Harris - Chocolate Comfort Foods

ChocolateComfort Foods Rita M. Harris T ATE P UBLISHING, LLC
Chocolate Comfort Foods by RitaM. Harris and Bill Wintroub Copyright 2005 by Rita M. Harris and Bill Wintroub. All rights reserved. Published in the United States of America by Tate Publishing, LLC East Trade Center Terrace Mustang , OK 73064 (888) 3619473 Book designcopyright 2005 by Tate Publishing, LLC.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may bereproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any way by anymeans, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise without theprior permission of the author except as provided by USA copyright law. This book is designed to provide accurateand authoritative information with regard to the subject matter covered. This information is given with the understandingthat neither the author nor Tate Publishing, LLC is engaged in rendering legal, professional advice. Since thedetails of your situation are fact dependent, you should additionally seek the services of a competentprofessional.
Table Of Contents
Foreword Afterapproximately two years Rita had almost finished this cookbook, when on October11, 2004, she passed away.

I met Rita on March 14, 1976 , and married her shortly there after.Therefore, it was my privilege to know and love her for over 28 years. Itwas Ritas expressed desire that this cookbook be printed in large type andbound so the pages lay flat for easy reading. Therefore, with the initial commercialprinting, I have chosen to use Ritas favorite font CenturyGothic in size 16 font and utilize plastic comb binding. I have only made afew typo corrections to Ritas original transcript. You will find herdisconnect ed Email address lined out. Ifyou wish to contact me about this cookbook, especially for any errors,please do so at: Corrections encouraged.

Her lovinghusband, Bill Wintroub Sincethe original publication of this book Bill has also passed away so I, Ritasson, am now continuing the tradition of this book .
Introduction The very word chocolate evokes feelings of pleasure. Itis almost impossible to eat something delicious and make a bad face! Try it yourself. Encouraged by my friend atRandom House, Jennifer Bayse Sander, I beganto write this book. Ibecame engrossed in putting chocolate in everything. And, I did.

Chocolate is my favorite flavor and I learned that there werecountless different chocolates and cocoas. I discovered that watching peopleeat gave me great joy. I love the food (and feeding people) business. I have enjoyed creating and testing these recipes. Friends and family have enjoyed sampling my creations.Dont be afraid to experiment. Chocolate is wonderful in almosteverything: especially your mouth! Bestof all the news is that chocolate can keep cardiovascular systems in shape.Eureka!
Prologue Okay, this is a true story! I did not start to bake untilI was 52 years old.

Bill and I bought an ice cream parlor in a college town innorthern California. Bill had retired from years with the telephone company and I wanted to make people smile.We lost money immediately. We bought the first espresso machine inthe area and because I could not find a bakery to please me, I taught myself tobake. I made cakes, tortes and cheesecakes every day and served them at the parlor every night to an audience eager for delicious treats. Every day Id createsomething new and work until midnight. Then Imopped the floor.

I was baking at home and hiding fromthe health inspector. Billfound an old building in Eureka, California and spent months remodeling it to meet the health inspectors code.Neither of us had ever been in the back of a bakery. We bought mixers, tables,ovens and every pan and tool available. We toiled for 17 years and became themodel for many creative bakeries. I love feeding people. I get pleasurewatching people eat.

It is impossible to eat something delicious and make a badface! I dreamt of new, more exotic desserts and my imagination took over. Ibought dozens of cookbooks only to discover that many recipes did not work.
Iexperimented with cake mixes. I found most mixes are better than careless,cantankerous bakers (late nights and bakeryhours dont mix well). Most bakeries these days use mixes of one kind oranother. There are cake layers of all shapes and sizes that are pre- baked, frozen and delivered to the bakerys backdoor for dec orating.

Dont ever be afraid to experiment with baking. You will fillyour home with wonderful smells, make people smile and be proud of yourself. Chocolate is my favorite flavor. I love it in almost anyform. Most of the recipes in this book are old family favorites given to me byfriends and customers. Many are simple and a few are labor intensive.

I havetried every recipe in this book. I have had a marvelous time putting chocolate in literallyeverything including mashed potatoes and polenta. A little unsweetened cocoapowder is like fine seasoning. It is almost un detectable in stews and meat dishes. It enhances many tomato based foods, especially Mexican. It imparts asubtle, gentle taste that is almost undetectable.

Oras the saying goes: Try it. You might like it. Remembereven a cake that flops can become beautiful trifle or rum balls.
A Passion forChocolateAuthor Unknown Didyou know the Ten Commandments were actually ten chocolate recipes? Moses had ascended a high mountain in order to communicateWith God. God handed him two chocolate tablets on which were inscribed the recipes for ten fabulous chocolate desserts.Moses stopped on his way down the mountain before the burning bush just longenough for the heat to cause the chocolate to melt a little. Moses licked his fingers and he was hooked! He broke offa large chunk of the tablet and ate it! Then he remembered the roaring crowd at the base of the mountain awaiting his return from his meeting with God.

He couldnt remember the exact proportions of the recipesand was afraid there would be panic when things didnt bake properly. In his effort to restore order and create peace, he came upwith the Ten Commandments as we know them today and quickly chiseled them, ontwo stone tablets he found on the mountain. Of course the chocolate recipes would have worked better because they were, after all, simply divine!
Chocolate and Cocoa Chocolatehas a unique flavor and a very interesting his tory. There are many different kinds of chocolate available and there are dozens of different shades of cocoa. I was very fortunate to havebeen able to purchase cocoa from Gill and Duffus because of Norma Robinson, their agent and my long and cherished friend. I was also fortunate in working with Guittard Chocolate (Paul Albright) as well as Blommers and Caulebaut .

My biggest lessonwas that one needs cool hands (and patience) in working with chocolate. The better the chocolate, the finer the result. Water and high heat can destroychocolate. If a tiny bit of water gets intochocolate while it is melting, it will seize, forming a thick, uselesspaste. High heat will cause chocolate to burn and there is nothing to save it. Chocolate can be melted in liquid; about 1 tablespoon forevery ounce of chocolate but it must be done with great care.

In order to chop chocolate, I put the chocolate in aheavy plastic bag, place it on a concretebase and hammer it. To melt unsweetened and bittersweet chocolate you can use amicrowave but never let it heat for more than 1 minute at a time. Use a woodenspoon to stir it. I prefer placing the chocolate (especially milkor white) in the top of a small double boilerfilled with boiling water. Stiruntil the chocolate melts. Caution: steam from the bottom boiler can make thechocolate seize.

I store my chocolate in a freezer afterwrapping it in heavy plastic to prevent the cocoa butterfrom drying out. Hot weather, like warm hands, will melt chocolate. Unsweetened chocolate is called chocolate liquor byprofessionals. It is too bitter to eat and is usually combined with sugar incooking. Bittersweet chocolate has beensweetened but the amount of sugar varies from brand to brand. Ifit contains 72 percent chocolate liquor, itwill be bitter.