2.24.2006

...Cocoa, oh, oh...




It's been a while...
I hope this year of the dog is treating you all very well.

So here's a little something I dug up out of the vaults.

There's a little candy shoppe in Paris that goes by the name of "La Bonbonnière de la Trinité".
They make sweets.
What kinds of sweets?
A family of chocolates (to whom belongs an out of the ordinary truffle, that I'd like to shout out at the end of this post), caramels, mints, fruits confits and a slew of other earthly delights...
They've been making them since? Since 1925.
So 1925 doesn't make them quite as old as Maiffret or Fauchon, but, then again, neither one of them are by any means...seniors of Acamapichtli.

Acamapichtli was the first ruler of the Aztecs (1376-1396).
He would have called chocolate, 'Nahuatl' (bitter-water), because the Aztecs liked to drink their cocoa. They enjoyed solid chocolate, too.
Calling it 'Xocoatl', and making it by grinding together cocoa beans with sugar, they produced a chocolate, that once in your mouth, would become granulated in texture. Nothing like the solid chocolate we are accustomed to today, which owes its smoothness to the incorporation of emulsifiers.

Today the Oaxacan tradition is kept alive in Mexico, by artisans, and on the native island of Don Corleone by chocolate company, Bonajuto.
I had the fortune of trying some Xocoatl Bonajuto during the summer of my twentieth year - back when I was working at that deli.
Having always fancied a sandy consistency (pears, halvah, cream of wheat...) the discovery of xocoatl was like the mardi gras for my young palette. If I had any reason to merit an impresario, and Bonajuto were in the business of sponsoring people, for sure, I'd like to be on their team.

As for "La Bonbonnière de la Trinité" and their truffle...
Imagine encased in a millimeter thin shell, a silky blend of dark chocolate.
When you bite into it you hear a little pop, and then, wait, you don't understand what's going on cause the synapses in your brain are telling you that the rest of the truffle isn't solid. What?!
Remarkable.

Proust's grandmother used to make madeleines.
My grandmother used to make truffles.
Truffles are surprisingly easy to make.
I'll post the recipe up for you soon.
Until then...

La Bonbonnière de la Trinité
4, Place d'Estienne-d'Orves
Métro: Trinité

...My Grandmother's Truffle Recipe...

225 gr. of semi-sweet chocolate (equivalent to 1 box of Baker's semi-sweet chocolate)
2 tsp. cream
75 gr. butter
2 egg yolks
cocoa powder for dusting

1. Over a bain-marie, melt chocolate and butter.
(A bain-marie is when you take a saucepan, fill it with water and place a bowl/pan over it to slow cook the bowl's/pan's
contents).

2. In a bowl, whisk together egg yolks and cream.

3. When the chocolate and butter have melted, remove from stove and incorporate egg yolk/cream mixture.

4. Add extracts and/or spices to the chocolate (e.g. cinnamon, garam masala, vanilla).
At times my grandmother would add a capful of Grand Marnier.

5. Allow the chocolate to chill in the fridge for an hour.

6. Remove from fridge and allow to soften. This should take about 15 mintues.

7. Mold chocolate into balls and dust with cocoa powder.
My grandmother would always put a toasted hazlenut in the center of hers.

8. Distribute to loved ones.