DAY 72

Another busy day ahead, todays reciepes are: Raspberry Jivara Milk Chocolate, Guérande, Carmel, Chocolate Carmel, Ritz Squares, and Mont Blanc. We started with the first two since the first step, for both, was to take the chocolate and put it into a mold to make a large square. For the Raspberry Jivara Chocolate took the raspberry pulp and the trimoline (inverted sugar) and put it on the stove till it boiled, then poured it over the chocolate and mixed. When it went down to the temperaturethat we wanted added the dry butter (dry butter has 84% fat content, unlike sweet or "normal" butter, which has only 82%) and the raspberry alcohol, then set aside. For the Guérande, we took the Jivara chocolate and cooked it with the sugar and the special salt from Guérande. Then in another pan boiled the cream and the trimoline (inverted sugar). Then when the carmel boils and it with the other pot and then whisked in with the chocolate and butter. Afterwhich put it into the mold and set it aside. After both chocolates had harden put a thin layer of extra bitter chocolate and let it sit, this is for a "bottom". Since we had made to much of the carmel mixture we took the leftover and put it into two, taking one and pouring it into a mold and the other, adding cocoa powder and then putting into the mold. We then quickly did the Ritz squares, taking the tempered chocolate and pour over the sheets. Then with this really cool contraption, that spreads the chocolate out evenly, and then put it into the fridge to harden. The last thing we had to do today was the mont blanc. With this special machine took our mixture of cocoa butter and 70% covering chocolate (the 70% is the type not the amount) and, with the machine, spraying the chocolate on the molds and then putting in the fridge. Afterwards taking the ivory chocolate and filling up the molds then turned them over so the chocolate just lined the molds and weren't filled. Taking the tempered ivory chocolate and added it with the glucouse and Kirsch and mixed. Putting into a pastry bag filled the molds and then put a Eau de Vie fruit brandy soaked cherries on top. Then putting a layer of the chocolate ontop and then putting in the fridge to harden. We then took out the raspberry jivara milk chocolate and the guérande and then cut them with the guitar (see pics). Afterwards, dipping them both in chocolate and letting them harden. At this point we cleaned the kitchen and had our tea and coffee break. After the break we put everything into the special plastic bags and then went down stairs to the Ritz's chocolate room. Here we got a little tour of the room and then got a little demonstration of the tempering machine. This machine does exactly what we do up stairs by hand. There are many different little button and knobs on the side, they are what set the spesifications. The red numbers are what the chocolate is at now and the green numbers are what we want the chocolate to be at. After the little tour we went back upstairs and changed. Though since it is Thursday we didn't leave, or if we left it was just to get something to eat. Then we all got together in the parlor and disscused chocolate for 2hours, OH F***ING YEA!!!!!

THURSDAY NIGHT CLASS:
We first talked about the extensive history of chocolate, with how it started with the Aztecs, then how it spred to the rest to the world, etc.... Then how chocolate is made, from the tree to the table. There are many different kinds of chocolate, but here are the three basic one and what they consist of. DARK CHOCOLATE: it includes bitter and semi-sweet chocolate and contains between 35 - 70% cocoa as well as cocoa butter, sugar, and sometimes emulsifiers. MILK CHOCOLATE: it includes powdered milk, sugar, and vanilla, which is added to the cocoa butter, whiches what gives it that sweet taste and creamy texture. IVORY (or for you non-culinarians "white") CHOCOLATE: it is made from cocoa butter, with added, either, consentrated milk or powdered milk, along with sugar and vanilla essaence. Then we talked about what happened to chocolate and how it evovled once it hit European soil.

A LITTLE CHOCOLATE TIMELINE:
3,000+ years ago- Aztecs are cultivating the cocoa bean and making it into a "drink," consisting of the crushed cocoa beans, dried fruits, hot pepper, musk, honey, vanilla, and reed juice.
1527- brought to Spain by Cortez.
1647- the first "eating" chocolate was made in London, under the name Spanish-style chocolate rolls.
1680- the word "chocolate" entered César Pierre Richelet's Dictionary of French language.
18th century- chocolate had conquered the whole of Europe, but still remained an extremely luxurious product. 2lbs of chocolate cost 60 coins, the equivalent of four days work.
1705- a rule was drawn up allowing drink sellers to sell it by the cup like coffee. However, it is only during the Regency and under Louis XV that chocolate is definitvely adopted.
1737- botanist, Carl von Linné classed cocoa as theobroma, meaning "divine nourishment."
1776- a certain Doret invented a hydraulic machine for crushing cocoa and redusing it to a paste. Until then the beans were grilled in a basin before being redused to a paste by hand.
1780- the first mechanical chocolate factory was built in Bayonne, France.
1847- first chocolate bar appears on the market, by the English company, Fry & Sons.
1888- Milton Snavely Hershey opened a small factory in Pennsylvania (now that which is the Hershy monstrosity today).


Now Comes The Good Part