Monday, March 4, 2013

Brown Butter dark bar - March 4, 2013

Chocolate of the Day: 

Xocolatl de David
Brown Butter bar
Weight: 1.1 oz. (31 g.) / 2.2 oz. (62 g.) total bar
Calories: 165 calories (estimate) for 1/2 bar
Cost: $8.95 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Fog City News, San Francisco, CA

Today was Day #3 of Chocolate and Butter Theme Week.

Brown butter is a lovely thing -- the essence of rich butter, carefully heated and partially caramelized, with a faintly nutty taste; it makes a great

great base for meat and vegetable entrees, as well as caramels and sweet and savory desserts. The brown butter in this case was fully incorporated into today's dark chocolate bar.

This nicely wrapped, but unadorned Brown Butter bar from Xocolatl de David (Portland, OR) was made with 70% cacao from Ecuador.

An Example of a Good Temper
One side of the bar was so shiny smooth (a sign of a careful and successful tempering process), I could have used it as a mirror. (A rare moment -- I could see the reflection of my camera in this bar; see image at right.)

Two butters, more shine. The brown butter may have contributed some dazzle, but shine like this comes from optimizing the crystalline structure of the cocoa butter, during heating and tempering. If you have a black belt in tempering, your chocolate will have a glossy surface and snap to it, like this. If not, your bars and truffles may have a dull matte, or less attractive, finish;  and they may break or crumble more randomly.

This camera-ready bar melted in my mouth, like buttah.

Xocolatl founder, David Briggs,  has talked about his interest in savory additions to his chocolate bars (bacon, truffles, chicharrones, cheese, olive oil). I love it. David, I consider you a fellow umami-arian  and, as such, I continue to look forward to any new items you create in this category. Keep up the great work!

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