you?

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Thanks, Dorie!

It looks like chips, but no, I actually used Callebaut 60% chopped up with a serrated knife.

[FoodMan]

I made the chocolate ice cream this weekend and fixed me up PH's banana split (no golden raisins, so I used black). I so wish I had decent split dishes to give the presentation more justice. The ice ream is very rich tasting and got nice and thick in the fridge before I put it in the machine. If I did not know I would've sworn it hald eggs and/or cream in it. The end result was excellent with a very strong chocolate taste and a rich mouthfeel.

Elie

[Patrick S]

The ice cream looks delicious, Elie. And your presentation is lovely even without a split dish. I have a cheapo ice cream machine that I haven't used yet, but this is really tempting me to put it to use.

[SethG]

That ice cream looks fantastic.

[FoodMan]

Patrick, you defintily need to use it. I love my also inexpensive Krups and use it all the time from simple vanilla ice cream to some wierd concoctions I come up with. Some favorites include blackberry ice cream and banana ice cream.

Back to this thread now, next time I will most defintily try a variation and add some pistachio brittle or some other nut.

Elie

[SethG]

I made the chocolate ice cream from page 185 of CDBPH yesterday. I've never been a fan of chocolate ice cream. I think it seldom lives up to the name "chocolate;" it seldom really tastes like chocolate.

But Pierre, as usual, has the secret. Get rid of almost all ingredients other than chocolate, and you've got a winner! That is some kick-ass chocolate ice cream.

I was worried that it wouldn't set up well if I followed Dorie's instructions to the letter. She says to cool the melted chocolate/milk until it's room temperature or a little less. I was afraid the ice cream wouldn't set very well unless I made it colder than that before it went into the machine. So I put the mixture in the fridge for half an hour after it cooled to room temperature. I would have let it cool longer than that, but I wanted it to set after processing in the freezer for at least two hours, and I was out of time.

But I needn't have worried. It sets up beautifully, because of the chocolate. I realized this is really a frozen ganache, puffed up with air.

I also made the Breton Sand Cookies from the Desserts book (p. 95), but I think serving them with the chocolate ice cream was a mistake. The cookies' subtle virtues were obliterated by the brute force of the chocolate. I was underwhelmed with the cookies last night, but this morning they taste pretty great. I think next time I might disregard Dorie's advice and let them brown a little, so that they look a little more like the photo in the book. I think I'd like them a little bit crispier.

[Dorie Greenspan]

It's only 9 am chez moi, but I would be really, really happy to have that banana split. I remember when I first made that chocolate ice cream: I had the same misgivings you had -- and the same revelation. It's so good.

Seth, about the Breton Sand Cookies -- while they are normally baked so that they stay pale, they're good almost no matter what you do to them. With all that butter, why shouldn't they be? Go for that golden edge!

[kthull]

My wife is a serious addict of the Breton Sand Cookies! I'll have to give the ice cream a closer look. A while back, whenever I had extra ganache, I'd make a vanilla ice cream base, then add the ganache...usually about a 50/50 mix...and my god was that heaven in a bowl. I'll have to see what Pierre has concocted. Seth's description brought that memory back as it was a similar experience (I'm also no fan of the so-called chocolate ice cream which tastes too heavily of cocoa powder).

[FoodMan]

That ice cream is special, isn't it? I also let it rest in the fridge overnight and before it went in the ice cream maker it was thick almost like a custard.

I still have some in my freezer that I am working on slowly. Dorie please don't tell Mr. Herme that I dared keep the ice cream for more than a week .

Elie

[SethG]

I still have some in my freezer that I am working on slowly...

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Are you some kind of zen master of self-control??? Mine is long gone.

[FoodMan]

I still have some in my freezer that I am working on slowly...

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Are you some kind of zen master of self-control??? Mine is long gone.

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I try to limit myself to a measly one "dessert" at most per day, and I baked/made several other items in the past couple of weeks. So, it's all about rotation my friend . Tonight it's ice cream's turn, besides someone has to test how long it holds up in the freezer past the one week mark.

