Cooking with chocolate... and Lady Arianna

     Chocolate is my perdition.  If I could eat some every day, I would.  Sadly, I have come to realize that after turning 40, it adds to my waistline tremendously if I have it for a few days in a row.  However, I do try and have some every week.  These days there are tons of mysteries – my other favourite genre after food writing – that are set in the gastronomic field and include recipes.  My latest discovery are the Regency mysteries starring Lady Arianna Hadley and Lord Alessandro Saybrook, penned by Andrea Penrose (which I briefly mentioned here)

     I came upon these series browsing at my local Barnes & Noble, and after reading the blurb of the books, I instantly came to like them.  The first installment, entitled Sweet Revenge, introduces the reader to both characters as the golden couple of future adventures to come.  Arianna, disguised as a Chef inside the kitchen of a prominent society lady, is seeking revenge from the injustices done to her father, the late Lord Hadley, who was forced into exile after a dubious gambling scheme in England.  Her plans appear thwarted, to say the least, when the Prince Regent of England succumbs during dinner after tasting one of Arianna’s chocolate creations.

     It is here when war hero Lord Alessandro De Quincy, the Earl of Saybrook is called to investigate under a special service to the Crown.  The pair run into quite a scheme, similar to what is known as the South Sea Bubble, which was, quite literally, the first big financial meltdown of the world.

     There are several books and online resources about the South Sea Bubble so I will not go into detail here.  A website I found quite informative is http://www.thebubblebubble.com/south-sea-bubble by economic analyst Jesse Colombo.  Suffice it to say that the scheme came into being after the war of Spanish Succession, where Britain was granted exclusive trading rights with the Spanish colonies in America and the West Indies.  The South Sea Company was created to assume Britain’s war debt, and almost everybody in the country bought stock into it, on the premise of outstanding returns based on the (expected?) existence of innumerable amounts of gold and silver in the colonies.

A stock certificate from the South Sea Company

     Of course, such existences were grossly overrepresented, and when the British government just could not hold their finances together any longer, the bubble popped and stock prices plummeted out of control.  The South Sea Bubble holds great historical significance as a case study into the movement of the financial markets and the principle of greed.  Andrea Penrose’s novel, although a cozy mystery, is also a scientific book with thorough research of the subject.

     The other part of the book that is of much interest to me is the chocolate trivia and recipes that precede each chapter.  You see, Alessandro De Quincy had a Spanish grandmother, not only that, but one who loved chocolate so much she kept a diary about it, full of recipes and history.  Since the Prince Regent appeared to have been poisoned by chocolate, Lord Saybrook is the only one that has true knowledge of the new product, hence to making him the ideal candidate to investigate the crime.

     Of the 25 recipes offered, so far I have selected 2 which have left me very fauvorably  impressed.  The first one is a cake, very rich, and goes fantastic with a strong demi-tasse accompanied by a liqueur.  It uses spelt flour, a grain from antiquity.  It is this ingredient that gives it a unique rusticity.

Chocolate Espresso Spelt Cake

Ingredients:

• ¾ cup unsalted butter, European style, softened, plus additional for the pan
• ¾ cup unsweetened Dutch processed cocoa powder, plus additional for dusting pan and cake
• 1 cup boiling hot water
• 1 ½ Tbsp. instant espresso powder
• 1 ½ tsp. Mexican vanilla
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 14 Medjool dates, pitted and coarsely chopped
• 2 cups spelt flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ¾ tsp salt
• 1 cup packed Moscovado sugar
• 2 large eggs

Preparation:

     Stir together boiling hot water, espresso powder, vanilla and baking soda in a bowl, then add dates, mashing lightly with a fork.  Soak until liquid cools to room temperature – about 10 minutes.

     Put oven rack in the middle position and preheat oven to 350F.  Butter a 9” springform pan, then lightly dust with cocoa powder, knocking out the excess.

The batter before going into the oven

     Whisk together spelt flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt in another bowl.  Beat together butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy.  Add eggs 1 at a time, beating until just combined.  Beat in the date mixture (batter will look curdled), then reduce speed to low and add flour mixture, a bit at a time, mixing until just combined.

     Spoon batter into the springform pan, smoothing top, and bake until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, about 45 to 50 minutes.  Cool cake in pan on a rack 5 minutes, then remove side of pan and cool it on rack.  When almost cool, sprinkle with cocoa powder.  Serve warm or at room temperature with a dollop of lightly sweetened whipped cream.

