Hot Chocolate

by **Gabe** on Mon Jan 22, 2007 10:50 pm

I caught a few minutes of The Hungry Detective on Food Network the other night, and the guy was in a coffee shop/bakery, and it showed them making hot chocolate by loading some dark chocolate shavings, cocoa powder, and milk into a steaming pitcher and steaming on their espresso machine. They didn't mention quantities of anything.

It looked really good, and I've been craving hot chocolate lately, so has anyone tried making hot chocolate this way?

What other ways do you use your espresso machine to make hot chocolate? I've been playing around with Hershey's syrup and milk, but unfortunately, it just ends up tasting like....Hershey's syrup and milk.

by **jesawdy** on Mon Jan 22, 2007 11:23 pm

Gabe wrote:Hershey's syrup and milk.

That's all I use... but I have tried hot chocolate powder and milk with good results. With the Hershey's, I try not to use too much and let the sweetness of the frothed milk carry it. Most people comment on the creaminess of the drink from the microfoamed milk.

I haven't used it, but I understand the Ghirardelli syrup is a bit 'darker' chocolate tasting.

by **another_jim** on Tue Jan 23, 2007 2:20 am

Italians make hot chocolate very simply by putting squares of chocolate into hot milk. If, instead, you use cold milk and froth it, it saves the stirring and gets you some foam; which is nice. If you use half and half instead of milk, you have Swiss style hot chocolate.

by **cpl593h** on Tue Jan 23, 2007 4:35 am

I grate Ibarra's Mexican chocolate into my soy or rice milk and then steam it. Sometimes I'll add a dash of Cayenne pepper.

by **roadman** on Tue Jan 23, 2007 1:42 pm

Gentlemen I am aghast!

Ibarra, Ghirardelli syrup, and fer cryin' out loud HERSHEY's syrup. :shock:

You're describing the chocolate equivalent of Hills Brothers and Starbucks. Yow! We're talking cocoa beans here not Halloween candy. Good chocolate is blended using different varietals prepared and combined with just as much care as the beans that are the precursor of that dark colored drink we all love to sip. The descriptors used in chocolate tasting are very similar to those used to in coffee tasting.

All kidding aside, find some good chocolate with at least 60% cacao solids. Shave it so it melts quickly and easily. Get some good quality cacao powder too. Microfoam some fresh high quality whole milk and add the shavings and cacao. If you like it sweet add some sugar. Stir and enjoy.

It's hard describe the proportion of chocolate to cacao powder to milk as quantities vary with individual ingredients and individual tastes.

Jon

Ps as Matt mentioned cayenne powder is a nice addition. I like to add a bit of rum to help bring the chocolate aromas up past the palate. And as Jim said you can make it with hot milk in the pan too.

by DC on Tue Jan 23, 2007 5:33 pm

Hi,

Not strictly hot chocolate but I've been experimenting with making Mochas (the Starbucks type) for friends by pulverising Green&Black's dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids) in my whirly-bird 'grinder', and putting two teaspoons of the powder into the cold milk before steaming, then pouring the resulting foamed hot chocolaty-milk on top of the espresso to yield about an 8oz drink.

Sometimes add a dash of cinnamon. Results are pretty good.

Dave

by **Psyd** on Tue Jan 23, 2007 7:10 pm

roadman wrote:Gentlemen I am aghast!

Ibarra, Ghirardelli syrup, and fer cryin' out loud HERSHEY's syrup. You're describing the chocolate equivalent of Hills Brothers and Starbucks.

I agree, except the Ibarra. It is different from chocolate, but it is not Starbucks or Folger's. Ibarra is a bit like Mole compared to a steack. Yep, it isn't a steak, but that don't make it a MacBurger, either.

roadman wrote:Ps as Matt mentioned cayenne powder is a nice addition. I like to add a bit of rum to help bring the chocolate aromas up past the palate. And as Jim said you can make it with hot milk in the pan too.

If'n ya'll like the cayenne, try some little bit of curry in a very dark, and very sweet chocolate. It'll knock your socks off.

by **Jasonian** on Tue Jan 23, 2007 7:34 pm

I make a mocha base with 1 part cocoa powder, 1 part sugar (both by volume) and adding hot water and mixing until the desired consistency is achieved.

Outside of that, I really like the G&B grinding idea. That's some good chocolate right there.

by **cannonfodder** on Tue Jan 23, 2007 8:37 pm

I have some 85% cacao that reminds me of a good Kenya coffee. Dark, bitter sweet earthy body with strawberry, blueberry notes.

Now if you really want to do it up right, alchemistjohn runs Chocolate Alchemy.com. You can get your own cocoa nibs, roast them yourself and make your own chocolate.

by **miKe mcKoffee** on Tue Jan 23, 2007 9:43 pm

cannonfodder wrote:Now if you really want to do it up right, alchemistjohn runs Chocolate Alchemy.com. You can get your own cocoa nibs, roast them yourself and make your own chocolate.

Ok, if we're going into chocolate alchemy I'll make a minor correction so Alchemist John doesn't have a coranary. :lol:

You roast cocoa beans which are then broken up into nibs, broken up of roasted cocoa beans. BTW, they are great used coarse ground in crusts (like instead of graham cracker crust nibs & mac nut crust) , larger nibs used in cookies instead of or in addition to nuts etc... Processing roasted cocoa to chocolate a whole 'nother matter I've not allowed myself to get into!


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