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Learn to COOK - The Chocolate Connoisseur: For Everyone With a Passion for Chocolate
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List Price: $12.95
Our Price: $11.01
Your Save: $ 1.94 ( 15% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: HP Trade
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 641
EAN: 9781557885036
ISBN: 1557885036
Label: HP Trade
Manufacturer: HP Trade
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 224
Publication Date: 2006-12-05
Publisher: HP Trade
Studio: HP Trade
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Editorial Reviews:
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An expert and irresistible book for everyone who loves chocolate.
Few people know as much about chocolate as Chloé Doutre-Roussel. In this unique book she shares her knowledge and her passion with chocolate lovers who will:
- Learn to differentiate between good and bad chocolate
- Discover wonderful new brands to savor and enjoy
- Find out how to select brands to reflect mood and time of day
- Learn to taste chocolate like a connoisseur
Filled with information on the history, culture, lore, and culinary aspects of the world's finest chocolate, including recipes, this charming book is the most decadent dessert any chocolate lover can have-without the calories.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Want to learn about chocolate? Then avoid this book!
Comment: The Chocolate Connoisseur takes the cake as the worst book I have ever read.
I am a cocoa trader and chocolate manufacturer, with a background in agricultural science. As such, I know a lot about cocoa trees, cocoa beans, and all things chocolate.
I am appalled by the amount, and magnitude, of misinformation in The Chocolate Connoisseur.
For starters, the author lies about her qualifications: contrary to what she writes in her book, Chloe Doutre-Roussel has never worked as an agronomist for the UN. In fact, she has never worked as a professional agronomist at all.
So what if the author lies about being an experienced agronomist? The problem is that she provides very dubious agronomic advice throughout her book. (Doutre-Roussel has an irrational infatuation with fragile, inbred cocoa trees. If her advice - to replace robust cocoa trees with inbred ones - was acted upon, she could one day become famous as the person who destroyed the chocolate industry).
Moving on from agronomy: The Chocolate Connoisseur contains dozens of factual errors about cocoa harvesting, processing, and manufacturing.
Also, The Chocolate Connoisseur's bibliography and referencing is a joke. (The bibliography contains just seven items - or eight, if you count the book by Jancis Robinson that is listed twice. And not a single one of the "scientific studies" Doutre-Roussel alludes to throughout the book is referenced).
To add insult to injury, the book is riddled with spelling mistakes (I counted eleven).
Doutre-Roussel is renowned for her "unbelievable" tasting abilities. Her abilities are, literally, unbelievable. For instance, she thinks that she can smell sucrose (which is actually an odorless substance). She also believes in the so-called "tongue map" (which taste experts have long dismissed as a myth).
In her acknowledgements, the author declares that chocolate is her best friend. Why am I not surprised that Chloe Doutre-Roussel's best friend is an inanimate object?
Customer Rating:
Summary: Like all things, an acquired taste
Comment: I read other posted reviews of this book, then checked it out of the library. Far from being "autistic" on any level, the author is (as she admits, herself) lovingly obssessed with chocolate. She refers to herself and her own experiences only to provide the reader with a frame of reference.
This book is a terrific introduction to the world of premium chocolate, especially the richer, higher-cocoa-percentage chocolates now appearing in better stores. While I would've liked more references to external sources concerning the history and current status of chocolate, to support her facts, I found this book extremely useful for preparing a small seminar on chocolate and chocolate tasting. I highly recommend the book.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Autistic voice
Comment: I believe the author is probably a high functioning autistic. It's not egomania, it's a brain that's wired differently. I agree that it makes for dull reading: " I....I....I..." The lack of social and historical perspective is a possible indicator for autism, along with the pedantic tone and the very narrow focus. There are many other books on chocolate that are much better, if it's chocolate you want to learn about.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Perfect
Comment: I really enjoyed this book.
Ms. Doutre-Roussel has a light-hearted style of writing that made this book an easy read. At the same time, she drew me in from being moderately interested in premium chocolate to being seriously interested. Sure, it doesn't have every possible detail of the history or manufacturing or other topics within the world of chocolate - but this book wasn't meant to be exhaustive.
She assumes the reader is not an experienced chocolate lover, and therefore does a good job of explaining many things simply. I appreciated the diagrams of tasting, the handful of recipes, the simple timelines of chocolate history, and more.
This book is an excellent stepping stone for a budding chocolate conoisseur and probably just right for the person moderately interested in chocolate.
Ms. Doutre-Roussel also clearly states her opinions about the kinds of chocolate that she adores and the "chocolates" she doesn't. She repeatedly emphasizes the point that you have to discover your own opinions about chocolate. I found it easy to not be offended or turned off by how she grew up, how much chocolate she eats in a day, and other more personal items. Rather, I just read the book for what it is meant to be - an enjoyable education.
Well done!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great
Comment: I adore this book. At the core of The Chocolate Connoisseur is a true passion for the subject and a completely selfless wish to share it. It tells the history of chocolate as well as the science behind it in a way that is compelling and interesting. But its strongest point is Chloe's encouragement to form your own opinion and deepen to your appreciation and pleasure - great life lessons indeed. That's what food writing is all about.
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