ButterLove&Hardwork

The Making Of: Tennessee

When I started to design my portion of the 24 course tasting at Rogue, I wanted something really amazing to end the meal. Through that many courses, tastes and impressions, the last one should be a "grand finale" of sorts. No better way to accomplish that than chocolate, thus "Tennessee" was born. It began with the discovery of Olive & Sinclair; a bean to bar artisan chocolate company based out of Nashville. A combination of traditional methods, European techniques and a southern touch of brown sugar really sets the bar for a great piece of chocolate. I wanted to showcase artisan chocolate, showing that America also has the ability to make a great bar. In a world where Valrhona and other European companies rule the pastry world, it's great to find something local that can carry the same weight of quality. A really a great tasting chocolate! This will be the focal point of "Tennessee", with a couple more great components coming from the great state, some obscure and some obvious. Can't wait...

For more informaton and how to order check it out:

Olive & Sinclair

 

 

Goat Cheese & Chocolate

Cheese and chocolate are great things, put them together and they make even greater things. I've fiddled with gouda and chocolate before, but recently combined my two favorites: Goat cheese and bittersweet 60% chocolate. The tangy intensity of the fresh goat cheese smoothes out the bitterness of the chocolate, creating a whole new flavor combination. Chocolate with a hint of cheese and foral notes of vanilla. My favorite combination thus far.

 

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Chocolate Days

Slow January days call for a refreshment on the art of chocolate. Probably the only new year's resolution I will keep is to work at mastering chocolate. This round's flavor: Gianduja black truffle...

Macaron Porn

Chocolate, thats it. 

Black Sesame. Chocolate. Macaron.

The flavor, texture, give...I hit this out of the park. This is my new favorite flavor combination for sure.

Food Photo Quote

"Self-discipline implies some unpleasant things to me, including staying away from chocolate and keeping my hands out of women's pants."

- Oleg KiseleV

A Piece of Cake

 

I often get asked to do special cakes for reservations, yet its hard to find the time to make them. I somehow got caught saying yes to three in one weekend. I enjoy them because its a different avenue for us to showcase our skills and ideas. I definitely gravitate towards the spanish style of decorating cakes, the earthy and abstract designs. The first two are 55% Valrhona chocolate mousse, with a cocoa genoise on the bottom finished with cocoa meringue and truffle pieces on the sides. The usual beauitiful combination of an abstract look with classic tastes. 

 

 The third cake was a white chocolate coconut cream cake, this was my favorite. Coconut genoise, infused with the aroma of toasted coconut flakes and butter. Atop the genoise was a white chocolate mousse, based off Coco Lopez. Decorating the top are various quenelles of rich vanilla cream. A definite different take on the traditional coconut cream cake, yet still has that nostalgic tastes.

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72%

New to pastry: 72% Valrhona Araguani. Having deep floral notes with a hint of spice and that beautiful bitter chocolate foreground, its an amazing addition to the collection I use now. Valrhona is an outstanding chocolate company and every line they produce is the perfect amount of roast and sweetness.  Now all I have to do is figure out an application...

 
 

Chocolate Eggs Part 2

 When I sat down to plan the Easter menu, I immediately knew I wanted to do a take on the classic Cadbury egg. To me, Easter has three flavors: chocolate, fondant fillings and peanut butter. What better way than to celebrate Easter with all three on one plate? The egg cream was a mixture of white chocolate, butter, vanilla and corn syrup. This was definitely a lighter version of the usual rich and sweet fondant fillings. The chocolate eggs were made using Valrhona milk chocolate, very rich but softer ganache. The peanut butter ice cream was very light, an elegant approach in flavors with peanut butter and roasted peanut infused milk. Pulling everything together were crushed cocoa meringues, cocoa nibs and black cocoa oreo. 

  
 In my mind, I saw a very clean plate of eggs and ice cream. Eventually this turned into a more abstract playful direction, a vibrant "easter egg hunt" on a plate. I was very happy with how it turned out, hard work pays off. 

 

Chocolate Eggs Part 1

I am not sure what I got myself into. Today was the first day of testing and initially I thought I needed to prep 300. I was wrong, I need 500 of these little eggs...I can do this. The egg is made of a soft bittersweet chocolate ganache, held by agar agar and gelatin. 18 down, 482 to go...