BREADBAR Hosts Chocolate Tasting (10/08)
Chocolatier Patricia Tsai’s equipment and samples for her demonstration inside the front window at the new BREADBAR in
Patricia’s demo covered the creation of stone-ground chocolate from cacao bean to liquid chocolate. Patricia redefined the term “demonstration.” And, leave it to BREADBAR. As if an comprehensive review of the history of authentic chocolate and the process of turning it into candy, plus tastings at each stage was not enough, Chef Noriyuki Sugie’s mouth watering five-course meal followed. No one left before the store closed three hours later.
Tsai, an American born Chinese is a wonderful model for chocolate, with lean and lithe good looks that allow her look elegant even in a company t-shirt. A corporate runaway who followed her passion for food into a second more creative career, Patricia is easy to imagine in a corporate setting with her sense of detail and determination and, indeed, she still uses her financial skills to finance and operate her ChocoVivo company.
Tsai’s artistic sensibility in her company operations is still a full time endeavor and the ChocoVivo’s name says it all: I Live Chocolate.
Patricia took great care at the beginning of her talk to explain how her process enables her to present a luscious product with few outside ingredients. “Everything is as natural as it can get,” she said. “This is how chocolate should taste.” The taste of ChocoVivo instead relies on the nutty, buttery characteristics that naturally occurs in whole bean chocolate.
In a way it is like tasting the natural flavors of a fruit without putting sugar on it. And it is easier to understand why during 9/10 of its history, chocolate was known as a drink.
Tsai briefly told history of chocolate, from Aztec and Mayan traditions to European adaptations and modern practices. Originally, chocolate dates back to the ancient peoples of
When mixed with water, chile peppers, cornmeal, and other ingredients, this paste made a frothy, spicy chocolate drink. By the time the Aztec empire took over cacao was used as currency, including a form of taxes. Aztecs consumed their bitter chocolate drink seasoned with spices at special occasions or religious rituals, reserved for rulers, priests, decorated soldiers, and honored merchants.
Patricia’s story began in 2002 when, in her words, “a food tour in
Taste depends on the quality of the bean, the percentage of cocoa in the product and in the fermentation. Stone-grinding the chocolate is what makes ChocoVivo taste special, “and is very much how the Mayans and Aztecs made chocolate over 2000 years ago,” said Patricia, grinding chocolate with a tool similar to a mortar and pestle called a mano and metate.
Patricia cautioned guests that this original taste is not at all very sweet and not at all like richly sugared truffles – which she, smiled, “are also just fine, too.” Most of us, non-sugar eaters, found the chocolate taste to be perfect. This is not to say that natural flavors cannot be incorporated and Patricia is excited to now feature jasmine.
Another plus is that the natural chocolate contains flavanoids, natural anti-oxidants, which makes it so healthy. The more fermentation and sugar, the less healthy it becomes.
Patricia told us that cacao trees only grow 20 degrees north and south of the equator, and about 70% of the world’s cacao is grown in
Patricia’s grower uses a mixture of garlic, vinegar and water serve as a natural pesticide that is sprayed on the trees. The fruit is like a cross between a mangosteen and a lichee and each pod contains 60 white seeds.
According to Patricia, “Beans begin to develop flavor and color on the trees. Our beans are slightly fermented for a nice taste without too much acidity. We dry them in the sun for five days (instead of by blowers, which produces quite a bit of acidity in other chocolate candies). Once dried, they are ready to be bagged and shipped.
Patricia maintains, “My beans have a higher cocoa butter content (54%) than other beans from around the world, which is why they have such a beautiful sheen."
Tsai used a two-part blind tasting so that everyone could taste the differences in her premium drinking chocolates. Tsai’s signature drink features a blend of toasted black sesame and goji berries. A spicy mix includes cinnamon, almonds and three types of chilies. Tasting the organic cocoa nibs gives the opportunity to examine every flavor component – from organic cane sugar to chamomile flowers.
Next BREADBAR chef Rogelio gave a good natured demo of making mole – not an easy task because of all the ingredients and the amount of grinding that goes into the complex dish that originated and is always associated with Southern Mexico (exactly where the chocolate comes from!). “I’m using my mother’s recipe,“ he told us, with a big exaggerated sigh. “And when she read the ingredients to me over the phone,” he laughed,” the list just went on and on and on. “ And all of them are delicious in and of themselves: sesame seeds, almond, seven kinds of chilies, anise.
Following the chocolate tasting, Chef Noriyuki Sugie of BREADBAR prepared a five- course dinner tasting menu with sweet and savory preparations featuring chocolate.
The first course was a tiny but still hearty sandwich of Venison Tartare, Chestnuts and Cocoa Nibs on Goji Berry Cocoa Bread. A Roasted Duck Breast medallion and a Foie Gras Terrine was served with an Arugula Salad topped with a Chocolate Vinaigrette for the second course.
A Beef Short Rib with a rich Mole served with a Kabocha Squash and Polenta played up autumn flavors . And the startling combination of White Chocolate Risotto with Dried Fruit and Cauliflower showed off Chef Sugie’s talent for delicate balance and original flavor combinations. Miniature Chocolate and Red beet Cupcakes with beet icing capped the meal and drew oohs and aahs from everyone in the room.
BREADBAR carries ChocoVivo chocolates powder and bar form.
The exceptional evening shouldn’t have been a surprise. Everything BREADBAR undertakes has been outstanding, beginning with the care they have already shown in their ambitious mission of reinventing ways to making, eating, thinking, and talking about bread. BREADBAR makes its artisanal bread, using a process reminiscent of bakeries in the 18th century, incorporating the four fundamental ingredients: flour, water, salt, and an agent of fermentation.
BREADBAR also recently reinvented the bakery-bistro concept with a menu designed to complement its bread selection for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. BREADBAR