I challenge any of you to find someone who doesn't like fried chicken.
*Points to self* I am not a fried chicken fan. Baked, broiled, grilled, rotisseried, etc, fine, as long as it's white meat only. Just don't dip it in breading and fry it. The excess oil gives me a stomach ache.
I don't quit agree that simpler food is always better. Complex interactions of a few flavors are wonderful, and complexity in general can be well-executed (read: subtle). It really depends on what you're talking about. I think soups and salads are excellent media for such things, where mashed potatoes or fried chicken are not.
I'm all for simple.
About a week ago I made a nice chicken and rice dish with fancy aged parmesan alfredo sauce and broccoli, and it was received fairly well.
Just last night, I made a super-simple casserole:
2 boneless diced grilled chicken breasts
3 cups of cooked white rice
2 cans of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup
12-16 ounces of chopped broccoli
Mixed all together, and topped with shredded colby jack and baked at 400 degrees for 25 minutes.
This very similar dish was far better received and cost a lot less to make.
Go figure.
I do, however, try and explain why I feel that Hershey's milk chocolate doesn't really qualify as chocolate any more than grape salt water taffy qualifies as grapes (almost no success on that front).
Badmouthing Hershey now? I'll take Hershey over a lot of brands. Are you a Nestle man? Ghirardelli only?
I'm baffled by your hatred of the American chocolatier that brought cheap chocolate to the masses. They're certainly not the best by any stretch of the imagination, I just fail to see why they beget such vitriol from you.
Badmouthing Hershey now? I'll take Hershey over a lot of brands. Are you a Nestle man? Ghirardelli only?
I'm baffled by your hatred of the American chocolatier that brought cheap chocolate to the masses. They're certainly not the best by any stretch of the imagination, I just fail to see why they beget such vitriol from you.
Ghirardelli is the lowest I go for. I prefer Scharffenberger (ironically owned by Hershey), Callebaut and Vahlrona are terrific, Dagoba's pretty good, local company Guittard is good. Nestle and Hershey alkali-process their chocolate, which kills the flavor, and their milk chocolates taste more like sugar than cocoa. I generally go for 70-80% cacao, and Hershey doesn't even approach that. After you dip below 50% cacao, I stop calling it "chocolate," and prefer to call it "chocolatey candy."
I recognize that I take it more seriously than most, but... I feel the need to draw a distinction.
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[The Crafters] | [Johnnies United]
My anecdotal evidence disagrees with yours! EXPLAIN THAT!
Ghirardelli is the lowest I go for. I prefer Scharffenberger (ironically owned by Hershey), Callebaut and Vahlrona are terrific, Dagoba's pretty good, local company Guittard is good. Nestle and Hershey alkali-process their chocolate, which kills the flavor, and their milk chocolates taste more like sugar than cocoa. I generally go for 70-80% cacao, and Hershey doesn't even approach that. After you dip below 50% cacao, I stop calling it "chocolate," and prefer to call it "chocolatey candy."
I recognize that I take it more seriously than most, but... I feel the need to draw a distinction.
Yeah, my aunt lives in San Francisco, and I kill her whenever she doesnt send me Scharffenberger for gifts. That said I tend to slum it with the occasional Reese's Cup. I cant help myself, peanut butter and chocolate are together the worlds perfect food...
Edit: a friend of mine just pointed out the irony of the fact that Im arguing for subtlety of Japanese cuisine, yet I pilot the far from subtle RDW every friday...
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Thanks to Zaph and spiderboy4 at High~Light Studios for the kick ass sig and amazing avvy.
I find this discussion humorous. What I am reading is each of you has your own personal preference and people who have different ideas about food are wrong/ know nothing about food. Get over yourselves. I am sure all of your cooking "tastes like ass" to somebody else.
Since many of you are proclaimed fans of the Food Network, it should be obvious there many different types of food that are loved by my different types of people. Some people adore Twinkies, and others like foie gras with a ginger midori reduction and mango compote. You are not a superior human being if you are a member of either crowd.
I disagree to a point. I even just said that people shouldn't eat just ultra gourmet, and that there's a difference. You still have to face the fact the Morimoto is a better chef, and makes superior dishes to say the "Almost Homemade" girl (ugh). There is such a thing as superior food, and people have preferences. The people that love twinkies and hate the "snoody goose crap" obviously have a pallete that's not to be celebrated.
If a food or style is not to your liking, making harsh judgements or obviously rude comments like "tastes like ass" makes YOU look like a fool - not the cook.
Now with that said, there are such things as bad food. But what that is, is not obvious.
I can agree with that.
If I serve traddional Japanese dishes to a small group of people in the mid-western part of the United States, the people may hate ... actually be unable to eat the food offered to them. But does that make it bad food?
My friend told me we had to go to his favorite Italian restaurant. He ordered his favorite dish and I said I would have the same. He kept asking me if I thought it was the best fettucini alfredo I had ever eaten. I told him it was not my style of food and gagged down half of the plate with a forced smile. To me, fettucini alfredo is rich thin sauce of cream, egg yokes, kosher salt and a generous amount of imported parmigiano reggiano. But for my friend, it was pasta cooked very soft, served in a very thick bechamel flavored with garlic and Kraft "parmesan" style cheese.
that would mean you have superior taste to your friend, and look for texture and complexity to your food. Taste is a much of a sense as smell, hearing, etc. Some people need glasses, some people need hearing aides. Unfortunately, there is not tasting aide to help people that want a soft cheesy mess of alfredo.
loose the food snobbery ...celebrate what you love and share it with everyone and try new thinks... Like using my recipe with liquid smoke ( sorry - But i should not be shot- some people do not have the ability to cold smoke items or have time for the whole soak wood chips business)
I will not loose my food snobery. I almost went to culinary school, but decided that I should probably do more good in the world with my engineering mind (and probably make more money). I just feel that everyone can respect the fact that there is superior food in the world, but it's not always what you want to eat.
I'm all for simple.
About a week ago I made a nice chicken and rice dish with fancy aged parmesan alfredo sauce and broccoli, and it was received fairly well.
Just last night, I made a super-simple casserole:
2 boneless diced grilled chicken breasts
3 cups of cooked white rice
2 cans of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup
12-16 ounces of chopped broccoli
Mixed all together, and topped with shredded colby jack and baked at 400 degrees for 25 minutes.
This very similar dish was far better received and cost a lot less to make.
Go figure.
Badmouthing Hershey now? I'll take Hershey over a lot of brands. Are you a Nestle man? Ghirardelli only?
I'm baffled by your hatred of the American chocolatier that brought cheap chocolate to the masses. They're certainly not the best by any stretch of the imagination, I just fail to see why they beget such vitriol from you.
The cassrole is the wrong kind of simple, and is an example of bad things people do to food (again, I am a food snob). It furthers my point that some people just don't have as strong a sense of taste as others, it's not bad thing, but I wear contacts, and my hearing sucks. I have a sensitive sense of touch, and a strong sense of taste.
Secondly, Hershey's is gross. Period. It's sugar with a hint of bitter cocoa solids and too much much cocoa fats. The texture is grainy, the tempering sucks, and it's just terrible. I don't mind the dark hershey's bliss, but that's it with a hershey's label.
