One person's haul from Food Fête. Photo: craigemorsels/Flickr
If New York City's annual Fancy Food Show is a hurricane of food-related items, occupying three vast floors of the sprawling Javits Center, then the tiny, cramped Food Fête is its spin-off tornado.
Hosted in a smaller space and likewise designed to get food writers and editors interested in new and interesting culinary products, the Fête was an interesting and slightly chaotic affair. High-end eats were hawked right up alongside lower-end food, from a very tasty slice of grass-fed steak to a Kikkoman "umami" demonstration in which we were subjected to a taste-off between a regular chocolate and one containing soy sauce -- a rather palate-numbing experience, that.
Former Top Cheffer Stephanie Izard was there with Lucini, the spicy olive oil she endorses, which she had drizzled on a very tasty panzanella. She told us she hadn't had a chance to roam the halls yet. But we had, and our faves are after the jump.
Pay no heed to those who thoughtlessly proclaim bacon-inflected desserts "so over," or "so December 2008."
Pictured is one of the reasons why. This delicacy, known as Pig Candy, is the genius of one Rhonda Kave of Roni-Sue's Chocolates. What Kave has done is create a union as holy as that of peanut butter and chocolate or vodka and tonic: fried bacon, dipped in chocolate. And that's it.
It's a marriage that is astoundingly pure yet diabolically addictive and, thanks to the beauty of online retail, has inspired slavish devotion far beyond the Roni-Sue headquarters on New York City's Lower East Side. This photo hints at the promise and madness contained in each salty-sweet nugget. While the shutterbug's ability to restrain herself long enough to take the pic is admirable, the subject likely met its demise shortly after being immortalized for the enjoyment of drooling procrastinators everywhere.
Hooray for the Dairy Queen Blizzard, the dessert that combines ice cream, candy and sometimes even cookies all in one (swiftly melting) creation.
The sweet treat is given even greater pride of place on the DQ menu thanks to its "Blizzard of the Month" feature. Former BoMs have included caramel cheesecake and turtle Oreo (pictured), but it's the divine midnight truffle -- a blend of vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup and truffle bits -- that's enjoying an April shout-out.
If contrasting crunchiness is preferable in the creamy Blizzard, then the softness of the truffle chunks are a bit of a letdown. But if maximum richness is the goal, then their melt-in-your-mouth texture works quite nicely with the smooth chocolatiness of the ice cream. Fight the current heat wave to slurp this sucker down before it turns from a Blizzard into slush.
Barbie, as you may know, turned 50 earlier this year. If this slightly belated bit of promotional whimsy is any indication, plenty of you still want a piece of her.
To celebrate the doll's 50th, Dylan's Candy Bar created "Barbie Loves Dylan's," a line of chocolate and candy outfitted in colorful graphics befitting the belle's pop-art and pop-cultural legacy. We love the way these chocolates are packaged, with through-the-years pix inspiring affectionate memories of both "The Brady Bunch" and yearbook photos of days (and unfortunate hairstyles) gone by.
It's rare to come across chocolate whose packaging wouldn't look out of place next to a Warhol, and we applaud whatever graphic design genius was behind this. But if Barbie taught us anything, it's that beauty is skin deep, and that lesson unfortunately applies to the chocolate bearing her name. It tastes as plastic as Barbie herself or, in the words of one judge, "like drugstore Easter candy." Like Barbie herself, this chocolate could last 50 years ... in the back of a pantry.
For $14, a better move might be to pop the candies into a frame on the bedroom wall. 'Cause Barbie also taught us that when substance fails, style triumphs.
A weekly look at the draft selection at beer-friendly bars across the country.
We all have our vices: Some live for libations while others pine for sweets. In St. Louis these two groups can merge in one ecstatic, sugar-fueled pit of sin at Bailey's Chocolate Bar. A lengthy menu of treats includes dramatic desserts, award-winning cocktails and sometimes the two in one beautiful bite (Irish Cream cheesecake, anyone?).
Beer is another of Chocolate Bar's specialties, as it boasts one of STL's most highly-regarded draft lists. A few selections seem obvious (such as Young's Double Chocolate Stout and Arcadia Cocoa Loco) but the bar also boasts a namesake brew, Bailey's Chocolate Bar Chocolate Ale. Of course, a great beer bar can't just stock stouts, and general manager Gene Bailey says they strive for "good enough variety where everyone can find something they like." Many of the current taps come from one brewery: "We're big fans of the New Belgium [Fat Tire] people," Gene admits. Beyond pure pints, Bailey's happily mingles sugar & suds: The Stout Beer Shake, blending chocolate stout and cinnamon ice cream, is a favorite.
