As most of you either know or can guess, much of my life revolves around cake and other sweet things.  As part of the Faculty of the French Pastry School in Chicago, even more things now turn into an excuse for creating something out of sugar, cake, or chocolate.  This week’s Chicago Blackhawks’ Stanley Cup win was no exception.  In anticipation of the big win, Chefs Jacquy Pfeiffer and Sebastien Canonne, Deans and founders of the School, conceived of the idea to create a 50-pound replica of the coveted Stanley Cup out of chocolate. 

Although I am by no means a hockey fan, the project was of interest to me just from the perspective of how it would be achieved.  My small role was to come up with a technique using gum paste to adorn two life-size hockey sticks (made of chocolate) with what I am calling “gauzey tape stuff” that provides friction for the player to grasp the stick as well as an area with which the puck comes in contact.  Sounds easy enough, but upon close inspection of the hockey stick model provided to me, I discovered that the “gauzey tape stuff” is textured. 

Fortunately for me, the School’s supply of textured rolling pins included one that would create just the right effect for the gauze.  I started by passing my paste through the KitchenAid pasta attachment in order to achieve a perfectly consistent thickness in the paste.  Then, applying consistent, even pressure, I added the textured effect to the paste with the selected pin.  With my omnipresent ribbon cutter, I rolled through the paste to cut an even-width strip comparable to the width of the actual “gauze” on the stick.  As I rolled this strip up, I brushed off the excess powdered sugar from the back side then was ready to attach it to the stick.

Using egg white as my glue, I started on what would be the back side of the stick and steadily unrolled the gum paste strip, overlapping just enough to create the look of tape.  The finished result was exactly what I had hoped for.  This little one-hour task was but a tiny part in a wonderful project in honor of a winning team. 

If you would like to learn more about how to create decorative finishes to showpieces or cakes, visit the French Pastry School’s web site for more information about its new L’Art du Gateau program which launches August 30, 2010.

I recently enjoyed some chocolate that I had brought home from France.  Upon sharing it with a friend downstate, he asked me to help him choose a “good” chocolate to eat out of hand from his local grocer.  Much to my surprise, this particular store had a huge selection of chocolates, so I was certain that we’d have no problem finding something to satisfy my friend’s chocolate craving.

While my friend was not intimidated by the array of choices, he had no idea where to begin.   Today’s chocolate bar labeling bears much more information than the manufacturer’s name, so it is important to understand a few key components of the label.  Just remember that choosing a chocolate is very much like choosing a wine.  There is, in my mind, no one “good” chocolate for every palate.  Just as one person may enjoy a certain Sauternes while another finds it syrupy, such is the variation in taste perception of chocolate.

First, know whether you are interested in milk or dark chocolate.  The difference is straightforward: milk chocolate is chocolate to which milk or milk solids have been added during the production process.  So it will have a creamier and usually sweeter taste than dark chocolate.

On the label…labels of some purveyors have become increasingly specific about the cocoa content in their chocolate.  While this percentage printed on the label is somewhat helpful in gauging the intensity of the bar, it is not necessarily a clear figure among chocolates from different makers.  This number refers to the total amount of ingredients in the bar derived from the cacao bean, including cocoa butter, cocoa powder and chocolate liquor.  So two 70% bars from two different manufacturers may indeed have very different levels of intensity.  Why?  One of the two “70s” make comprise more cocoa butter and less liquor than the other, thus changing the overall flavor.  The bar’s overall profile will vary greatly also based on the beans used to make the chocolate (more on this in a future post).

The other part of the label that interests me is the ingredient list.  When sugar is the first ingredient listed on the label of what is puported to be a dark chocolate, I usually pass.  Chances are your chocolate craving will not be satisfied by a bar that has more sugar than chocolate in it.  This is why so many of us end up eating multiple bars of chocolate until we feel we’ve actually HAD chocolate.  With so many domestic bars containing only a mere 13-15% actual cocoa, we end up ingesting lots of fat and sugar without the satisfying chocolate indulgence.

I also try to steer clear of chocolates made with artificial ingredients.  Artificial flavors mask the natural flavors of the actual chocolate, thus defeating the purpose of eating the bar to begin with. 

The best way to choose a “good” chocolate is to taste many of them and keep a diary of what you like/don’t like about each.  For each one, follow 4 simple steps:
1.  Smell the chocolate.  A good chocolate should smell chocolatey…not like wax or some artifical chemical.
2.  Break the chocolate.  The chocolate should have a crisp “snap”, not crumbly or dull sound.
3.  Look at the chocolate.  It should not appear grainy and should have a nice shine.
4.  Taste the chocolate.  The chocolate should melt on your tongue and feel smooth. 

After you’ve tasted each chocolate, make note of the flavors that you identify.  Ultimately, did you like it?? Even if a chocolate is popular or is supposed to be “good” it doesn’t mean that it will be pleasing to your palate.  Choose one that is. 

For an opportunity to indulge in a vast array of high-caliber chocolates, attend the annual For the Love of Chocolate event at the French Pastry School at City Colleges of Chicago on Saturday, February 6.  Event details at www.fortheloveofchocolatefoundation.org/events.html.

If you would like to learn more about the history of chocolate in France, please join me at a special presentation at the Culinary Historians of Chicago at Lexington College on Saturday morning, February 20, 2010.  For information about this event, please visit www.culinaryhistorians.org.