My perferred chocolate: Lindt. Their chocolate is some of the best in the world. I don't mind some Ghirardelli, but if possible I have 70% dark Lindt choclate.
*Points to self* I am not a fried chicken fan. Baked, broiled, grilled, rotisseried, etc, fine, as long as it's white meat only. Just don't dip it in breading and fry it. The excess oil gives me a stomach ache.
Believe it or not, I've seen, on more than one occasion, a recipe for fried chicken that calls for much less oil than regular fried chicken. I imagine it wouldn't affect the taste at all, and might even be a bit better.
Quote from Kankennon »
Badmouthing Hershey now? I'll take Hershey over a lot of brands. Are you a Nestle man? Ghirardelli only?
I'm baffled by your hatred of the American chocolatier that brought cheap chocolate to the masses. They're certainly not the best by any stretch of the imagination, I just fail to see why they beget such vitriol from you.
If we're gonna start talking chocolate now, I'll have to say that Ghirardelli may be my favorite brand, but there is no comparison to a good Toblerone. Everything about it is just so good; the taste, the shape, the texture, etc. I won't say I don't like hershey, though, because there is something special about eating a slightly melted regular hershey bar that I can't find in any other eating experience.
Quote from Svogthir »
That said I tend to slum it with the occasional Reese's Cup. I cant help myself, peanut butter and chocolate are together the worlds perfect food...
I whole-heartedly agree. Reeses cups are always something that can't be touched in terms of ingredients. Chocolate + Peanut Butter = One of the best. And something about the texture of the peanut butter just makes it even better.
I just feel that everyone can respect the fact that there is superior food in the world, but it's not always what you want to eat.
It furthers my point that some people just don't have as strong a sense of taste as others, it's not bad thing, but I wear contacts, and my hearing sucks. I have a sensitive sense of touch, and a strong sense of taste.
As a chef, I often have to cater to all levels of palette sensitivity.
And as a foodie, I enjoy food on many levels. A good example is cooking for my wife. She loves chicken pan seared until it is brown, dry and crispy. I prefer a quick sear - keeping it moist and juicy ...slightly underdone (165 F) but I can appreciate BOTH as they provide contrast in flavor/texture.
Rice with Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup is delicious. But morel mushroom risotto is also wonderful.
2 cups Arborio Risotto rice, uncooked
2 cups fresh morel mushrooms, cleaned or 1/2 cup dried morel mushrooms, soaked 20 minutes in hot water
1/4 cup finely minced shallots
2 Tablespoons salted butter
2 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive oil
4 cups chicken broth or stock
3 cups reserved mushroom water
1 small bay leaf
2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped fine
2 teaspoon fresh chives, chopped fine
1 teaspoon fresh tarragon, chopped fine
1 teaspoon fresh chevil, chopped fine
2 Tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped fine
1/2 cup imported parmigiano reggiano
Place Mushrooms in a large bowl water (approx. 4 cups) for 20 minutes, "gently" agitating mushrooms to get rid of any excess dirt or sand. Remove mushrooms from water, reserving the water for later.
Cut mushrooms into small rings, then set aside. If anything feels sandy, just rinse gently under running water to remove.
Next, heat 2 Tablespoons olive oil and 1 Tablespoon butter in a large frying pan. Saute 1/4 cup shallots until shallots are translucent. Add 2 cups risotto and stir for about 2 minutes. Stir in 1 Cup chicken broth/stock ,add bay leaf and continue cooking and stirring until the liquid is almost absorbed. Repeat this process with remaining chicken broth/stock. After last cup of chicken stock/broth has been absorbed, carefully remove 1 cup of mushroom water from reserved 3 cups, trying not to disturb sediment on bottom of bowl. Add this cup and the 2 cups chopped mushrooms, stir until liquid is absorbed. Repeat the stirring/cooking process as with the chicken broth/stock, using the last 1-2 Cups of mushroom water until risotto is creamy and al dente. When Risotto is finished, stir in parmigiano reggiano, fresh herbs, salt, pepper and last tablespoon of butter. Serve immediately.
You could add a small amount of garlic to the shallot saute.
if you like a rich savory and very fattening version : double the butter at the end and add 1/2 c heavy cream.
I whole-heartedly agree. Reeses cups are always something that can't be touched in terms of ingredients. Chocolate + Peanut Butter = One of the best. And something about the texture of the peanut butter just makes it even better.
Er, do you mean the classes of ingredients peanut butter and chocolate, or the specific ingredients peanut butter and chocolate as used in a Reese's peanut butter cup? If the latter, I'd suggest finding a candy shop that sells high quality versions and trying that out - or even making your own.
It's very much like the difference between a York peppermint pattie and a dark chocolate peppermint disk, only I'd say the difference is even more noticeable because of Reese's's poor quality peanut butter.
Another quick opinion poll! Chocolate: tempered or untempered?
For those unfamiliar with chocolate lingo, tempering chocolate is a process where a chocolatier changes the crystal formation of the chocolate to promote a smooth texture and create a waxy coating. It's widely done to give it a nice sheen and to prolong shelf-life. Some prefer untempered chocolate out of dislike for the waxy coat tempered chocolate gets.
Edit - If some of us could get together, I'd enjoy setting up a chocolate tasting - or maybe I should just write up a list of chocolates for people to obtain on their own time and have a general layout of how to go about it. Hmm...
If we're gonna start talking chocolate now, I'll have to say that Ghirardelli may be my favorite brand, but there is no comparison to a good Toblerone. Everything about it is just so good; the taste, the shape, the texture, etc. I won't say I don't like hershey, though, because there is something special about eating a slightly melted regular hershey bar that I can't find in any other eating experience.
Now we're talking! I like Toblerone a lot, especially their chocolate + caramel. Good stuff. I'll need to try some of Zith's favorite Smurfenburger when I visit San Fran in September.
Rice with Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup is delicious. But morel mushroom risotto is also wonderful.
That looks mighty tasty. A good friend made some chicken piccata with parmesan risotto for the Mrs. and I a couple of months ago. It was to die for!
He finished it up with a really high-tech dessert: Duncan Hines brownies.
Another quick opinion poll! Chocolate: tempered or untempered?
For those unfamiliar with chocolate lingo, tempering chocolate is a process where a chocolatier changes the crystal formation of the chocolate to promote a smooth texture and create a waxy coating. It's widely done to give it a nice sheen and to prolong shelf-life. Some prefer untempered chocolate out of dislike for the waxy coat tempered chocolate gets.
Edit - If some of us could get together, I'd enjoy setting up a chocolate tasting - or maybe I should just write up a list of chocolates for people to obtain on their own time and have a general layout of how to go about it. Hmm...