Elie

[docsconz]

I finally got my book and we'll be making a dessert from it this weekend for a dinner party. Has anyone tried the Chocolate Rice Pudding on page 125? How about the caramelized rice krispies?

[Dorie Greenspan]

DON'T MAKE THE CHOCOLATE RICE PUDDING -- not yet. I knew there was something I needed to tell you. There's a mistake in the recipe that was only corrected in the French edition.

If you make it the way it is written, you won't get the promised creamy rice pudding. You'll get a very tasty, but very firm pudding. To get a creamy rice pudding you need to use half the amount of rice.

Use 1/4 cup or 50 grams of rice.

In the French recipe, the milk is reduced to 700 ml and the chocolate is reduced to 180 grams. These changes are not so important, it's the rice that really makes the difference.

Sorry I didn't think of this sooner. Hope no one has made it yet.

The caramelized rice crispies, on the other hand, are just great!

[McDuff]

DON'T MAKE THE CHOCOLATE RICE PUDDING -- not yet.  I knew there was something I needed to tell you.  There's a mistake in the recipe that was only corrected in the French edition.

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I made that once for dinner service at the country club. It came out like a chocolate rice rubber ball.

btw Ms. Greenspan...I missed out on a chance to meet you in back in the fall at the Whole Foods pastry thing at the Columbus Circle store. I had too much to do at work, don't like the 1 day trip thing, and thought someone else could handle it. I entered the ice cream cake, which I still haven't had time to put into production.

Edited April 1, 2005 by McDuff (log)

[Daniel]

My question is: we are also thinking about remaking the mousse tonight.. I just got a case of sambuca from a customer of mine and was thinking that it would be a good idea to add sambuca to it.. How much sambuca would all suggest to add to the mixture?

Edited April 1, 2005 by Daniel (log)

[Daniel]

Edited April 1, 2005 by Daniel (log)

[Thornado]

Hello all,

I'm pretty new on eGullet (less than a week), but I've been reading this thread with great interest. I'm just a happy amateur baker, but I enjoy trying to improve my skills, and after getting both CDBPH and Desserts by PH two weeks back, I've been doing some reading of those. Tried to make the chocolate macaroons when I just had received the book, and they turned out really good. Made them again earlier this week, but then they didn't turn out as good as last time.

Anyway, I'm having a small birthday party this weekend, and I'm planning on making some desserts for that. I'm thinking of doing:

Korova cookies (dough done, just need to bake it)

Chocolate dome from DBPH

Melodie from DBPH

Nutella Tart from CDBPH

Passionately chocolate tartlets from DBPH

Pistachio macaroons (not a PH recipe)

I made the chocolate dome yesterday and it's in the freezer now. One thing that worries me about that one is getting it out of the bowl it was made in. I'm also a bit worried that the mousse won't hold the shape and that the cake will just collapse... Anyone who have made this that has any tips or suggestions that can ease the process? (Oh, and BTW, I had some of the left-over mousee, and I couldn't believe how insanely good it was. PH sure knows what he is doing...)

Anyway, just thought I should do a first post here, and hopefully get some hints on how to improve the performance (it's a good thing that I read this thread, as I saw here about the typo in the metric units for the butter for the Nutella tart). I'll try to get some pictures of my creations and post here after the party (well, at least if they turn out fairly decent).

[Dorie Greenspan]

Thornado -- welcome. What an ambitious menu -- it's bound to be a great party. About getting the Dome out of the mold. Is your mold completely round on the bottom? If so, all you should need is a sink with hot water and some courage. Dunk the mold into the hot water for only about 20 seconds max, then place a hand on the bottom of the cake and gently ease the cake out of the mold and onto a cardboard round or a plate. Of course the surface of the mousse will melt slightly, but you can smooth it with a spatula. Besides, you'll be covering it with glaze. Good luck and happy birthday. Can't wait to see you pictures.

