Raw Chocolate
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About this ebook
Matthew Kenney
In 1994 Food and Wine included him as one of their Ten Best New Chefs of the Year. He’s been featured on the Today Show, The Food Network, and a variety of other morning talk shows. Matthew was nominated for the James Beard Rising Star Award. He lives in New York City.
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Reviews for Raw Chocolate
3 ratings1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5very good book excellent book I am very grateful of the author
Book preview
Raw Chocolate - Matthew Kenney
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Introduction
What an honor to write about the world’s favorite food! So much has been written about chocolate. Chocolate has the ability to define romance, holidays are literally designed around it, and it is hard to imagine a special occasion that doesn’t involve the esteemed cacao bean in some form or another. Even those on a diet love a little chocolate every day.
Chocolate does embody the essence of decadence and it’s one of those things that we all really seem to enjoy.
Unfortunately, not all chocolate is created equal. Some is truly remarkable—crisp and aromatic, full flavored and nutty—while other chocolate may be sugary, its true origin masked by a grocery list of obscure and often unnecessary ingredients. Much of what we may find in a supermarket today wouldn’t even register as chocolate in our minds if it wasn’t labeled as such, as it has strayed so far from the exotic and nutritious bean that gives real chocolate its name.
Which brings us to raw chocolate. We wanted to write this book long ago; however, much of the raw chocolate we tried missed the mark, wasn’t tempered the way it needed to be, and was often lacking the texture and clarity we expect from fine examples of the product. It just wasn’t refined. As with all of the work we do, we aim to develop techniques and flavor combinations that are unique, practical, and inspiring. So here we are, several years and multiple chocolate bars later, finally ready to share what we’ve found.
With Raw Chocolate, we offer our preferred method of preparing and tempering chocolate, as well as a number of other creative uses for cacao products and natural ingredients. These all star in a number of recipes that we hope you’ll love as much as we do. We have also tried to standardize working methods that allow you to make these recipes at home regardless of the amount of space you have to work with, and to focus on items that hold up well regardless of the climate you live in.
Chocolate truly embodies the meaning of a daily staple. When friends ask me what I eat when I travel, the answer is simple: chocolate. It also happens to be what I eat after lunch, or when I’m golfing, or in the mood for dessert.
Another reason we have waited until now to write this book is the historical challenge of procuring the best ingredients to make raw chocolate. They are now readily available in gourmet stores or online, as is the equipment needed to produce them.
Perhaps the most exciting aspect of raw chocolate is its contribution to physical and emotional health overall. Cacao, when not cooked, has a tremendously high level of antioxidant properties, and many suggest that it benefits the heart and lowers blood pressure and cholesterol. Who doesn’t feel a little—or a lot—better after some great chocolate?
Our Raw Chocolate Philosophy
Preparing artisan chocolate is liberating for a chef in a number of ways. There are fewer ingredients required, and seasonality (something we love to adhere to in general) is not quite as critical. Therefore, the creative inspiration becomes all about technique, redefining taste and texture, and searching for new ways to present a classic.
With chocolate, we have a huge advantage in our overall mission of preparing food that is sexy,
because chocolate already is sexy. In fact, it’s hard for it not to be. To us, chocolate making is about inspiring the senses, and literally all of them.
Taste
is always paramount, and its origins are found in high-quality ingredients, something we stress the importance of over and over. Although we love dark chocolate, we’re not fans of chocolate that is too bitter. Alternatively, we also would not care for it if the chocolate were too sweet. As with all cooking, balance is everything. We try to embrace flavor profiles that are rooted in classical combinations—we respect cultural inspirations while preparing them in unique and more healthful ways. Chocolate is a great outlet for our inclination to embrace exotic ingredients, such as spices and aromatics. It highlights the fresh, clean flavors that embody all of our work.
Texture
is critical, and without having refined our tempering process, we would not be writing this book. Chocolate bars, bonbons, and other hardened recipes require a snap; chocolate that isn’t properly tempered does not feel as good to eat, nor does it look as good in most cases. In many of these recipes, we’ll add a sprinkle of sea salt or lavender to the surface of a bar to create another element of texture.
As is so often said, presentation is everything. We believe in investing in attractive molds, wrappers,