You have a very discerning palette when it comes to sweets, and I commend you for it. I am not very finicky when it comes to chocolate. I prefer milk chocolate and my wife prefers the darker or semi-sweet varieties. As long as it's not the ubiquitous Easter candy sorts that resemble chocolate-colored carnuba wax, I'm usually fine with it, tempered or otherwise.
a word of warning on the recipe.. if you have none of the ingredients.. it will run you about $50 or more to make it
simple parm risotto... just use Arborio rice, stock, & finish with a generous amount of butter and quality Parmesan .. about $7 dollars for a side dish for 4-5 people
I'm back from my 5-day-trip to Hungary, and I have to say, I'm not all that impressed. I originally thought the food would be different from the "Hungarian" dishes one can get in Austria, like it is with Italian food. I was wrong:rolleyes:. The food was great, don't get me wrong, but I couldn't find anything different from the way it was in Austria.
I've had authentic Austrian sausage, and it tastes incredible, unlike any other. I'm hoping you had some of that at least. Still a bit of a sad report from such a hopeful country.
Quote from Zith »
Another quick opinion poll! Chocolate: tempered or untempered?
For those unfamiliar with chocolate lingo, tempering chocolate is a process where a chocolatier changes the crystal formation of the chocolate to promote a smooth texture and create a waxy coating. It's widely done to give it a nice sheen and to prolong shelf-life. Some prefer untempered chocolate out of dislike for the waxy coat tempered chocolate gets.
Edit - If some of us could get together, I'd enjoy setting up a chocolate tasting - or maybe I should just write up a list of chocolates for people to obtain on their own time and have a general layout of how to go about it. Hmm...
Wow...sometimes I wish I liked chocolate enough to know all this. It would be very fun to do a chocolate tasting, though. A list would be just as good, though, as I can tell you wouldn't just give us some regular chocolates. Gosh, now I'm craving some.
Also, I think I might just give that a try, I mean making my own peanut butter cups. Never tried it before, but it sounds like it would be a fine idea.
So I have this awesome cousin who spoils my family silly, as she loves us to death and is absurdly wealthy. She took us shopping, and I was torn between the kitchen store for nice knives, digital scale, a mandolin, and a couple dozen other items, or a bookstore for cookbooks. I went cookbooks, and it got pretty ridiculous pretty fast as she kept telling me I didn't have enough books yet.
This is all to say that I've come into a rather nice set of cookbooks, all but one of which I expect to use on a fairly regular basis. I got: The Spice Bible, The Produce Bible, The Perfect Scoop, The Improvisational Cook, Thomas Keller's The French Laundry Cookbook (named for his world-class French restaurant), Keller's pastry chef's Indulge: 100 Perfect Desserts, and Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads. I attended a class for that last one that Reinhart taught back in April that my girlfriend got me as a Valentine's Day gift, and it's pretty awesome if you're into whole grain. The Perfect Scoop looks like a fun book for ice creams, sorbets, granitas, and so on, with a good mix of traditional flavors and more exotic inspirations - like kinako, Vietnamese coffee, goat cheese or rice.
But Indulge. Oh my. Everything from simple vanilla cheesecake and mint chocolate chip ice cream sandwiches to blood orange, cara cara and mandarin jellies with pink grapefruit hache, with amazing pictures all over. Any cookbook that believes saying "dark chocolate" isn't enough and lists the desired percentage earns my wholehearted approval.
The one I'm not too likely to use very often is The French LaundryCookbook, as I'm not as much into the savory side of life. Mostly, it's the pictures, the nonrecipe text, and the flavor ideas that made me want it.
Of course, opening it just now to see, I come across garlic chips (to be served with red mullet) and question the notion that I won't be using this book. Still, a whole section on offal...
The only bad part is I'd finally started weaning myself from the desire to take my girlfriend to The French Laundry (a very dangerous desire when it costs $250/person), and now these books are drawing me back in.
Jackermeister: Out of sheer curiosity what does ethnic Georgian cuisine consist of?
Well, I don't live in the actual Georgia anymore. My family and I used to live there when I was in early childhood, though now we're in the states. When I was there, though, we would eat dishes such as:
Kachapuri (a dish that is bread filled with usually various cheeses, eggs, spices, etc.)
Lobio (beans, tomatoes, onions, black pepper, in the form of a stew. One of my personal favorites.)
Chakapuli (everyone loves this one. It's also like a stew dish, with more hearty ingredients like tkemali sauce, lamb chops, tarragon leaves, white wine, etc.)
Georgia is also very well known for it's wines, and being one of the oldest wine producing regions in the entirety of Europe.
So I have this awesome cousin who spoils my family silly, as she loves us to death and is absurdly wealthy. She took us shopping, and I was torn between the kitchen store for nice knives, digital scale, a mandolin, and a couple dozen other items, or a bookstore for cookbooks. I went cookbooks, and it got pretty ridiculous pretty fast as she kept telling me I didn't have enough books yet.
This is all to say that I've come into a rather nice set of cookbooks, all but one of which I expect to use on a fairly regular basis. I got: The Spice Bible, The Produce Bible, The Perfect Scoop, The Improvisational Cook, Thomas Keller's The French Laundry Cookbook (named for his world-class French restaurant), Keller's pastry chef's Indulge: 100 Perfect Desserts, and Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads. I attended a class for that last one that Reinhart taught back in April that my girlfriend got me as a Valentine's Day gift, and it's pretty awesome if you're into whole grain. The Perfect Scoop looks like a fun book for ice creams, sorbets, granitas, and so on, with a good mix of traditional flavors and more exotic inspirations - like kinako, Vietnamese coffee, goat cheese or rice.
But Indulge. Oh my. Everything from simple vanilla cheesecake and mint chocolate chip ice cream sandwiches to blood orange, cara cara and mandarin jellies with pink grapefruit hache, with amazing pictures all over. Any cookbook that believes saying "dark chocolate" isn't enough and lists the desired percentage earns my wholehearted approval.
The one I'm not too likely to use very often is The French LaundryCookbook, as I'm not as much into the savory side of life. Mostly, it's the pictures, the nonrecipe text, and the flavor ideas that made me want it.
Of course, opening it just now to see, I come across garlic chips (to be served with red mullet) and question the notion that I won't be using this book. Still, a whole section on offal...
The only bad part is I'd finally started weaning myself from the desire to take my girlfriend to The French Laundry (a very dangerous desire when it costs $250/person), and now these books are drawing me back in.
Wow...I wish I had a cousin who would say I didn't have enough books when I went book-buying. I'll have to go out and look for some of these titles now, by the way. That Indulge sounds amazing.
I am an absolute sucker for indigenous cuisine, and plan to travel the world. As such, it is always good to get a few choice picks on what to eat. I die a little inside every time I see a new McDonalds open in nepal or kenya or somewhere that doesnt deserve that kind of culinary punishment. And the worst thing is that the people there see it as some sort of gift from the gods that they would get something so american. I think I'm going to go throw up now...
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Thanks to Zaph and spiderboy4 at High~Light Studios for the kick ass sig and amazing avvy.
I am an absolute sucker for indigenous cuisine, and plan to travel the world. As such, it is always good to get a few choice picks on what to eat. I die a little inside every time I see a new McDonalds open in nepal or kenya or somewhere that doesnt deserve that kind of culinary punishment. And the worst thing is that the people there see it as some sort of gift from the gods that they would get something so american. I think I'm going to go throw up now...
I think there is something about regional cuisine that feels like it just has heart. Even classics that get commercially adapted, like Chinese and Mexican food, are considered comfort food, and for good reason.
