Review: "The Art of the Chocolatier"
f...@rip.ax.lt
in culinary circles. To become a master requires several skill sets
— those of the craftsman and decorator, of course, and also the
architect: Think of those elaborate chocolate center pieces and
edible trophies at high-end parties. The chemist's skills are also
needed: Chocolate bean varieties from South America, Africa and the
West Indies have distinct characters and uses and must be
fermented, roasted, blended, refined, milled and measured for
differing levels of cocoa butter and sugar content and then be made
to interact with elaborate fillings and liqueurs. Chocolate is a
world unto itself.
Chocolatier and pastry chef Ewald Notter offers a guide to this
world in "The Art of the Chocolatier" (Amazon:
http://xrl.us/Chocolatier ), capturing in a single authoritative
and lavishly illustrated volume the full range of his subject. He
explains the differing grades of chocolate and describes its many
forms and presentations, including "pure" and milk chocolates,
icing, mousse, caramels and foams. He lists the equipment that a
chocolate- obsessed cook might need (immersion blender, spray gun,
even acetylene torch) and describes the techniques and recipes for
making everything from chocolate candy to complex praline and
marzipan compositions. For the valorous, he shows how to confect
three-dimensional chocolate valentines, bouquets, hummingbirds and
. . a spacecraft.
Even addicts who are interested in consumption rather than creation
will find "The Art of the Chocolatier" fascinating. One has only to
gaze upon the book's photo sequence of a mundane sheet of white
chocolate being made into a magnificent blossoming rose to feel a
pleasure akin to touching and tasting the thing itself...
Continued: http://sn.im/Chocolatier