Cocoa Nib-Buckwheat Pannacotta, Honey Marshmallows, Cocoa Brownies, Milk Chocolate Crunch Candy & Shuna's Famous Hot Fudge Sauce

Cocoa Nib-Buckwheat Pannacotta, Honey Vanilla Bean Marshmallows, Cocoa Brownies, Milk Chocolate-Cocoa Nib-Buckwheat Crunch Candy, Fried Kasha & Shuna's Famous Hot Fudge Sauce

Chocolate.

they say it's easy.

Chocolate. Who doesn't love chocolate?

Most people love chocolate. They don't like it, they adore it. They lust it. They obsess over it. They travel thousands of miles for it like Valhalla. They write off the carbon footprint. Because, really, who can grow chocolate in their back yard?

OK, so there are people who don't like chocolate. But they don't just not like it. They hate it.

Chocolate.

See my point? Chocolate is passionate. Opinionated. Strong. Beautiful. Dark. Libraries of flavour; nuanced, swathed in translucent layers, nude underneath. Just beyond reach. All sex and no awkward in the morning. Pleasure without excuse.

Chocolate.

It's iconic. Brick solid. No, more so. Marble granite earth volcanic lava black loam river silt blood deep sea ocean black. Solid. Deep. Inexplicable. Ineffable. Chocolate has more metaphors than love & hate together.

C H O C O L A T E

Fuck you and your chocolate self. O I know you can handle it. You're chocolate for g-d's sake. No last name. Just Chocolate. See, you can't even put 'just' in front of chocolate. Won't stand for it. Won't allow it. Bounces back like rubber. Puts up one hand. Stares you down.

You melt. Into nothing. It's you who can't handle chocolate. Not the other way around.

And so. Exhausted. Beaten. Into submission or malleable, tempered, molecular-ly re-aligned, surrender you go, dragging your weary humble self to chocolate. 'hello,' you manage weakly, 'what will you let me do with you?'

And if.

if you're really lucky. if chocolate is having a good day. if chocolate thinks you're good enough. if chocolate thinks you're humble enough, she may allow you

to think you're in charge. for a minute. ha!

O Chocolate you do beguile! You do bewitch. You have led men, women and in-betweens better than I up those steep Mayan stairs... Those stairs like fish hooks-- designed to enter swiftly, designed to climb up, designed to come out tearing flesh, designed for ascent only.

Chocolate, I tip my hat to you. I curtsy. I call you Mistress. You will forever own me.

Chocolate. I will be your apprentice. Will you allow me?

You may think me dramatic. But. I'm not. Chocolate is the conundrum of a pastry chef's life, menu. For most of the public thinks there's only one recipe you should have on your menu. Warm Chocolate Cake. Molten Chocolate Cake. Liquid Center Chocolate Fondant. Whatever you want to call it, it's the same. Same as all McDonald's French Fries the world over. One recipe. Easier than hopscotch, more cliched than calling your lover 'Honey,' as boring as missionary style. One fucking recipe.

So pastry chefs like me. Completely uninterested in cliches. So over warm chocolate cake they could plotz, are faced with the dilemma. What will their chocolate dessert be?

Because you know what, dear dear readers of eggbeater? Your chocolate dessert will sell even if it's the worst plate you construct. Diners will eat salmon and tuna until even farmed fish are extinct. And they will order chocolate even if all the other components are ones they despise. They will move aside garnishes, sauces, flourishes and innovations. To get to the heart of the matter. The important bit.

You guessed it. Chocolate. uh huh.

So anyone who knows me knows this: my chocolate desserts introduce. My chocolate desserts keep you on your toes. My chocolate desserts are about the breadth of chocolate. Because I loves me some chocolate. A lot. And I, like the rest of us, loves me some warm & hot chocolate, creamy chocolate, dark and milk chocolate, cocoa nibs, Dutched and Natural cocoa. Give me chocolate and I am happy. Or happier.

This dessert is not spectacular. It doesn't shock or stand tall or do something never done before. But it's chocolate in all sorts of ways. It's chocolate as a multi-personality'd experience.

I infuse/cook buckwheat groats and cocoa nibs with cream, steep and then blend for a long long time in a mightily powerful blender. I, just barely, set this liquid into pannacotta with as little gelatin as I can get away with. The buckwheat helps by lending its thickening starchy power to the mix. This is really fun to play with, should you want to experiment with it in your own kitchen. A little can go a long way with flavor & viscosity.