I recently made up a very nice dressing that I liked, for salads and veggies and so on:
1 tbsp spicy mustard
1 tsp jam (strawberry is what I used)
1 tsp honey
1 tsp raspberry-balsamic vinegar (and/or 1 tsp rice wine vinegar)
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt, pepper, and/or dried herbs to taste.
Mix well, of course. I found it to be very tasty over slices of avocado and tomato. Adding some almonds, diced carrots, shalots, and various greens are all good ideas.
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All that I yearn for, for richer or poorer, is to be the light that you see. All that I yearn for, for richer or poorer, is to be the peace that you feel. All that I yearn for, for richer or poorer, is to fill your heart on my own.
But the rainbow is an image of hope for many reasons, as it is a brilliant sight coming out of oftimes dismal weather.
I am an absolute sucker for indigenous cuisine, and plan to travel the world. As such, it is always good to get a few choice picks on what to eat. I die a little inside every time I see a new McDonalds open in nepal or kenya or somewhere that doesnt deserve that kind of culinary punishment. And the worst thing is that the people there see it as some sort of gift from the gods that they would get something so american. I think I'm going to go throw up now...
I don't necessarily hate McDonalds, though I do think countries such as those deserve better. That said, there aren't many restaurant chains that see other world countries as good venues. McDonalds is probably the only kind of "restaurant" that would open itself up there.
I think there is something about regional cuisine that feels like it just has heart. Even classics that get commercially adapted, like Chinese and Mexican food, are considered comfort food, and for good reason.
It seems to me that we see regional cuisine as different, which is always appealing. Seeing the same old american stuff takes a bit of the love out of it. Whenever my parents get into their Georgian mood, they do fix up some nice sausage, which is wonderful. I sometimes wish they'd do it more often, though not often enough to take the joy out of having it.
I recently made up a very nice dressing that I liked, for salads and veggies and so on:
1 tbsp spicy mustard
1 tsp jam (strawberry is what I used)
1 tsp honey
1 tsp raspberry-balsamic vinegar (and/or 1 tsp rice wine vinegar)
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt, pepper, and/or dried herbs to taste.
Mix well, of course. I found it to be very tasty over slices of avocado and tomato. Adding some almonds, diced carrots, shalots, and various greens are all good ideas.
Wow...not too fat heavy, good flavors...I'm gonna have to try that some time. Though I have to say I'm a sucker for Catalina on my salads, as I love the tomato flavor.
Wow...sometimes I wish I liked chocolate enough to know all this. It would be very fun to do a chocolate tasting, though. A list would be just as good, though, as I can tell you wouldn't just give us some regular chocolates. Gosh, now I'm craving some.
STOP IT!
*walks to the fridge, fetches a bar of Linth milk/hazelnut chocolate, heads back to the PC*
aah ... better!
I'd love to do such a chocolate tasting. Recently, a friend brought me some chocolate from Croatia, and I had to realize that it was completely different stuff than my 'usual' Swiss chocolate (yes, I live in the country of Linth + Toblerone, and I definitely enjoy doing so!). I'm curious how american chocolate tastes like ...
Yeah, I had to go get some chocolate, too. Delicious, cloying, unsweetened chocolate. I've got a short list of good chocolates, separated into some basic categories. It's based on an American selection, but people elsewhere should be able to do a little research to find similar chocolates for them. There should be a good (expensive) grocery store around. Where I'm at, I can rate stores based on the varieties of cheeses and butters available. Anyways, those are usually a good place to look for chocolates, beyond the obvious candy shops with chocolate selections.
Good signs are chocolate companies marketing to pastry chefs, offering single-origin chocolate, and marking cacao percentages. At least, this is the case in the United States. An adventurous person might go to a nice restaurant, ask to see the pastry chef and get their opinions.
Internationally available, I think:
Amedei (Italy)
Valrhona (France)
Callebaut (Belgium)
Ghirardelli (USA)
Lindt & Sprungli (Switzerland)
Green & Black's (UK)
And there's usually a local producer of high quality chocolate. For my area, there's:
Scharffenberger
Dagoba
Guittard
Those first two have been bought by Hershey, and so may become more widely available. There are also several other brands of varying availability and expense - someone's making an Endangered Species line of chocolate bars that's should be suitable. Searches for "chocolate tasting" should reveal other high-end chocolates if you're of a mind. And to round it out, go ahead and get some Hershey/Nestle.
Now, the actual tasting will cost a bit of money. You'll need to get two, three is better, different levels of chocolate from each company you can. I'd suggest trying ~60% and ~80% cocoa solid content from each. It's a good idea to get a wide variety of percentages, but to save on cost, don't bother getting every company like that.
Some chocolate manufacturers sell chocolate with inclusions, like lavender, seeds, or bacon. These aren't appropriate to eat during the first tasting, but can be a lot of fun as a follow-up, or as another tasting just for these sorts of chocolates.
You always start with lighter, lower-percentage chocolates first and gradually move into the darker chocolates. If I were setting this up, I'd make it blind so that preferences aren't involved, but if you're familiar with a chocolate, I'd suggest ending each level with that one.
Now, there's a certain process:
First, look at the chocolate. The first question is the state of temper: does it have a shiny, hard surface? When you break off a piece, does it break cleanly with a good snap? Yes answers indicate a good state of temper, no answers either mean it's untempered chocolate, or that it's fallen out of temper. If there's a whitish film, that's called "blooming" and means it was improperly stored and moisture had access. It shouldn't affect flavor, unless it's old and expired earlier than its unbloomed fellows.
Second, smell the chocolate. There are many ways one can describe the aroma, but the general idea is to get past simply saying "chocolate," and using other adjectives to describe it.
Third, place a small piece in your mouth. The most important thing is not to chew. Suck on the piece of chocolate. If it's in a good state of temper, there will be a waxy coat; let that melt away. One of the first things you should be able to notice at this point is its texture. Is it cloying - sticking to the surfaces of your mouth - or silky? Then there's a question of if it feels acidic in your mouth. Finally, there should be subtle qualities in flavor, and everyone has different ways of describing just what these are. Again, the purpose is to get beyond simply saying "chocolate." Common descriptors include fruity and earthy.
Fourth is, once you've sucked the whole piece away, sit and taste for a moment. Chocolate should have a lingering effect different from the effects of it actually being in your mouth.
Finally, drink some water, or, better yet, have a small piece of a simple, mild bread, before moving on to the next piece.
I feel like I'm forgetting certain qualities, or maybe an entire step, but that's general idea. So you keep notes on each of these for each of the different chocolates, and remember that the idea is to contrast them all.
I'll look for the ones I took during my chocolate class for examples and to verify what I've said as complete.
And yes, this all is taking chocolate very, very seriously. You don't have to make it so involved if you'd rather not.
STOP IT!
*walks to the fridge, fetches a bar of Linth milk/hazelnut chocolate, heads back to the PC*
aah ... better!
I'd love to do such a chocolate tasting. Recently, a friend brought me some chocolate from Croatia, and I had to realize that it was completely different stuff than my 'usual' Swiss chocolate (yes, I live in the country of Linth + Toblerone, and I definitely enjoy doing so!). I'm curious how american chocolate tastes like ...
