Hot Chocolate by Michael Turback Summary and Reviews
|
List Price: Our Price: $1.16 You Save: $8.79 (88%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Hot Chocolate
Book Review: Lovely
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a lovely little book (it's only 6" x 6" square, small enough to tuck into a handbag!) with some very interesting recipes. Each recipe provides fascinating information on chocolate in general, drinking chocolate, or the place from which the recipe originated. There aren't a lot of photos for my taste (I do like plenty of beautiful photographs) but those that are there are very nicely done. I'm especially fond of the Lavender-Pistachio Hot Chocolate and Hot Chocolate a l'Orange, the latter of which uses an unexpected combination of ingredients.Book Review: Not for everyone
Summary: 4 Stars
I found this book at the Scharfenberger store, and I've made two recipes out of it. If you like your hot chocolate milky and mild, this probably isn't the book for you. Most of the recipes are haute cuisine recipes, which means the chocolate is intense, rich, and nearly pudding-like in consistancy (although it's easy to thin out by adding some milk, if you prefer).
The best part of the book is that it encourages you to play with the flavors in your hot chocolate. Even if you don't have all the ingredients to actually recreate a recipe, with a little bit a knowledge and some experimentation, you can adapt the recipe to your ingredients and palate.
Book Review: These recipes must not have been tested.
Summary: 1 Stars
This cookbook has good ideas in it but it is impossible to get a good cup of hot chocolate from any of these recipes. The proportions are all wrong and when the recipes are followed you end up with thick, hot goo. It is unfortunate but that is the reality of this cookbook. Skip it, I wish I had.Book Review: True hot chocolate delight
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a fairly small and unassuming cookbook, but it has an elegant flair to it. It includes notes on ingredients, tools, and techniques, including hints for blending the flavors and creating a creamy cup of hot chocolate. One of the problems I've had with hot chocolate in the past is that unlike cocoa, chocolate doesn't always dissolve as thoroughly or easily. However, with the techniques in this book it works beautifully. I've never had hot chocolate that was so smooth and delectable.
The recipes are organized in chapters by type of recipe. First you'll find recipes that reflect the historical origins of chocolate, or "Ancestral Hot Chocolates." These tend to involve spices, including a "Hellfire Hot Chocolate" that includes both allspice and cayenne! The next chapter is one of European classics, including a white hot chocolate that is my favorite recipe in this cookbook.
A chapter of modern variations on hot chocolate includes some of the truly adventuresome and odd recipes in this cookbook, such as Tarragon and Black Pepper Hot Chocolate(!) and Bay Leaf-Infused Hot Chocolate. It also includes a few flavors reminiscent of modern candy trends, such as caramel, peppermint or peanut butter.
"Adults Only" hot chocolates include alcohol, and there's also a chapter of "nostalgic" recipes, including cold recipes, a Hot Chocolate Eggnog recipe, and even a fondue. The final chapter, one of hot chocolate pairings, presents recipes for various sides to include with hot chocolate. For instance, S'Mores Hot Chocolate with Graham Crackers (and yes, there's a recipe for homemade graham crackers!).
There are only a few mild concerns one might have regarding this cookbook, I believe. After all, the quality of the recipes seems exquisite. First, many people simply aren't adventurous enough to try many of the recipes in this cookbook. Second, these are most definitely not lightweight recipes--many of them involve plenty of heavy cream, although you can find a decent selection that at least use whole milk instead; thus, if you're watching your weight, you may want to save these recipes for rare special occasions. And finally, some of these recipes are so insanely rich that we couldn't drink them as-is. Let me clarify--this is not a reason to avoid making some of the recipes; it didn't render them inedible. It simply turned them into what we preferred to think of as hot chocolate concentrate!
Book Review: Undrinkable - but you could eat it. Maybe...
Summary: 1 Stars
We tried the most basic recipe in this book as a special treat over the Christmas holidays. I'm sorry to say, that while we were looking forward to rich cups of chocolate (our first love), we didn't have cups of steaming ganache in mind. Make no mistake, you'd better be really into chocolate to buy this book. We thought we were, but two melted Lindt bars later (that's for 2.5 cups of chocolate), we quickly learned there IS such a thing as too much chocolate.