     The second recipe is for a delicious mousse with an Asian twist.  It is as simple as it is dense.

Mocha Mousse with Sichuan Peppercorns

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• ¼ tsp Sichuan peppercorns
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 1 ½ tsp ground coffee beans
• 4 oz 70% cacao bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 3 large egg whites
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• Whipped cream for garnish

Preparation:

     Grind the peppercorns with mortar and pestle.  Bring cream, coffee and pepper to a simmer in a small saucepan.  Remove from heat and let steep, covered, for 30 minutes.  Strain liquid through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl, pressing on solids.

     Melt the chocolate in a large bowl.  Stir in the cream.  Let cool slightly.

     Beat the egg whites with the sugar using an electric mixer until they just hold off stiff peaks.  Fold into the chocolate mixture gently but thoroughly.  Spoon the mousse into pots or glasses and chill at least 3 hours.  Serve with a dollop of sweetened whipped cream.

February is D&B chocolates month

     To say that I am a lover of chocolate does not even begin to describe how I feel about it.  To me, chocolate is all about elegance, debauchery, exquisiteness and uniqueness.  It is something worth anything and everything, one of the pleasures of life that make it worth living.

     I have always been in pursuit of the best possible chocolate I could lay my hands on.  Places like La Maison du Chocolat or Neuhaus, the ultimate Italian chocolates like Amedei and Pernigotti, etc.  It was not too long ago that I came upon a series of amateur detective stories named the Lady Arianna Regency Mysteries.  Written by Andrea Penrose and set in England’s Regency period, they supply the best of both worlds for an avid reader of mysteries like me, and each chapter starts with a bit of chocolate trivia and a recipe.

     The first installment, entitled Sweet Revenge, introduces us to the main characters – Lady Arianna and the Earl of Saybrook, who will become more than just partners in crime.  Arianna finds herself entangled in the possible poisoning of Prinny (a.k.a. the Prince Regent), and Saybrook is employed by England’s government to uncover the culprit.  The story also introduces one of the oldest, and most distinguished chocolate houses in the world – Debauve & Gallais.

     Ms. Sulpice Debauve started his business as a chemist in the France of Marie Antoinette.  He was the pharmacist to the Royal Household.  As chocolate made its appearance in Europe at the time, he devised a way to hide medicines into “pistoles”, basically chocolate coins embossed with the house’s logo, so that the Queen did not have to taste the unpleasantness of her medication.  Marie Antoinette liked the chocolate confections so much that she commissioned them regularly, and thus Debauve & Gallais was born.  By 1804 they had expanded to over sixty shops throughout France.

Debauve & Gallais store at Rue de Sèvres

     After learning all of this, I naturally had to see what all the fuss was about.  I have tasted some pretty good chocolate in my lifetime, so the reason as to why this particular chocolate house would make chocolates worth up to $600 for a few dozen piqued my curiosity to no end.

Shop-window with "Le Livre", on the top right-hand corner.
A huge box of about 3' X 2' which will set you back 300€

Some of the selection available at the store at Rue de Sèvres, which is not sold in the U.S.
The aromas and subtlety of the flavors are unique.  Huge sizes too!

     I gladly found that there is a shop inside Barney’s in New York City that will deliver next day.  So being Valentine’s week and all, I ordered a modest two dozen for just over a hundred dollars.  The chocolate melts in the mouth unlike any other I’ve ever tasted.  In all reality, it feels as if one is sucking on a lump of butter but with the taste of chocolate, which, coming to think of it, is how chocolate should taste every time.  The dark chocolates are dark and opaque, the milk ones, creamy and unctuous.  The pistols of Marie Antoinette show the prominent house logo, and one can understand how the chic Queen would have had no problem in taking her medicines disguised in this way.  Mss. D&G made them in different cocoa concentrations for the Queen to savor.

The modest box I was able to acquire in U.S.

     Debauve & Gallais are chocolates for that rare special occasion.  You cannot just buy them for the sake of having some chocolate.  After all, they were especially made for royalty and they should be given their status.  With a nice liqueur they will round up your evening nicely, and will make your honey feel ultra special if given as a gift, all the more for Valentine’s Day.