Don't bother, its not worth it, unless you get your hands on a Reese's Cup. European chocolate is head and above American in almost every respect. Even Canada has much better sweets.
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Thanks to Zaph and spiderboy4 at High~Light Studios for the kick ass sig and amazing avvy.
Don't bother, its not worth it, unless you get your hands on a Reese's Cup. European chocolate is head and above American in almost every respect. Even Canada has much better sweets.
Chocolate shouldn't, IMO, be considered a sweet of itself. It's bitter, and usually paired with something tart, or something sweet to make a candy.
We Americans do things right when we stay small; it's the mass-produced stuff that's no good. I may be getting a skewed view due to living in the foodie center known as Wine Country, but around here, there are a lot of smaller companies producing excellent baked goods, candies, and ice creams - sorry, gelato; can't call it ice cream or it'd seem commonplace.
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[The Crafters] | [Johnnies United]
My anecdotal evidence disagrees with yours! EXPLAIN THAT!
I think there is something about regional cuisine that feels like it just has heart. Even classics that get commercially adapted, like Chinese and Mexican food, are considered comfort food, and for good reason.
I recently made up a very nice dressing that I liked, for salads and veggies and so on:
1 tbsp spicy mustard
1 tsp jam (strawberry is what I used)
1 tsp honey
1 tsp raspberry-balsamic vinegar (and/or 1 tsp rice wine vinegar)
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt, pepper, and/or dried herbs to taste.
Mix well, of course. I found it to be very tasty over slices of avocado and tomato. Adding some almonds, diced carrots, shalots, and various greens are all good ideas.
sickly sweet... yuck... but I might try...it offends me.. so I should investigate, I doubt avocado as its home, but then my wife likes avocado, milk, & sugar blended. Maybe i need to relax and attempt to create new associations.
STOP IT!
*walks to the fridge, fetches a bar of Linth milk/hazelnut chocolate, heads back to the PC*
aah ... better!
I'd love to do such a chocolate tasting. Recently, a friend brought me some chocolate from Croatia, and I had to realize that it was completely different stuff than my 'usual' Swiss chocolate (yes, I live in the country of Linth + Toblerone, and I definitely enjoy doing so!). I'm curious how american chocolate tastes like ...
you were told, no butter fat or Cacao= waxy cheap junk.
the testing does not need to be done here as a group, You can buy five to ten different chocolates. (Please note butterfat and Cacao content) . I have not thought out a palate cleanser for the test but you will need one. Eat each chocolate slowly. Cleanse the palate again after each tasting.
If you are a true taster, you will be with me and Zith, if not, you are a non taster. Zith and I both tested chocolates ( in our culinary training). Side by side, the winners are easy.
You do not need expensive food to make great cuisine, you only need to choose the best ingredients. does this mean great food is cheap? NO!
Think about a tomato. The best flavor comes from a tomato fully ripened, strait off the vine. You can smell this tomato across the room. Quick foodie test: go to the market, buy a tomato with the strongest tomato sent, and a tomato that has no sent. Taste. Winner: the vine ripped or heirloom tomato... The price difference? Huge. And that was just a tomato!!!
Expensive food is simple food, but it uses the best quality ingredients. Not Campbell soup
If you are a non taster, your ideas on food are important!!! Because tasters are working in restaurants feeding you! If you like Kc Masterpiece BBQ sauce with 10 cloves of fresh garlic and 3 fresh jalapenos added... AND you think the sauce needs to be sweeter?!?! knowledge of this is good for all people reading!!!!!
From my friend Jason Garbor: Sushi Nachos:
thai shrimp chips: cook at 350F fried and crisp,(kodomo: these are not the cracker like snacks in a bag, they look like super thick potato chips (very hard to the touch) in a small bag.they are cracker-like after deep frying, after frying they go to 2-5 times the original size and are fluffy)
Super fresh Ahi tuna: sinew removed,(you can see the layers of the fish, where the fish is closely layered- make an effort to removed the white membrane).
Chili oil 1-2 TB spoon
mayonnaise, yummy not to much, 1-2 TB spoon per pound
I chop the tuna in to 1/8th inch tiny dice(not perfect 95% or more is 1/8 inch or less in size.
B&W sesame seeds to taste
sweet onion (Maui?Vidalia onion?) chopped in to 1/4 i-1/16 inch dice - how sharp is your knife?
green onions - white and green parts sliced super, super, super( get your knives very sharp plze) thin!
mix together save some sweet onions for topping ( not important unless you love raw onion)
1 bunch of cilantro and 1/4 cup olive/peanut oil blended until it is almost pure green oil,( 5 minutes?)
cream cheese or a semi soft cheese.
spread a tiny amount of cheese on the shrimp toast / cracker.
layer spicy tuna mix with extra sweet onions and cilantro oil. Eat now you fool!
Then shake like you busted in her mouth.
edit: I think Jason liked paper thin slices of jalapeno on top of the "nacho" he might have even used dicon radish sprouts, Julianne tomato slices OR the garlic/chili mayo with tomato paste and my garlic/ ponzu/ truffle oil mix. play around with it. fun times!!!!
sickly sweet... yuck... but I might try...it offends me.. so I should investigate, I doubt avocado as its home, but then my wife likes avocado, milk, & sugar blended. Maybe i need to relax and attempt to create new associations.
SeriouslY? You should give it a try before coming to that conclusion, because it's better than it may sound. And if you prefer less sweetness you can omit the honey. The jam, however, contributes a lot of the flavor and it goes well with the raspberry vinegar.
I really suggest the mustard, jam, and raspberry vinegar together. Everything else is optional, really, but those three ingredients are the core of the flavor profile.
I like avocado and tomato together, and they both are excellent with a sweet and spicy flavor. Plain olive oil and rice wine or champagne vinegar is good, too.
All that I yearn for, for richer or poorer, is to be the light that you see. All that I yearn for, for richer or poorer, is to be the peace that you feel. All that I yearn for, for richer or poorer, is to fill your heart on my own.
But the rainbow is an image of hope for many reasons, as it is a brilliant sight coming out of oftimes dismal weather.
a classical vinaigrette has sugar, vinegar and oil. the ratios change for the items being coated with it. A very sweet vinaigrette is just not in the European style...that said... I need to change my attitudes towards things like this
I was wondering what everyone liked to drink. I saw this thread elsewhere, but I'm curious what foodies are thinking.
My standard diet coke or water is always a great choice, but I thought I would list my favorite drinks just to get discussion started.
Beer: Kreutzberg Monastery's dark, dark ale. It's by far my favorite beer. It's a deep dark beer with a thick, tan haed. It's also about 16-18% alcohol by volume, and I like my beers strong (though Heidelburg's "world strongest beer" at 40% alcohol by volume was not very good).
Wine: I like a nice french haut medoc, I like it with ten years or more behind it (I find the older the better), and at about 60 degrees (Just a little cooler than room temperature).
Cocktail: A highlander with a good stiff aged scotch, and a little heavy on the scotch. Best cocktail ever:
Step 1: Pour 3/4 part Kahlua into a (small) glass.
