Best Chocolate

[eat2much]

and I agree 100% with passionate, Caribe and Ganja all the way for cooking, Amedei

Ummm, ganja and chocolate for cooking...I think that type of brownie recipe is against the law, n'est ce pas?

[Vinfidel]

guanaja baby guanaja

[eat2much]

proving once again that spelling is very important with recipes.....lest one confuse ingredients!

[identifiler]

hahaha, good lord, yes guanaja. I could never say I actually screwed up on that one. Autumn is an great time for butter extracts.

[Vinfidel]

its ok eat2much now i want to come to your house to taste your brownies!

[eat2much]

Alas, the only high I get these days comes from chocolate....but at least I know where to get the good stuff!

[Patrick S]

Just one more quick question  , what do you think of caullbaut?  Is it any good?

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I have baked with pretty much every chocolate, from Baker's to Valrhona. I've also used just about every cocoa that is made. In my humble opinion, Callebaut is a fine, simple chocolate and is an excellent value. I'd say the same about their cocoa. I love Valrhona too, especially Caraibe, but to me the price just is not worth the difference in taste. The exotic notes that Valrhona is known for are completely lost on most people, and actually is not what most people want.

Vinfidel:

i can agree somewhat with vanilla extract if it is real vanilla extract not the chemicals sold in the supermarkets

The chemical in artificial vanilla is vanillan. The dominant flavor compound in vanilla extract is vanillan. Vanillan is vanillan regardless of whether it is created synthetically or extracted from a vanilla bean. That leaves the question of how big an effect that non-vanillan stuff in real vanilla extract contributes to the flavor. The blind taste test done by Cook's Illustrated, as well as the experience of several people on the pastry and baking forum, reveals that the answer is "little to nothing." I have yet to see or even hear of any blind test in which artificial versus natural extracts can be reliably distinguished in baked goods. Until I see a blind test that directly contradicts the results I've seen so far, I provisionally hold that the superiority of real extract is just another culinary myth.

Beans and powder and definitely superior to any extract, IMHO. But I would only spend the money to use beans where vanilla is the star, like vanilla creme brulee, or vanilla ice cream, or vanilla cake.