Check out Bailey's Chocolate Bar's complete draft list after the jump, tell us if you've got a favorite chocolate beer and get your indulgence on in person next time you're in St. Louis.
Wow. Talk about decadence. Windy_Sydney posts this devil's-food-cake cupcake topped with vanilla frosting (tinted green) and garnished with a mint chocolate brownie and mint chocolate sauce. Refreshing!
Wine and chocolate? Blech. At least that's my usual ho-hum reaction when I read (yet another) Valentine's wine-and-chocolate pairing story. If you ask me, pairing wine and chocolate is usually a futile exercise in taking two perfectly delicious things and ruining them by forcing them together. They bring out each other's worst qualities: overharsh tannins, weird flavors and aromas lurking beneath the surface, personality quirks that don't come out when they're alone.
But then I tried Brix, a line of chocolates made especially to go with wine, and I changed my tune. Brix is made from a single-origin chocolate from Ghana blended with Belgian chocolate. Each of the three blends (milk, dark, and extra-dark) was developed to complement different varietals and styles of wine. The darkest is good with Cabernet Sauvignon and other powerhouses; the middle complements Syrah and Zinfandel, and the milk chocolate is good with dessert wine and Pinot Noir.
My husband and I decided to go all out experimenting with the chocolates. We lined them up with a bunch of wines, and added some Dove dark chocolates and Lindor milk chocolate truffles to the mix.
Just getting that out of the way first, as it's proved nigh on impossible to mention this event to anyone without their invoking Roald Dahl's tale of confectionary hedonism. Pastry chef Laurent Richard has crafted a carnival-themed, all-you-can-eat chocolate dessert buffet at New York City's Ritz-Carlton's 14th floor Rise Bar, and for the price of admission, one receives the privilege of sticking one's face into the endless treat plates borne by spinning ferris wheel, carousel and roller coaster, and not coming up for air until every last Nutella crepe, haute faux Twix (Chef Ricard calls it a Raider Bar), chocolate financier, Valrhona-slathered strawberry and morsel of Black Forest griotine has been gobbled up. Don't worry -- he'll make more.
One of the many reasons we love Pinkberry is because of its many fabulous toppings, such as daily cut fresh fruit. Now, they've added white and milk chocolate shavings. Unlike many yogurt places that use stale chocolate chips, Pinkberry cuts shavings of fresh Belgian chocolate. The chocolate perfectly balances Pinkberry's three tangy flavors: Original, Pomegranate, and Green Tea.
The timing of the addition of this topping is perfect! Just in time for Valentine's Day, chocolate lovers can take their significant others to Pinkberry for some rich chocolate mixed in with smooth luscious yogurt. Pinkberry doesn't gratuitously add new flavors. When you try the chocolate, one of the first things you'll notice is its amazing quality.
A combo that I recommend is the original flavor topped with chocolate shavings, strawberries, and blueberries. Or, if you feeling like escaping to the Caribbean, try the original flavor with both white and milk chocolate shavings and coconut. If you've tried these new chocolate shavings, what were some of your favorite combos?
Don't find yourself scrambling on Valentine's Day for a good gift for the chocolate lover in your life. Get them half a dozen of Green & Black's chocolate bars in the knowledge that happiness is assured when you come with good chocolate in hand. Green & Black's makes a wide variety of high quality, organic chocolate. It's available nationwide and I can even pick several different kinds up at my local corner store (making it perfect for last minute hostess gifts).
If you want something a little more elegant than a simple bar, Green & Black's also individually-wrapped chocolate coins that come packaged in tall, slender boxes.
Next in our series of good chocolate for Valentine's Day is Dagoba's baking chocolate. Since 2001, Dagoba has been making a variety of organic chocolate products in their Ashland, OR factory (they were one of the very first organic chocolate producers). I'm a sucker for their Mint-Rosemary Bar, but recently, I've also become a total convert to their line of baking chocolates.
These chocolates turn a standard brownie recipe into something revelatory. If you're planning to bake something special for your sweetheart this year, instead of reaching for your regular baking chocolate, get yourself some of this Dagoba goodness. If you're on the hunt for the right recipe to romance your chocolate-loving Valentine, consider this flourless chocolate cake (I'd recommend the bittersweet chocolate for that cake, not the unsweetened variety pictured above). Pair it with raspberry sauce and freshly whipped cream for a dessert that says, "I love you."