Step 2: Position a spoon with the back facing up. Pour 1/4 part bailey's over the spoon to form two layers.
Step 3: Using the spoon splash a little 151 on top.
Step 4: Light drink on fire.
There's two ways to drink this. The basic, boring way is to blow it out and drink the shot. The fun, better way to drink it is to take a plastic shot and dunk it into the fiery liquid and slurp it up as fast as you can.
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*Points to self* I am not a fried chicken fan. Baked, broiled, grilled, rotisseried, etc, fine, as long as it's white meat only. Just don't dip it in breading and fry it. The excess oil gives me a stomach ache.
I'm all for simple.
About a week ago I made a nice chicken and rice dish with fancy aged parmesan alfredo sauce and broccoli, and it was received fairly well.
Just last night, I made a super-simple casserole:
2 boneless diced grilled chicken breasts
3 cups of cooked white rice
2 cans of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup
12-16 ounces of chopped broccoli
Mixed all together, and topped with shredded colby jack and baked at 400 degrees for 25 minutes.
This very similar dish was far better received and cost a lot less to make.
Go figure.
I've been known to down my Hostess products in good time. There's just something to be said for a handful of Hostess Cupcakes every so often.
Badmouthing Hershey now? I'll take Hershey over a lot of brands. Are you a Nestle man? Ghirardelli only?
I'm baffled by your hatred of the American chocolatier that brought cheap chocolate to the masses. They're certainly not the best by any stretch of the imagination, I just fail to see why they beget such vitriol from you.
I recognize that I take it more seriously than most, but... I feel the need to draw a distinction.
Yeah, my aunt lives in San Francisco, and I kill her whenever she doesnt send me Scharffenberger for gifts. That said I tend to slum it with the occasional Reese's Cup. I cant help myself, peanut butter and chocolate are together the worlds perfect food...
Edit: a friend of mine just pointed out the irony of the fact that Im arguing for subtlety of Japanese cuisine, yet I pilot the far from subtle RDW every friday...
I disagree to a point. I even just said that people shouldn't eat just ultra gourmet, and that there's a difference. You still have to face the fact the Morimoto is a better chef, and makes superior dishes to say the "Almost Homemade" girl (ugh). There is such a thing as superior food, and people have preferences. The people that love twinkies and hate the "snoody goose crap" obviously have a pallete that's not to be celebrated.
I can agree with that.
that would mean you have superior taste to your friend, and look for texture and complexity to your food. Taste is a much of a sense as smell, hearing, etc. Some people need glasses, some people need hearing aides. Unfortunately, there is not tasting aide to help people that want a soft cheesy mess of alfredo.
I will not loose my food snobery. I almost went to culinary school, but decided that I should probably do more good in the world with my engineering mind (and probably make more money). I just feel that everyone can respect the fact that there is superior food in the world, but it's not always what you want to eat.
The cassrole is the wrong kind of simple, and is an example of bad things people do to food (again, I am a food snob). It furthers my point that some people just don't have as strong a sense of taste as others, it's not bad thing, but I wear contacts, and my hearing sucks. I have a sensitive sense of touch, and a strong sense of taste.
Secondly, Hershey's is gross. Period. It's sugar with a hint of bitter cocoa solids and too much much cocoa fats. The texture is grainy, the tempering sucks, and it's just terrible. I don't mind the dark hershey's bliss, but that's it with a hershey's label.
My perferred chocolate: Lindt. Their chocolate is some of the best in the world. I don't mind some Ghirardelli, but if possible I have 70% dark Lindt choclate.
Believe it or not, I've seen, on more than one occasion, a recipe for fried chicken that calls for much less oil than regular fried chicken. I imagine it wouldn't affect the taste at all, and might even be a bit better.
If we're gonna start talking chocolate now, I'll have to say that Ghirardelli may be my favorite brand, but there is no comparison to a good Toblerone. Everything about it is just so good; the taste, the shape, the texture, etc. I won't say I don't like hershey, though, because there is something special about eating a slightly melted regular hershey bar that I can't find in any other eating experience.
I whole-heartedly agree. Reeses cups are always something that can't be touched in terms of ingredients. Chocolate + Peanut Butter = One of the best. And something about the texture of the peanut butter just makes it even better.
It is genetics..people have different sensitivity to taste.
You can test yourself to see what level of taster you are.
Simply understanding the palette might help appreciate the complexity of taste.
As a chef, I often have to cater to all levels of palette sensitivity.
And as a foodie, I enjoy food on many levels. A good example is cooking for my wife. She loves chicken pan seared until it is brown, dry and crispy. I prefer a quick sear - keeping it moist and juicy ...slightly underdone (165 F) but I can appreciate BOTH as they provide contrast in flavor/texture.
Rice with Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup is delicious. But morel mushroom risotto is also wonderful.
2 cups Arborio Risotto rice, uncooked
2 cups fresh morel mushrooms, cleaned or 1/2 cup dried morel mushrooms, soaked 20 minutes in hot water
1/4 cup finely minced shallots
2 Tablespoons salted butter
2 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive oil
4 cups chicken broth or stock
3 cups reserved mushroom water
1 small bay leaf
2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped fine
2 teaspoon fresh chives, chopped fine
1 teaspoon fresh tarragon, chopped fine
1 teaspoon fresh chevil, chopped fine
2 Tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped fine
1/2 cup imported parmigiano reggiano
Place Mushrooms in a large bowl water (approx. 4 cups) for 20 minutes, "gently" agitating mushrooms to get rid of any excess dirt or sand. Remove mushrooms from water, reserving the water for later.
Cut mushrooms into small rings, then set aside. If anything feels sandy, just rinse gently under running water to remove.
Next, heat 2 Tablespoons olive oil and 1 Tablespoon butter in a large frying pan. Saute 1/4 cup shallots until shallots are translucent. Add 2 cups risotto and stir for about 2 minutes. Stir in 1 Cup chicken broth/stock ,add bay leaf and continue cooking and stirring until the liquid is almost absorbed. Repeat this process with remaining chicken broth/stock. After last cup of chicken stock/broth has been absorbed, carefully remove 1 cup of mushroom water from reserved 3 cups, trying not to disturb sediment on bottom of bowl. Add this cup and the 2 cups chopped mushrooms, stir until liquid is absorbed. Repeat the stirring/cooking process as with the chicken broth/stock, using the last 1-2 Cups of mushroom water until risotto is creamy and al dente. When Risotto is finished, stir in parmigiano reggiano, fresh herbs, salt, pepper and last tablespoon of butter. Serve immediately.
You could add a small amount of garlic to the shallot saute.
if you like a rich savory and very fattening version : double the butter at the end and add 1/2 c heavy cream.
High~Light Studios
It's very much like the difference between a York peppermint pattie and a dark chocolate peppermint disk, only I'd say the difference is even more noticeable because of Reese's's poor quality peanut butter.
Another quick opinion poll! Chocolate: tempered or untempered?
For those unfamiliar with chocolate lingo, tempering chocolate is a process where a chocolatier changes the crystal formation of the chocolate to promote a smooth texture and create a waxy coating. It's widely done to give it a nice sheen and to prolong shelf-life. Some prefer untempered chocolate out of dislike for the waxy coat tempered chocolate gets.
