David Lebovitz - The Great Book of Chocolate The Chocolate Lovers Guide with Recipes

Copyright 2004 by David Lebovitz
Food photography by Christopher Hirsheimer

All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
www.crownpublishing.com
www.tenspeed.com

Ten Speed Press and the Ten Speed Press colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

reprinted courtesy of Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker.
reprinted courtesy of Recchiuti Confections

Ten Speed Press thanks the following for their generosity in loaning and contributing props for the food photographs: Panettis, Pomp Home, and Dandelion, all in San Francisco.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data on file with publisher.

eISBN: 978-1-60774-239-5

Cover design by Nancy Austin
Prop styling by Peggi Jeung

v3.1

Id like to thank the following chocolate makers and confectioners for generously teaching me, allowing me to nose around while they worked, and, when I got lucky, letting me sample the finest chocolates that I could have possibly imagined: Fran Bigelow of Frans Chocolates (Seattle), the staff and chefs at Callebaut Chocolate (Weize, Belgium), Chantal Coady of Rococo (London), Jean-Jacques Bernachon of Bernachon (Lyon, France), Denise Acabo of A lEtoile dOr (Paris), Eric Case and Chocolates El Rey (Venezuela and United States), Marie-Anne Dufeu and the chef-instructors at cole Lentre (Paris), Frederick Schilling and Tracey Holderman of Dagoba Organic Chocolate (United States), Gary Guittard of Guittard Chocolate (San Francisco), Thierry Lallet of Saunion (Bordeaux, France), Katrina Markoff of Vosges Haut Chocolat (Chicago and New York), the late Lionel Poilne of Poilne bakery (Paris), Yachana Jungle Chocolate (Ecuador and United States), Martine Pechenik of Martines Chocolates (New York City), Michael Recchiuti of Recchiuti Confections (San Francisco), Richard Donnelly of Richard Donnelly Chocolates (Santa Cruz, California), John Scharffenberger and Robert Steinberg of Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker (Berkeley, California), Steven Wallace of Omanhene chocolate (Ghana and United States), and Timothy Moley of Chocolove organic chocolate (United States).

Chocolate kisses to the talented bakers who contributed their favorite chocolate recipes: Flo Braker, Letty Flatt, Fran Gage, Michael Lewis-Anderson, Susan Herrmann Loomis, Nick Malgieri, Mni Niall, Lee Posey, Patricia Rain, Kathleen Stewart, Carolyn Weil, and Joanne Weir.

Merci beaucoup to Paul and Myriam Wittamer from the Wittamer chocolate shop in Brussels, Belgium, and their incredibly sweet and hardworking staff, for allowing me a rare glimpse of their very special chocolate shop.

Tremendous thanks to photographer Christopher Hirsheimer, who brilliantly captured my desserts (and anything chocolate covered that I left in my wake) with stunning sophistication and simplicity. Thanks, too, to Peggi Jeung for infusing the book with a contemporary style, and to Nancy Austin for her beautiful vision and making sure everything fit perfectly on these pages.

Appreciation to Shari Saunders and Eric Haeberli for their assistance and good cheer during the photo sessions, and to Anne Block for helping me guide folks in pursuit of the best chocolates from around the worldand for managing to sample just one more hot chocolate with me along the way.

Much appreciation to editor Lorena Jones at Ten Speed Press, who handed me this wonderful project, allowed me great freedom, and let me loose to pursue my passion for chocolate (this is work?), and to Ten Speed editor Aaron Wehner, for providing support and for being just an all-around good guy.

And to my agent Fred Hill, for overcoming a regrettable excess-of-chocolate episode in his past to get behind this project.

Every time I put a piece of chocolate in my mouth, the entire world grinds to a screeching, blinding halt. I cant seem to focus on anything else, except that first smooth rushthe incredible taste and sensation that only comes from chocolate.

Initially, theres the unmistakably sweet, slightly bitter sensation as I savor that first taste, allowing the chocolate to slowly dissolve in the warmth of my mouth. As the chocolate continues to melt, intense flavor overwhelms me, and my whole face relaxes, which happens whenever I eat something so perfect, signaling that I am truly content. The following sensations become a complex jumble of flavors as the chocolate takes control. As I begin to chew, an entirely new sensation, wonderfully exotic yet comfortable and familiar, takes over and I am, once again, seduced. That luscious, unbelievable, aromatic, roasted, complex, beguiling, and incomparable satisfaction that I get from chocolate is unmatched by anything else I could possible eat.

Chocolate. I cook it, taste it, bake it, melt it, coat things with it, burn it (occasionally), temper it, spread it, ice cakes with it, and make candy from it. Chocolate occupies my thoughts just about every day. Even as I write this, Im nibbling on chocolate! Chocolate, in my biased opinion, is the most universally provoking and addictive flavor. As a professional pastry chef for years, I know the power that chocolate holds over people. If you dont have chocolate on your dessert menu in the restaurant business, you may as well head home.

The Great Book of Chocolate, is a gift to all chocolate lovers: a compact, yet comprehensive guide to the world of chocolate. Culinary trend watchers point to an exceptional, and stronger-than-ever, excitement about chocolate. And while teaching cooking classes and leading tours, Ive found that the interest in chocolate increases as each year passes.

And now there are so many chocolates to choose from! Imported and domestic chocolates, artisan chocolates, mass-produced chocolates, single-bean chocolates, flavored tablets, bars of spiced organic chocolate, high cacao percentage chocolates (such as 99%, 72%, 64%, and more), dark milk chocolates, and chocolates filled with everything from crackly praline paste to soft, nutty nougat. New American brands, roasted and blended in small quantities using vintage equipment, are noteworthy for their richness and depth of flavor. The best Belgian chocolates are conched for days to achieve their incredible smoothness. And in France, small confectioners are roasting and grinding their own beans for enrobing chocolates to sell exclusively in their elegant boutiques. Theres even a socially conscious company that dips crunchy organic cacao nibs in a sweet coating of pineapple juice and cane syrup (fabulous!). But has this new wave of chocolate making almost gone too far? One haughty French manufacturer of chocolate is not only naming their chocolates for the region that the cacao used comes from, but also labeling some with the date of cacao harvest.