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Learn to COOK - Hot Chocolate
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List Price: $9.95
Our Price: $9.95
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Ten Speed Press
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Brand: Ten Speed Press
Dewey Decimal Number: 641.6374
EAN: 9781580087087
ISBN: 1580087086
Label: Ten Speed Press
Manufacturer: Ten Speed Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 150
Publication Date: 2005-09
Publisher: Ten Speed Press
Studio: Ten Speed Press
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Editorial Reviews:
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Chocoholics rejoice! If you thought there was only one way to make hot chocolate, then a sublime world awaits. In HOT CHOCOLATE, the first book to come out of the growing trend of haute chocolate consumption, preeminent chocolatiers from around the world contribute more than 60 recipes, including concoctions like Lavender-Pistachio Hot Chocolate; Maple-Whiskey Hot Chocolate Toddy; Nutella Hot Chocolate; Malted Milkball Hot Chocolate; and the famous Frrrozen Hot Chocolate from Manhattan’s Serendipity 3. Food writer Michael Turback suggests adding rosebuds or cayenne, frothing with a Mexican molinillo, or adding dollops of schlagobers (Viennese whipped cream), and includes ingredient and tool resources as well as a fascinating account of the history of liquid chocolates.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Adventures In Hot Chocolate
Comment: If your idea of hot chocolate is the watery stuff from the packets in the grocery store, this book will open up a whole new world for you. If you've experienced a great (usually expensive) cup of hot chocolate, this book has the sercets so you can make it happen at home. This book rocks either way. If you're new to the idea of gourmet hot chocolate, have no fear. Turback does a great job of explaining the ingredients, cooking process and even storage.
There are a number of interesting recipes. They are organized by ancestral hot chocolates (I skipped this chapter), European Classics (my favorite chapter), Modern Variations, Spiked Hot Chocolates (really my favorite chapter, seriously), nostalgic hot chocolates and hot chocolate pairings. I never made it past the European and Spiked chapters.
Here's the deal: this is real hot chocolate. Heavy cream, whole milk, half and half, good quality chocolate -- the whole nine. I've never been to Paris, but I read that the hot chocolate is served in very small cups with a spoon. It really is a dessert. This is a once-a-week treat. Anything more and you are taking your health into your own hands. This book helped me start a new winter ritual -- hot chocolate on Friday nights. It was a nice way to end the week during a particularly bitter Chicago winter.
This little book is a surprising treasure. Make someone's day and get them this book with a bar of good chocolate.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Undrinkable - but you could eat it. Maybe...
Comment: We tried the most basic recipe in this book as a special treat over the Christmas holidays. I'm sorry to say, that while we were looking forward to rich cups of chocolate (our first love), we didn't have cups of steaming ganache in mind. Make no mistake, you'd better be really into chocolate to buy this book. We thought we were, but two melted Lindt bars later (that's for 2.5 cups of chocolate), we quickly learned there IS such a thing as too much chocolate.
Customer Rating:
Summary: These recipes must not have been tested.
Comment: This cookbook has good ideas in it but it is impossible to get a good cup of hot chocolate from any of these recipes. The proportions are all wrong and when the recipes are followed you end up with thick, hot goo. It is unfortunate but that is the reality of this cookbook. Skip it, I wish I had.
Customer Rating:
Summary: True hot chocolate delight
Comment: This is a fairly small and unassuming cookbook, but it has an elegant flair to it. It includes notes on ingredients, tools, and techniques, including hints for blending the flavors and creating a creamy cup of hot chocolate. One of the problems I've had with hot chocolate in the past is that unlike cocoa, chocolate doesn't always dissolve as thoroughly or easily. However, with the techniques in this book it works beautifully. I've never had hot chocolate that was so smooth and delectable.
The recipes are organized in chapters by type of recipe. First you'll find recipes that reflect the historical origins of chocolate, or "Ancestral Hot Chocolates." These tend to involve spices, including a "Hellfire Hot Chocolate" that includes both allspice and cayenne! The next chapter is one of European classics, including a white hot chocolate that is my favorite recipe in this cookbook.
A chapter of modern variations on hot chocolate includes some of the truly adventuresome and odd recipes in this cookbook, such as Tarragon and Black Pepper Hot Chocolate(!) and Bay Leaf-Infused Hot Chocolate. It also includes a few flavors reminiscent of modern candy trends, such as caramel, peppermint or peanut butter.
"Adults Only" hot chocolates include alcohol, and there's also a chapter of "nostalgic" recipes, including cold recipes, a Hot Chocolate Eggnog recipe, and even a fondue. The final chapter, one of hot chocolate pairings, presents recipes for various sides to include with hot chocolate. For instance, S'Mores Hot Chocolate with Graham Crackers (and yes, there's a recipe for homemade graham crackers!).
There are only a few mild concerns one might have regarding this cookbook, I believe. After all, the quality of the recipes seems exquisite. First, many people simply aren't adventurous enough to try many of the recipes in this cookbook. Second, these are most definitely not lightweight recipes--many of them involve plenty of heavy cream, although you can find a decent selection that at least use whole milk instead; thus, if you're watching your weight, you may want to save these recipes for rare special occasions. And finally, some of these recipes are so insanely rich that we couldn't drink them as-is. Let me clarify--this is not a reason to avoid making some of the recipes; it didn't render them inedible. It simply turned them into what we preferred to think of as hot chocolate concentrate!
Customer Rating:
Summary: If you love hot chocolate, buy this book
Comment: This is a great recipe book for anyone who loves hot chocolate. Beautiful illustrations. Would make a wonderful 'stocking stuffer' at holiday time.
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