Studies reveal that certain sweets, like chocolate activate the libido. Just last week, The Times of India had an article reporting on the aphrodisiac effects of chocolate particularly on men. Food scientists tracked down a specific ingredient responsible for these effects - Eurycoma Longifolia Jack.
Chocolates have long been associated with romance. As far back as the eighteenth century, food enthusiasts, like Brillat Savarin, raved about chocolate's corporal effects. So, when thinking about sweets for Valentine's Day, I often think of various chocolate confections and cakes.
Below are 8 chocolates I highly recommend this Valentine's Day:
Dozen Box of Roni's Roses - These chocolates are flavored with rose petal jam, powdered rose petals and exotic rose liqueur. If you're in NY, I highly suggest that you check out Roni-Sue's in the Essex Street Market in the Lower East Side.
Poco Dolce Burt Caramel Tiles - Everything made by Poco Dolce is phenomenal. They have truly mastered the delicious combination of salt and sweet.
Chocolate comes from pods, such as the one photographed above. When I arrived in Jamaica, my first stop was to see Dennis, a fruit and spice vendor in Ocho Rios. After he showed me raw unsweetened morsels of cocoa, he took out a large cocoa pod. A pod contains 20 to 45 seeds, also called "beans", fixed in white pulp.
Each of these seeds contains a large amount of fat (40–50% as cocoa butter) and the active ingredient theobromine, similar to caffeine. Theobromine is what makes chocolate lethal for dogs. There are two cocoa varieties in Jamaica: Forastero and Criollo. The harvest takes place in the fall, between September and November. The beans are taken from the pods and processed extensively.
Tasting an unprocessed cocoa bean makes you realize how much sugar is added after being processed. The cocoa beans we tasted had a strong bitter flavor similar to that of a coffee bean. This has to do with the presence of theobromine, which like caffeine gives you energy. We purchased some of the beans and ground them with coffee beans to make a tasty energy drink - mocha coffee. I am curious to know other ways one can use unprocessed cocoa beans in cooking. If you have you ever used them, what sorts of dishes were they for?
There's no golden ticket in this new pricey chocolate bar, but you'll win more than a mere factory tour if you choose one of Lesal Ruskey's $13 treats.
The San Francisco chocolatier promises to plant a tree for every purchase of her 3.5-ounce Original Beans bars. She tells the San Francisco Chronicle that she'll plant a tree in the rain forest of the country where the bar's fair-trade cacao beans originate -- either Bolivia, Ecuador or the Congo. A certificate on the wrapper lets eaters know where their bar's beans came from.
"People are very judicious about spending their dollars," Ruskey told the paper. "We also believe if consumers are going to invest their precious dollars in an affordable luxury that they're investing in more than fleeting pleasure."
Analysts say that the shaky economy doesn't mean people are cutting back on expensive chocolate.
"It sounds expensive, but compared to a diamond or a car or a pair of a jeans or anything else you decide to be frivolous about, it's not that expensive," food analyst Marcia Mogelonsky told the paper.
While Original Beans is by no means the priciest chocolate bar on the market -- French producer Bonnat's bars top $22 -- it remains to be seen whether choco-nuts will plunk down the $13 for a taste of the eco-friendly treat.
The Fine Chocolate Industry Association has honored seven chocolate makers and chocolate companies at its first ever Recognition of Excellence Ceremony.
Winners included the late Dr. Robert Steinberg, co-founder of Sharffen Berger Chocolate, for Innovation in Fine Chocolate Products, Fran Bigelow of Fran's Chocolates for Outstanding Fine Chocolatier; North America (Obama is apparently a big fan of her stuff; I'm obsessed with her salted caramels), Alexander Morozoff, publisher of Cocoaroma magazine for Outstanding Fine Chocolate Literature (a worthy new genre, I think), Gary Guittard of Guittard Chocolate and E. Guittard for Lifetime Achievement, Valrhona for Outstanding Fine Chocolate Maker/Manufacturer; Europe (food writer and Iron Chef America judge Jeffrey Steingarten never travels without several bars of Valrhona's bittersweet), Norman Love of Norman Love Confections for Innovation in Fine Chocolate Presentation (check out his rainbow-colored Black chocolate collection), and Robert Linxe founder of La Maison du Chocolat for Outstanding Fine Chocolatier; Europe.
We can change the way we make eggs -- scrambled, poached, fried -- but what about changing the eggs themselves? Mix up your scrambling routine with quail eggs.
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