Edit - If some of us could get together, I'd enjoy setting up a chocolate tasting - or maybe I should just write up a list of chocolates for people to obtain on their own time and have a general layout of how to go about it. Hmm...
Now we're talking! I like Toblerone a lot, especially their chocolate + caramel. Good stuff. I'll need to try some of Zith's favorite Smurfenburger when I visit San Fran in September.
That looks mighty tasty. A good friend made some chicken piccata with parmesan risotto for the Mrs. and I a couple of months ago. It was to die for!
He finished it up with a really high-tech dessert: Duncan Hines brownies.
You have a very discerning palette when it comes to sweets, and I commend you for it. I am not very finicky when it comes to chocolate. I prefer milk chocolate and my wife prefers the darker or semi-sweet varieties. As long as it's not the ubiquitous Easter candy sorts that resemble chocolate-colored carnuba wax, I'm usually fine with it, tempered or otherwise.
simple parm risotto... just use Arborio rice, stock, & finish with a generous amount of butter and quality Parmesan .. about $7 dollars for a side dish for 4-5 people
High~Light Studios
I've had authentic Austrian sausage, and it tastes incredible, unlike any other. I'm hoping you had some of that at least. Still a bit of a sad report from such a hopeful country.
Wow...sometimes I wish I liked chocolate enough to know all this. It would be very fun to do a chocolate tasting, though. A list would be just as good, though, as I can tell you wouldn't just give us some regular chocolates. Gosh, now I'm craving some.
Also, I think I might just give that a try, I mean making my own peanut butter cups. Never tried it before, but it sounds like it would be a fine idea.
This is all to say that I've come into a rather nice set of cookbooks, all but one of which I expect to use on a fairly regular basis. I got: The Spice Bible, The Produce Bible, The Perfect Scoop, The Improvisational Cook, Thomas Keller's The French Laundry Cookbook (named for his world-class French restaurant), Keller's pastry chef's Indulge: 100 Perfect Desserts, and Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads. I attended a class for that last one that Reinhart taught back in April that my girlfriend got me as a Valentine's Day gift, and it's pretty awesome if you're into whole grain. The Perfect Scoop looks like a fun book for ice creams, sorbets, granitas, and so on, with a good mix of traditional flavors and more exotic inspirations - like kinako, Vietnamese coffee, goat cheese or rice.
But Indulge. Oh my. Everything from simple vanilla cheesecake and mint chocolate chip ice cream sandwiches to blood orange, cara cara and mandarin jellies with pink grapefruit hache, with amazing pictures all over. Any cookbook that believes saying "dark chocolate" isn't enough and lists the desired percentage earns my wholehearted approval.
The one I'm not too likely to use very often is The French Laundry Cookbook, as I'm not as much into the savory side of life. Mostly, it's the pictures, the nonrecipe text, and the flavor ideas that made me want it.
Of course, opening it just now to see, I come across garlic chips (to be served with red mullet) and question the notion that I won't be using this book. Still, a whole section on offal...
The only bad part is I'd finally started weaning myself from the desire to take my girlfriend to The French Laundry (a very dangerous desire when it costs $250/person), and now these books are drawing me back in.
Well, I don't live in the actual Georgia anymore. My family and I used to live there when I was in early childhood, though now we're in the states. When I was there, though, we would eat dishes such as:
Wow...I wish I had a cousin who would say I didn't have enough books when I went book-buying. I'll have to go out and look for some of these titles now, by the way. That Indulge sounds amazing.
I think there is something about regional cuisine that feels like it just has heart. Even classics that get commercially adapted, like Chinese and Mexican food, are considered comfort food, and for good reason.
I recently made up a very nice dressing that I liked, for salads and veggies and so on:
1 tbsp spicy mustard
1 tsp jam (strawberry is what I used)
1 tsp honey
1 tsp raspberry-balsamic vinegar (and/or 1 tsp rice wine vinegar)
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt, pepper, and/or dried herbs to taste.
Mix well, of course. I found it to be very tasty over slices of avocado and tomato. Adding some almonds, diced carrots, shalots, and various greens are all good ideas.
All that I yearn for, for richer or poorer, is to be the peace that you feel.
All that I yearn for, for richer or poorer, is to fill your heart on my own.
Gaymers | Magic Coffeehouse | Little Jar of Mamelon | Natural 20
I don't necessarily hate McDonalds, though I do think countries such as those deserve better. That said, there aren't many restaurant chains that see other world countries as good venues. McDonalds is probably the only kind of "restaurant" that would open itself up there.
It seems to me that we see regional cuisine as different, which is always appealing. Seeing the same old american stuff takes a bit of the love out of it. Whenever my parents get into their Georgian mood, they do fix up some nice sausage, which is wonderful. I sometimes wish they'd do it more often, though not often enough to take the joy out of having it.
Wow...not too fat heavy, good flavors...I'm gonna have to try that some time. Though I have to say I'm a sucker for Catalina on my salads, as I love the tomato flavor.
STOP IT!
*walks to the fridge, fetches a bar of Linth milk/hazelnut chocolate, heads back to the PC*
aah ... better!
I'd love to do such a chocolate tasting. Recently, a friend brought me some chocolate from Croatia, and I had to realize that it was completely different stuff than my 'usual' Swiss chocolate (yes, I live in the country of Linth + Toblerone, and I definitely enjoy doing so!). I'm curious how american chocolate tastes like ...
I now have to go get chocolate.
Yeah, I had to go get some chocolate, too. Delicious, cloying, unsweetened chocolate. I've got a short list of good chocolates, separated into some basic categories. It's based on an American selection, but people elsewhere should be able to do a little research to find similar chocolates for them. There should be a good (expensive) grocery store around. Where I'm at, I can rate stores based on the varieties of cheeses and butters available. Anyways, those are usually a good place to look for chocolates, beyond the obvious candy shops with chocolate selections.
Good signs are chocolate companies marketing to pastry chefs, offering single-origin chocolate, and marking cacao percentages. At least, this is the case in the United States. An adventurous person might go to a nice restaurant, ask to see the pastry chef and get their opinions.
Internationally available, I think:
Amedei (Italy)
Valrhona (France)
Callebaut (Belgium)
Ghirardelli (USA)
Lindt & Sprungli (Switzerland)
Green & Black's (UK)
And there's usually a local producer of high quality chocolate. For my area, there's:
Scharffenberger
Dagoba
Guittard
Those first two have been bought by Hershey, and so may become more widely available. There are also several other brands of varying availability and expense - someone's making an Endangered Species line of chocolate bars that's should be suitable. Searches for "chocolate tasting" should reveal other high-end chocolates if you're of a mind. And to round it out, go ahead and get some Hershey/Nestle.
Now, the actual tasting will cost a bit of money. You'll need to get two, three is better, different levels of chocolate from each company you can. I'd suggest trying ~60% and ~80% cocoa solid content from each. It's a good idea to get a wide variety of percentages, but to save on cost, don't bother getting every company like that.
Some chocolate manufacturers sell chocolate with inclusions, like lavender, seeds, or bacon. These aren't appropriate to eat during the first tasting, but can be a lot of fun as a follow-up, or as another tasting just for these sorts of chocolates.
