My refusal to write about chocolate mustn't fool you, dear reader: chocolate is ubiquitous in here and if ever in doubt over what to bring to a French host, or a meeting, party, funeral or other human get-together in France, the doubt should cease right this moment, because the solution is very straight forward: just bring some chocolate! (not sure about the funeral, though, never been to a French one actually :P)
And if you thought that after all this infatuation over it there's no official chocolate day to celebrate it properly just because I didn't mention it before, it's now time to correct this omission. Happy Easter, everyone, today is the chocolate day in France! Now, let me tell you how Easter is related with chocolate, because it might not be that obvious when you get to think about it.
Showing posts with label chocolate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chocolate. Show all posts
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Saturday, November 3, 2012
The War of the Worlds: Chocolate Invasion
Can you imagine having to pay a 13Eur admission fee to enter a place where people sell you things? And be happy, almost grateful about it? After a half an hour of queuing up in an area where you unwillingly smelled what some of the others sharing your fate ate for lunch?
It happened in France, A.D. 2012, at the Salon du chocolat Paris. Not only we've paid our privilege to get in, but we've almost become intimate with half of the population inside and nobody else seemed to have enough time to pay attention. In a big hangar packed with people we've had our moments of bliss and despair, but we couldn't leave the place until we've seen it all. Every. Single. Bit. of what was exhibited.
It happened in France, A.D. 2012, at the Salon du chocolat Paris. Not only we've paid our privilege to get in, but we've almost become intimate with half of the population inside and nobody else seemed to have enough time to pay attention. In a big hangar packed with people we've had our moments of bliss and despair, but we couldn't leave the place until we've seen it all. Every. Single. Bit. of what was exhibited.
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Chocolate, mon amour!
Well, not quite mon amour, but I solemnly promise myself -and to the world- that this is the last recipe having chocolate in it, at least for this year! And the reason why I have tortured myself tasting the chocolate mixtures like a thousand times (and hey, cocoa is a mild drug, ask the many chocoholics out there!) is that the dessert I will present you today has the name of Versailles in it, it's a "Versaillais au chocolat". Logically it deserves the place of honor in my blog and therefore I was more than ready to sacrifice myself and my kitchen (now partially redecorated with real chocolate splashes) in the name of Versailles puritanism. See how brave am I?
No one really knows who created this rich dessert for the first time, but considering that cocoa was so rare and, by consequence, so fashionable at the Versailles court (introduced from Spain by Anne of Austria, the wife of Louis XIII, and then continuing to gain in fame until its biggest fan, Louis XV, who, btw, left us a hot chocolate recipe written by his own royal hand) it really was no surprise that one of the many chocolatiers that Versailles had came up with this invention, presented it at the court and won the posterity's heart. It's also called "Trianon au chocolat", "Royal au chocolat" or "Croustillant au chocolat" (chocolate crispy cake).
No one really knows who created this rich dessert for the first time, but considering that cocoa was so rare and, by consequence, so fashionable at the Versailles court (introduced from Spain by Anne of Austria, the wife of Louis XIII, and then continuing to gain in fame until its biggest fan, Louis XV, who, btw, left us a hot chocolate recipe written by his own royal hand) it really was no surprise that one of the many chocolatiers that Versailles had came up with this invention, presented it at the court and won the posterity's heart. It's also called "Trianon au chocolat", "Royal au chocolat" or "Croustillant au chocolat" (chocolate crispy cake).
Saturday, August 11, 2012
The French + Chocolate = LOVE!!!
Ah, le chocolat!!!... The long, lasting, passionate, immortal love story, shared by every single French person I've ever met... I mean I do actually know a French who hates cheese (although he might be the only one left, the shame of the nation!) but I've never ever seen anyone who openly declares that they don't love the dark concoction (and I don't have any hope to meet one, as I am told when researching for this post)
"The darker it is (=the higher the cocoa percentage it contains), the better!", this is how one of my ex-colleagues concluded the thoroughly explained chocolate theory (remember, any French can give a 3 hour speech on anything related to food. You've been warned!). So I officially became an oddity when declaring that I don't like chocolate: it happens that I have a bad childhood memory with something so bitter (like the communist era I was living in) that cut me forever the apetite to discover anything that looks like it. For me, quite the opposite works: the more it's mixed with milk and filled with anything other than cocoa, the happier I am! Ooops, I've just committed a cultural faux pas!
But, rest assured, the French nation has resolved to show me the light, because everywhere I turn to I will be chocolate-imagery-flooded. There are hundreds of chocolate bar types in supermarkets, in candy shops, in chocolateries (imagine entire stores dedicated to chocolate, with professionals having spent a couple of long years studying it in order to acquire the title of "maître chocolatier", chocolate master) and then I'm not even counting the books or the cooking shows presenting chocolate in every imaginable form and combination. Not to mention the all very popular chocolate fair held every autumn in Paris (and in the biggest cities all over France) "Le salon du Chocolat", where a "World Chocolate Masters" competition takes place and the "International Cocoa Awards" are granted...
"The darker it is (=the higher the cocoa percentage it contains), the better!", this is how one of my ex-colleagues concluded the thoroughly explained chocolate theory (remember, any French can give a 3 hour speech on anything related to food. You've been warned!). So I officially became an oddity when declaring that I don't like chocolate: it happens that I have a bad childhood memory with something so bitter (like the communist era I was living in) that cut me forever the apetite to discover anything that looks like it. For me, quite the opposite works: the more it's mixed with milk and filled with anything other than cocoa, the happier I am! Ooops, I've just committed a cultural faux pas!
But, rest assured, the French nation has resolved to show me the light, because everywhere I turn to I will be chocolate-imagery-flooded. There are hundreds of chocolate bar types in supermarkets, in candy shops, in chocolateries (imagine entire stores dedicated to chocolate, with professionals having spent a couple of long years studying it in order to acquire the title of "maître chocolatier", chocolate master) and then I'm not even counting the books or the cooking shows presenting chocolate in every imaginable form and combination. Not to mention the all very popular chocolate fair held every autumn in Paris (and in the biggest cities all over France) "Le salon du Chocolat", where a "World Chocolate Masters" competition takes place and the "International Cocoa Awards" are granted...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)