Chocolate paralysis: 99% & 100% cocoa

[Tri2Cook]

It may be more simple than what you have in mind but the recipe for chocolate jelly from khymos can be modified to feature your chocolate instead of using the cocoa it calls for. I did it with 85% and gelatin sheets instead of the agar (because I didn't have agar on hand) and was happy with the results. On the site it's paired with caramelized cauliflower but I'm sure you could find another way to use it if that doesn't sound interesting. I didn't use it for anything, I just wanted to try it, so I cut it into cubes and we munched 'em with various things sweet and savory just to get some ideas of what they worked with. Maybe someday I'll think of something I want to use it with. I have a bad habit of having to try everything that sounds interesting to me even if I don't have an actual use in mind for it.

[Jonathan Kaplan]

I mostly use high-quality 99% chocolate for the surprise effect... My two favorite uses are:

1) finely shaved, served under a small spoonful of manderine orange (or sometimes tangerine) sorbet. Eaten in one bite, the shock of the bitter chocolate perfectly complements the sweet sorbet, I find.

2) with cheese. My fav. way to do this is to take a soft cheese (like d'affinois -- ?sp), whip it until it is smooth, roll it into small balls, and then coat these with grated 99% and a bit of red salt. Again, the bitterness of the chocolate plays off the smooth cheese texture in interesting ways.

Neither of these use a lot of chocolate, though!

jk

[sugarseattle]

How about my "deconstructed chocolate chip cookies"

- Make your favorite choco chip cookie recipe with a touch more flour to reduce spreading. don't add the chips to the batter.

- scoop and bake.

- while cookies bake, chop chocolate and clean up your mess.

- remove from oven and put a little indentation in the cookies with a spoon.

- while cookeis are warm, fill indentation with chopped chocolate, which will melt into the indent.

- you can also fill the indents with ganache, which will give you a more truffley filling.

i like these better than classic choco thumbprints because I really like the dough of basic chocoalte chip cookies, plus I like how all the chocolate is in the center so you won't get jipped(sp?) if some of your cookies don't get enough chips.

[Peter Green]

I'd use it sparingly, as a highlight.

Mick Edwards, from the London Nobu, did a neat soup. He shrouded the soup in a rice paper wrap, then dusted that, and dropped another shroud and steamed it to get a drum tight fit.

You cut throught that tarp, and then you hit the aromatics.

I've tried this as a take on mole, as a soup, and it works wonders on the nose.

[Desiderio]

I would probably go for a simple french chocolate mousse ( there very few ingredients in it ) so the chocolate would come out very nicely.

Maybe chocolate sorbet?

A chocolate tart ( sweet pastry dough and a nice ganache or mousse in it ).

[gfron1]

I've been stewing over this topic and am taking a leap this weekend. I'll be teaching a cooking class that focuses on vanilla. For the salad course, I'm creating a neopolitan salad that will do as someone up above suggested, grating the chocolate on top of the salad, along with strawberries and a vanilla vineagrette. I'll let you know how it is received.

[chiantiglace]

Rob, you should check out E.Guittard's 91%. I have a few chefs at school who eat it like a child eats a Hershey bar.

[gfron1]

I will (I'm getting ready to start carrying Guitard). Is it bar, disc or block?

[chiantiglace]

the 91%is a bar

[gfron1]

For a vanilla cooking class, I made a Neopolitan Salad. 99% Cluizel with fresh strawberries and a Sweet Vanilla Vineagrette. At first I forgot the chocolate and everyone said the salad was just okay, but then with the chocolate they were raving about it. You can see more on the class HERE.

[Patrick A.]

The 99% chocolate made a huge difference to the taste and appearance of the salad.

[Lior]

Hello. I am looking for info on 100% cacao pate. I have a block from Valrhona and want to make some truffles or bars or both or whatever. I want it for either those who love the bitter dark or diabetics who don't like sugar substitutes. Any ideas? What could I dip it with so that diabetics could enjoy the taste? My brother does not like sugar subs, and he is diabetic. Any amazing idea out there?

Thanks!

Ilana

[Tri2Cook]

I don't have any ideas for diabetic confections but it takes a pretty dedicated chocophile to munch on chunks of pure cocoa mass for a chocolate fix. I'm not one of those people, 85% is pushing it for me for just eating as is. I've never tried pure cocoa mass enrobed in something sweeter so maybe that would be the difference that made it work.

[Lior]

I actually like 100%, but just a bite at a time. I thought maybe something not only sweet, perhaps hot or spicy with a fruit... I suppose I will have to take the dive and play around. Maybe curry and mango ganache..

[paulraphael]

Might be good shaved really thin, so it melts instantly in your mouth. On top of fruit? with some kind of liqueur?

[John DePaula]

You could try a mole or some type of savory cooking perhaps.

[Lior]

I think I will do that - try a mole. I will also try making very thin sheets- I like the thin idea. But I need to think what will go with the thin sheets! Maybe some nuts and something else like oats and seeds.

Thanks for getting me thinking!!

[alanamoana]

you could balance the bitterness with dried fruit and make a version of bark or mendiants...but using very thin pieces of chocolate

or spread the cocoa paste very thin and use the thin wafers (cut into 2cm squares?) to sandwich a sweeter ganache/fruit paste

[A Patric]

Thin bits of the chocolate on thin slices of cheese would be delicious. Stronger cheeses would be particularly good, at least I like it!

Alan

[Lior]

I love the idea of thin 2cm wafers with a fruit ganache. Sounds elegant! I also like the cheese idea. Which cheese do you think? And exactly how whould it be served? I can't wait to try.

Thanks to all!!

[A Patric]

I also like the cheese idea. Which cheese do you think? And exactly how whould it be served? I can't wait to try.

←

Well, when I was in Beaujolais I had some dark chocolate with a dry, aged, goat cheese, and it was particularly good. People also seem to be pairing blue cheese with chocolate lately too. You might want to try Gorgonzola or Roquefort, if you can get either one. Lillie Belle Farms did a smoky blue cheese truffle that was really good.

Alan

[Lior]

Okay I will try that. Next week Iwill experiment with these ideas. I will let you allknow the results! Thanks so very much!

[Kerry Beal]

I've had an idea that I'd like to mold a very thin shell with cocoa mass, then fill with a coconut center. Figured the bitterness of the chocolate would be perfect with the very sweet center. Haven't quite gotten around to it yet.

[Lior]

On page 1 of this thread there is a referral to SB site for brownies and a hot choc drink. I went but what is cocoa milk? It calls for some. Just milk with cocoa added? Which brownies do you think are better? Dianadesserts or SB? Iwill make them today!

[Lior]

Hi. I ams till stewing on this issue. I had many people asking me about chocoalte without sugar at that festival. I felt soooo bad because I had wanted to have a product available but did not fit it in my stressful weeks of preparation. This time I will make thin mendiants of 100% with macadamia nuts, which I read are good for diabetics (?) and perhaps some dried fruit (which is best?).

But I wonder if people will also expect chocolate with replacement sugar? I don't really like this idea, but perhaps I should make some. DOes anyone use this diabetic chocolate? Is there a popular recipe that anyone would like to share? Or ideas? Thanks for any input!