You always start with lighter, lower-percentage chocolates first and gradually move into the darker chocolates. If I were setting this up, I'd make it blind so that preferences aren't involved, but if you're familiar with a chocolate, I'd suggest ending each level with that one.
Now, there's a certain process:
First, look at the chocolate. The first question is the state of temper: does it have a shiny, hard surface? When you break off a piece, does it break cleanly with a good snap? Yes answers indicate a good state of temper, no answers either mean it's untempered chocolate, or that it's fallen out of temper. If there's a whitish film, that's called "blooming" and means it was improperly stored and moisture had access. It shouldn't affect flavor, unless it's old and expired earlier than its unbloomed fellows.
Second, smell the chocolate. There are many ways one can describe the aroma, but the general idea is to get past simply saying "chocolate," and using other adjectives to describe it.
Third, place a small piece in your mouth. The most important thing is not to chew. Suck on the piece of chocolate. If it's in a good state of temper, there will be a waxy coat; let that melt away. One of the first things you should be able to notice at this point is its texture. Is it cloying - sticking to the surfaces of your mouth - or silky? Then there's a question of if it feels acidic in your mouth. Finally, there should be subtle qualities in flavor, and everyone has different ways of describing just what these are. Again, the purpose is to get beyond simply saying "chocolate." Common descriptors include fruity and earthy.
Fourth is, once you've sucked the whole piece away, sit and taste for a moment. Chocolate should have a lingering effect different from the effects of it actually being in your mouth.
Finally, drink some water, or, better yet, have a small piece of a simple, mild bread, before moving on to the next piece.
I feel like I'm forgetting certain qualities, or maybe an entire step, but that's general idea. So you keep notes on each of these for each of the different chocolates, and remember that the idea is to contrast them all.
I'll look for the ones I took during my chocolate class for examples and to verify what I've said as complete.
And yes, this all is taking chocolate very, very seriously. You don't have to make it so involved if you'd rather not.
Don't bother, its not worth it, unless you get your hands on a Reese's Cup. European chocolate is head and above American in almost every respect. Even Canada has much better sweets.
We Americans do things right when we stay small; it's the mass-produced stuff that's no good. I may be getting a skewed view due to living in the foodie center known as Wine Country, but around here, there are a lot of smaller companies producing excellent baked goods, candies, and ice creams - sorry, gelato; can't call it ice cream or it'd seem commonplace.
sickly sweet... yuck... but I might try...it offends me.. so I should investigate, I doubt avocado as its home, but then my wife likes avocado, milk, & sugar blended. Maybe i need to relax and attempt to create new associations.
you were told, no butter fat or Cacao= waxy cheap junk.
the testing does not need to be done here as a group, You can buy five to ten different chocolates. (Please note butterfat and Cacao content) . I have not thought out a palate cleanser for the test but you will need one. Eat each chocolate slowly. Cleanse the palate again after each tasting.
If you are a true taster, you will be with me and Zith, if not, you are a non taster. Zith and I both tested chocolates ( in our culinary training). Side by side, the winners are easy.
You do not need expensive food to make great cuisine, you only need to choose the best ingredients. does this mean great food is cheap? NO!
Think about a tomato. The best flavor comes from a tomato fully ripened, strait off the vine. You can smell this tomato across the room. Quick foodie test: go to the market, buy a tomato with the strongest tomato sent, and a tomato that has no sent. Taste. Winner: the vine ripped or heirloom tomato... The price difference? Huge. And that was just a tomato!!!
Expensive food is simple food, but it uses the best quality ingredients. Not Campbell soup
If you are a non taster, your ideas on food are important!!! Because tasters are working in restaurants feeding you! If you like Kc Masterpiece BBQ sauce with 10 cloves of fresh garlic and 3 fresh jalapenos added... AND you think the sauce needs to be sweeter?!?! knowledge of this is good for all people reading!!!!!
From my friend Jason Garbor: Sushi Nachos:
thai shrimp chips: cook at 350F fried and crisp,(kodomo: these are not the cracker like snacks in a bag, they look like super thick potato chips (very hard to the touch) in a small bag.they are cracker-like after deep frying, after frying they go to 2-5 times the original size and are fluffy)
Super fresh Ahi tuna: sinew removed,(you can see the layers of the fish, where the fish is closely layered- make an effort to removed the white membrane).
Chili oil 1-2 TB spoon
mayonnaise, yummy not to much, 1-2 TB spoon per pound
I chop the tuna in to 1/8th inch tiny dice(not perfect 95% or more is 1/8 inch or less in size.
B&W sesame seeds to taste
sweet onion (Maui?Vidalia onion?) chopped in to 1/4 i-1/16 inch dice - how sharp is your knife?
green onions - white and green parts sliced super, super, super( get your knives very sharp plze) thin!
mix together save some sweet onions for topping ( not important unless you love raw onion)
1 bunch of cilantro and 1/4 cup olive/peanut oil blended until it is almost pure green oil,( 5 minutes?)
cream cheese or a semi soft cheese.
spread a tiny amount of cheese on the shrimp toast / cracker.
layer spicy tuna mix with extra sweet onions and cilantro oil. Eat now you fool!
Then shake like you busted in her mouth.
edit: I think Jason liked paper thin slices of jalapeno on top of the "nacho" he might have even used dicon radish sprouts, Julianne tomato slices OR the garlic/chili mayo with tomato paste and my garlic/ ponzu/ truffle oil mix. play around with it. fun times!!!!
High~Light Studios
I really suggest the mustard, jam, and raspberry vinegar together. Everything else is optional, really, but those three ingredients are the core of the flavor profile.
I like avocado and tomato together, and they both are excellent with a sweet and spicy flavor. Plain olive oil and rice wine or champagne vinegar is good, too.
All that I yearn for, for richer or poorer, is to be the peace that you feel.
All that I yearn for, for richer or poorer, is to fill your heart on my own.
Gaymers | Magic Coffeehouse | Little Jar of Mamelon | Natural 20
High~Light Studios
My standard diet coke or water is always a great choice, but I thought I would list my favorite drinks just to get discussion started.
Beer: Kreutzberg Monastery's dark, dark ale. It's by far my favorite beer. It's a deep dark beer with a thick, tan haed. It's also about 16-18% alcohol by volume, and I like my beers strong (though Heidelburg's "world strongest beer" at 40% alcohol by volume was not very good).
Wine: I like a nice french haut medoc, I like it with ten years or more behind it (I find the older the better), and at about 60 degrees (Just a little cooler than room temperature).
Cocktail: A highlander with a good stiff aged scotch, and a little heavy on the scotch. Best cocktail ever:
Step 1: Pour 3/4 part Kahlua into a (small) glass.
Step 2: Position a spoon with the back facing up. Pour 1/4 part bailey's over the spoon to form two layers.
Step 3: Using the spoon splash a little 151 on top.
Step 4: Light drink on fire.
There's two ways to drink this. The basic, boring way is to blow it out and drink the shot. The fun, better way to drink it is to take a plastic shot and dunk it into the fiery liquid and slurp it up as fast as you can.