The brownie recipe is miraculous. It's dark and moist and chocolatey and has not a gram of actual chocolate in it! Check out Alice Medrich's cocoa brownie recipe. Soft, pliable brown brownie brownieness. And so easy. Marshmallows are for whimsy. I slow fry buckwheat groats in canola oil until they're cooked enough to eat out-of-hand. {Be very careful-- they burn easily!} If this turns you on, try tossing them in various salts or spice mixtures. I learned about this method from Anna Hansen at the Modern Pantry in London. Then, because I love high cocoa content milk chocolate, I make a quick crunchy candy with cocoa nibs, more buckwheat crunchies & feuillitene.

And to finish, at the very last minute before plate leaves my station, 'shuna's famous hot fudge sauce' is poured on. It's the sauce that transports all the dark chocolate you might be missing from the rest of the plate. And, because it's hot, it begins melting everything it comes into contact with.

Chocolate is not impossible. Not even close. But because it's a lead singer without a last name or need for fellow musicians, it can pose a challenge. As a pastry chef you'd be hard pressed to hear a lot of negative critique about your chocolate dessert, unless it's truly god-awful or your diners hold a molten chocolate cake gun to your head.

Chocolate dominates. Chocolate is, and will always be. Chocolate. There are few flavours that can bed chocolate, and be noticed themselves.

And so. If that's the case. Play dress up. Tie a bowtie for the first time. Hook in cuff links. Wear red lipstick, go commando, let her get on top, flirt with possibility, entertain new ideas, throw That One Recipe Away and reinvent, remake, realize and never, never ever rest on your laurels, on cliches.

Chocolate deserves better. And you know it.

Comments

[JoeFish]

As an Italian, I recoiled from chocolate sauce being in the same zipcode as panna cotta, but you convinced me. I can only imagine the consistency...and I want to.

True to form, you haven't ignored texture, either, and have the guy who thinks an orange is dessert on his knees wanting to try this. Oh, Shuna.

[Jenny]

This is crazy. I'm going to have to try something like this myself - the buckwheat pannacotta is nuts.

[Hilda]

Hee. I have 900g of Valrhona 68% I have to use asap because I've had it for way too long (Read: it was in a box meant to leave and then put in storage) and have been steeped in chocolate recipes all night looking for fun things to do with it because I don't want to make molten chocolate cakes (although don't get me wrong, I do love them, even if they're the lowest common denominator of chocolate recipes). 100g went into gluten-free chocolate muffins (for strength through the rest of the chocolate journey) and next is probably chocolate with apricots somehow.
I love this: "Marble granite earth volcanic lava black loam river silt blood deep sea ocean black. Solid. Deep. Inexplicable. Ineffable. Chocolate has more metaphors than love & hate together." And I made the cocoa brownies off of Y's post and they are incredible, thanks Alice Medrich.

[Dad & Ellen]

We have had this yummy chocolate desert at the great restaurant 10 Downing St in NYC. It is everything that Shuna says it is, and more--a symphony of chocolate, some flavors intense, some subtle, all delightful!

[Nancy Gail Ring]

These recent dessert posts of yours are spectacular fun and so much more boldly written and over-the-top than most. I love the way you personify your ingredients, making them into these practically film noire characters. Your chocolate is a force to be reckoned with. P.S. I've been hearing a lot about buckwheat lately for some reason. - recently saw a buckwheat-laced black walnut cookie recipe. It makes perfect sense to me to want it in pannacotta when it works so well with sour cream.

[deb]

My favorite part was how spectacularly un-sweet it was. But not bitter! For some reason, not very sweet chocolate = bitter to most people, but not you! You know better. It was a delight.

[kthln]

OMG, you had me at the title, before I even saw the photo. Do you make your own feuillitine? Have no idea where to find it. For the holidays I made "Ellie's brownies" from your link & gave them as gifts. Dutch cocoa & orange, walnuts - yum! Could not find Bensdorp, Droste was still good. Now I may have to try Alice Medrich's brownies. Love love love your blog, and your photos.

[Y]

Sounds quite OTT like most chocolate desserts are. I can't quite bring myself to put chocolate fondant on the menu, even though it will probably sell like... chocolate fondant. Have to make that brownie again some time soon. So, so good.

[Barbara]

SK made those cocoa brownies and I came speeding over to find out about the panna cotta recipe. The photo alone is enough to make me pant. Ye Gods.

[sara]

wow, look at that, I'm already drooling, great color, looks delicious

[Jeni]

Thanks for your ideas! I'm going home to make those brownies. I am also thinking of making the fried buckwheat groats and making those little candies. Did you temper the chocolates prior or did you just melt it?

I love the textures you got here. Very nice.