[Thornado]

Thornado -- welcome.  What an ambitious menu -- it's bound to be a great party.  About getting the Dome out of the mold.  Is your mold completely round on the bottom?  If so, all you should need is a sink with hot water and some courage.  Dunk the mold into the hot water for only about 20 seconds max, then place a hand on the bottom of the cake and gently ease the cake out of the mold and onto a cardboard round or a plate.  Of course the surface of the mousse will melt slightly, but you can smooth it with a spatula.  Besides, you'll be covering it with glaze.  Good luck and happy birthday.  Can't wait to see you pictures.

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Thanks for the welcome Dorie.

Yes, it does feel like a pretty ambitious menu, but this is a good opportunity to try out some of the recipes and not "have" to eat it all myself (as good as that would be, it might not be very good for the size of my waist). I guess the main risk of doing too ambitious things is that people might start to expect stuff like that from me at other parties as well.

Unfortunately I didn't have any completely round bowl, so it is flat on the bottom (one of the reasons I worried a bit since I understood that it would be easier to unmold it with a round mold).

Edited April 1, 2005 by Thornado (log)

[Wendy DeBord]

DON'T MAKE THE CHOCOLATE RICE PUDDING -- not yet.  I knew there was something I needed to tell you.  There's a mistake in the recipe that was only corrected in the French edition.

Oh my god...........I made that recipe a long while ago. BUT I thought it was strange that a rice pudding didn't have any yolks to bind it sooooooooooooI added extra yolks! ........before waiting to see how it would set up. MAN was it thick!!

I forget exactly what I did to lighten it...........but I think I cut it with some chocolate mousse. I recall being so excited about the caramelized rice crispies and no one else at work seemed to be. Everyone wound up liking this pudding but I only had dark raisins and that weirded them all out. Several months later my chef requested I make this again sans raisins.

Welcome Thornado!!

[Wendy DeBord]

Oh I forgot to add, everyones raves over his chocolate mousse drove me to make this the other day. WOW, I was suprised to find that his mousse really was worth raving over! I had thought.........how different can it be? I've made chocolate mousses from his professional book and it's not "diffferent".............but this will now become my standard quick mousse recipe.

I worked this recipe a bit different in that I cooked my yolks in my milk like an anglaise, since I wasn't using pasturized yolks. I do use mousse as a filling and never serve it in a bowl as is. So I'm going to add gelatin to the anglaise next time so it holds firmer in my cakes and tortes.

You can definately put my name on the list of people raving over that mousse!! (now I need to find an excuse to make the korova cookies)

[kthull]

Hi Thornado. I've made the dome before in a round bowl with a flat bottom (I'd guess 4" round of flat surface). As long as your dome is good and frozen, you can work it out of there. It'll just be a bit harder than with a perfectly round bowl. Good luck...your guests won't be disappointed!

[kthull]

Wendy, I have an excuse you can use to make the Korova cookies: it's Friday (or any other day ending in y).

[docsconz]

DON'T MAKE THE CHOCOLATE RICE PUDDING -- not yet.  I knew there was something I needed to tell you.  There's a mistake in the recipe that was only corrected in the French edition.

If you make it the way it is written, you won't get the promised creamy rice pudding.  You'll get a very tasty, but very firm pudding.  To get a creamy rice pudding you need to use half the amount of rice.

Use 1/4 cup or 50 grams of rice.

In the French recipe, the milk is reduced to 700 ml and the chocolate is reduced to 180 grams.  These changes are not so important, it's the rice that really makes the difference. 

Sorry I didn't think of this sooner.  Hope no one has made it yet. 

The caramelized rice crispies, on the other hand, are just great!

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Thanks for the heads up! We will make it with the new direction. Are there any other corrections for any of the other recipes?

[Dorie Greenspan]

Wendy -- thanks for the giggle.

Docsconz -- I don't know if there are other mistakes in the book. There might be -- gremlins have a way of sneaking in and changing perfect recipes when you're not looking -- but I haven't found or been told of others.