Hi foodies! So I went to the chocolate show on Thursday and it was just indescribable. It was so great. I guess I will begin with all the great people that ran the cooking demonstrations and the famous people just walking around. The first person I would like to mention is Christina Tosi, the pastry chef at Momofuku Milkbar (Momofuku Milkbar, by the way, has awesome cookies, like the blueberries and cream, ice cream that is out of this world and the crack pie, which might be the best pie of all time. The place is good!). Christina was really nice and personal. She taught a good class and made it really fun. Christina made two things. One being cake truffles and the other was a cornflake chocolate chip marshmallow bar cookie. Now I learned some great tips from her so listen close. For her bar cookies she had a chocolate glaze on top. She explained that instead of tempering chocolate she melts chocolate and grape seed oil in the micro wave. For this recipe she used 200 grams of 72% Valrhona chocolate to 50 grams of grape seed oil. She melted them in 37 second increments. she said the grape seed oil loosen it just enough to spread on top of the bar. She also had these easy nut recipes where she took a nut like almonds and tossed them in melted chocolate. Then she rolled them in a curry (chili powder works too) and after that it was finished with more chocolate and cinnamon sugar. After the class they handed out the food and it was delicious. Check out
http://www.momofuku.com/milkbar to find out where you can find Momofuku Milkbar and also to see all the good things they have.
So another amazing person who taught a class was Francine Segan. Francine has written a few cookbooks and also has been on the food network a few times. She made penne pasta with a savory chocolate sauce. She also made parmigiana crisps with a sprinkling of cocoa nibs which was so good. Francine also did a ton of talking that was just so interesting. She spoke about how chocolate was first called an aphrodisiac and also the history of chocolate. When the class ended I walked up to her and we were talking about this blog and she gave me a one of her cookbooks and then signed it. I was so happy and really grateful. The book is called Shakespeare's Kitchen. It is a really cool book.
Next up, Frank Maldonado, the chef at Sazon. Frank was making chocolate and plantain filled Empanadas that were really good. The dough was amazing and so simple to make. The plantains were delicious and I could not stop eating it. After the demonstration Frank told me that every Monday in the month of November at Sazon they do a cooking class. The enrollment fee is $65. If anyone is interested go check out
http://www.sazonnyc.com/
I also went to a class with Jerome Chang and Vincent Jaoura from the Dessert Truck. They made chocolate chip cookies that were really good. They told everyone about the more sugar you have the flater your cookie will be. They also said always to use chocolate chips because chocolate chips hold themselves in the oven better that other chocolate that just melts in. After the demonstration when we were talking to them Jerome and Vincent. Vincent was really nice and answered questions. By the way the Dessert Truck drives around Tuesday through Sunday.
Earlier in the day I went to a demonstration with Scott Campbell who is executive chef at the New Leaf. He made an incredible duck breast with a 6 spice rub on it. It was a combination of cocoa powder, ancho chili powder, cinnamon, cumin, coriander, and pastille chili powder. The only problem with his class was that he wasn't super friendly. Even though he wasn't friendly I still can't wait to go to the New Leaf since the food was to die for.
The last demonstration of the day was Buddakan's pastry chef, Vicki Wells. She made two small devil food cakes one with a banana mouse on top and the other with pineapple on top. They were both really good but I felt Vicki did not have a lot of personality. I have been to Buddakan before and it was really good. I will definitely be back at Buddakan.
Also when I was walking around the show I saw Sue Torres who is the chef/owner of Suenos in Hells Kitchen. Sue was incredibly nice. I have been wanting to go to Suenos for a while and now I want to go even more.
Another person I met who was walking around was Zac Young from Top Chef: Just Dessert. I love that show and was so excited to meet him. He was such a pleasure and spoke about everything. He was telling us about Flex Mussels which is a seafood restaurant and he is the pastry chef there. He said how he recommended the donuts. Also Zac said he is opening a donuts shop in New York in about four months. I am really excited.
The host of the show that day was George Duran so he was walking around and was at almost every cooking demo. He was really funny and a delightful person to talk to.
Besides all these great people at the show there were some really good chocolate. The one's I thought that stood out were Xocolatti, William Dean Chocolates, Valrhona (especially their orange rind covered in chocolate), Payard and Francois Payard Bakery, Jacques Torres Chocolate, Comptoir Du Cocoa, and Co Co. Sala. The chocolate show is really a great experience and I hope you guys can go today.
-Mike
