#9 Fusion Chocolate
Fusion Chocolate by Frederic Bau - Buy @ Amazon
Fusion Chocolate
by Frederic Bau (2006)
Chocolate finds a place in savory dishes like this Faux Tofu of Chocolate, Warm Haddock Shavings with Pink Pepper, Spring Leeks in Soy Vinaigrette.
Ratings: Learn more
Quality: 5/5 – Gorgeous, inspiring
Importance: 4.5/5 – Savory chocolate!
Difficulty: 4.5/5 – Pastry professionals
Rarity: 4.5/5 – Very rare, expensive
Today’s Cookbook:
Yesterday we got schooled by Callebaut’s chocolate genius Jean-Pierre Wybauw in the fundamentals and dreams of chocolate patisserie with cookbook #8 Fine Chocolates, Great Experience.
Today’s cookbook is from rival chocolate company Valrhona’s wunderkind Chef Frederic Bau- he takes us on an equally gorgeous and inspiring journey through the savory uses of chocolate with cookbook #9 Fusion Chocolate.
Cacao pods from different parts of the world have different qualities.
Making Chocolate Beautiful
Before Bau gets into some truly insane, gorgeous savory chocolate recipes, he shares a lot of his knowledge about the manufacture and use of chocolate. This is another book full of amazing information for improving your chocolate working techniques.
Comparing two types of chocolate defects: Fat Bloom and Sugar Bloom.
From his privileged position within an elite chocolate company, the author shows us how Valrhona’s chocolate is harvested, fermented and blended according to the characteristics of the cacao- shown here in these organoleptic spiderweb charts:
Organoleptic profiles can show the shape of chocolate’s flavors and aromas. Shown here are unbalanced single-origin cacaos from Ecuador and Madagascar, next to a balanced, blended chocolate from Valrhona (Araguani 72%). Sense properties mapped here are Acidic, Camphoric, Spiced, Toasted, Fruit, Floral, Chocolatey, Long, and Bitter.
After cacao nibs are blended, the composition of Valrhona’s premium blends are illustrated here in these chocolate-by-percentage photos:
Samples of Chocolate: 70% Guanaja, 67% Extra Amer (Bitter), 40% Jivara, and 35% Ivoire, showing the composition of the ingredients used in these specialty Valrhona blends: sugar, cacao nibs, added cocoa butter, milk solids, vanilla and lecithin.
Once Valrhona’s couverture chocolate finds its way to your kitchen, Chef Bau is very concerned that you temper it correctly- using active mixing and a regular heat-diffusing surface like marble.
The author goes on to describe his fool-proof chocolate tempering technique:
- Melt chocolate and hold at 113F for at least 10-12 hours.
- Pour 3/4 of melted chocolate over room temperature marble. Keep the rest hot.
- Once on the marble, mix the chocolate with a wide scraper- don’t mix too rapidly.
- Mix on the marble until the temperature drops to 80F (milk chocolate) or 84F (dark chocolate). Then stop mixing- the stable crystals have formed, and can be used to seed the remaining chocolate.
- Stop cooling the chocolate by integrating the reserver 1/4 hot chocolate. Mix and hold tempered chocolate at 83/84F (milk chocolate) or 88/89F (dark chocolate).
Savory chocolate lasagna is made by tinting strips of pastry dough with cocoa powder.
Using cacao nibs for a spicy tuile, flavored with cubeb pepper and served with mango and skewers of bay scallops.
Savory Chocolate Recipes
The recipes in this cookbook exist on the cutting edge of culinary artistry- which means they require “adventurous” diners. Dishes like Chocolate Lobster and Turbot with Chocolate Polenta indicate just how experimental this cuisine is, going way beyond chocolate-as-sauce.
Here are some examples of how Bau uses chocolate in different savory components:
- Solid: Chocolate tofu, chocolate polenta, chocolate pasta, smoked ganache wafer, cacao nib breading
- Cold Sauce: Chocolate mayonnaise, chocolate chaud froid, chocolate chantilly
- Hot Sauce: Chocolate sauce americaine, spicy chocolate veloute, chocolate sauce nantua, chocolate mustard bechamel
- Confectionary: Guinea fowl bon-bons, foie gras chocolate nougat, spiced milk chocolates
- Clouds: Chocolate tomato espuma gazpacho
The safest part of the book is the dessert section at the end- the techniques are as challenging, but the chocolate is safe and sound surrounded by sweetness.
The recipes are gorgeously illustrated and innovative, but they are even more interesting as a chronicle of fascinating techniques and styles from all of the chefs that Bau has interacted with on behalf of Valrhona. There are a lot of El Bulli-innovated techniques and significant name-dropping of famous continental chefs. Bau is to be complimented for acknowledging his lineage.
Another beautiful, killer chocolate and seafood dish: Sauteed Monkfish Cheeks and Liver, Chocolate and Mustard Bechamel, Pureed Peas in a Puff Pastry Box.
Conclusion: Inspiration for Chocolate Experiments
This is an expensive cookbook designed to give you some crazy original ideas about how to use chocolate in savory dishes. I think this would be most helpful to professional chefs who want to differentiate by showcasing their authentic chocolate hookup and want to move beyond mole variations. Studying this cookbook really helped me break through the seafood/chocolate wall, starting with a long ago chocolate fennel veloute that I served with grilled squid.
The photography is beautiful, and it has to be, because these recipes are so challenging with their flavor.
In the end, there are a stunning array of ideas to be gained from this book- but as experimental as it is, it’s just not as essential of a chocolate bible as yesterday’s cookbook #8 Fine Chocolates, Great Experience. Sorry Valrhona, Callebaut wins this one!
Chocolate Seafood Recipe
This rich lobster sauce is emulsified with Manjari chocolate 64% to add a shiny texture while bringing out a unique flavor combination of saffron, chocolate and seafood iodine.
Emulsifying a lobster coral Sauce Americaine with Valrhona’s Manjari 64%.
Grilled Norway Lobster Tails, Sauce Americane Thickened with Coral and Chocolate
30 Norway lobsters
2/5 cup cognac
2/5 cup whiskey
1 head garlic,
1 onion, chopped
3.5 oz shallots, chopped
14 oz tomato pulp, fresh
3 tbsp tomato paste
7 oz carrots, diced
2 leeks (green part only)
20 threads saffron
1 1/4 cup dry white wine
6 oz Manjari chocolate 64%
salt, pepper, olive oil
1. Remove 20 lobster tails. Reserve coral and refrigerate with tail meat.
2. Roast oiled lobster heads and shells at 450F for 8-10 minutes.
3. Remove shells from oven, flambe with cognac and whiskey.
4. Allow shells to cool, then grind with food processor.
5. Saute shallots, onion and garlic in large pot.
6. Add ground lobster shells, with tomato pulp, tomato paste, carrots, leeks. Cook down, then add saffron, white wine, and black peppercorns.
7. Cover with water and simmer for 3-4 hours, skimming when required.
8. Strain and reduce sauce by half.
9. Blend reserved lobster coral with 2 1/8 cups of the sauce americaine.
10. Bring mixture to a boil and remove immediately from heat.
11. Melt chocolate in pan. Add a little warm sauce americaine at a time and emulsify by whisking.
12. Add rest of sauce through a strainer, whisking the whole time.
13. Season with salt and pepper and whisk with stand mixer for a few seconds to incorporate.
14. Grill lobster tails before service. Serve with sauce americaine, saffron polenta fingers and crispy leek julienne.
