Chocolate Show NY 2011!

You can eat way more chocolate at this years Chocolate Show this weekend (Thursday - Sunday 10 - 6pm Metropolitan Pavillion 125 West 18th Street)
Swedish chocolatier, Fika Choklad NYC is there again...
Plenty of strawberries to dip...
Loads of books on chocolate and pastry...

Learn how to dip a pretzel in chocolate at Cotton Tree Lodge - or go there for a week (in Belize) and make your own chocolate, bean-to-bar.

Deck yourself out in chocolate head to toe...

Get a 6-year-old to show you how to take pictures with your iPod Touch...

Bernachon, Lyon is at the NY show for the first time. You can't even find their bars in Paris except at L'Etoile d'Or. I bought a 'Jour et nuit' bar - a combo of milk on one side and dark on the other...

I bought a Bernachon hazelnut bar too...ahem

Intensely rich chocolate cakes from Portugese Choco Bolo

I rarely eat meat but I sinned and tasted chocolate enrobed bacon from Co.Co.Sala in D.C. - the bacon's saltiness combines perfectly with creamy dark chocolate - delicious!

Fair trade chocolate from Ghana made by Divine. They were at the London chocolate show too.

French chocolatier Pralus was at the show again.

Goodby Nutella. Hello creme de noisette.

Christophe Roussel has boxes and boxes of Paris macarons..

Macarons from Mad MacNYC

And Francois Payard...

Chocolate show specials from Payard

Lots of special xmas gift possibilities at this years chocolate show including exotic teas and spices...

These same charm bracelets at the Paris Salon you make yourself are here.

My haul from yesterday :O

Bonjour Chocolate Show NY 2011!

Dessert Fourplay

I promised you on Friday I'd return to the NY Chocolate show for Johnny Iuzzini's demo...
So here's JOHNNY!
I don't think I'll ever misspell his name again.
His team of gorgeous assistants.

And the guy down in front with the camera?
That's Johnny's dad, who always shows up to documents his shows for posterity. Sweet no?
Johnny's an upfront, funny kind of guy and happily shared all his tricks of the pastry trade. I'll pass on as much of his wisdom as I could scribble down and translate later. Johnny was French-trained and went to CIA.
Tools are important for his superb desserts at Restaurant Jean-Georges
But every home 'chef' can get his/her hands on an isi whipped cream dispenser. Measuring ingredients is another biggie. Grandma may have used her hands to show you how much of this or that to add to a recipe, but that won't work in a pastry kitchen.
Everything has got to be METRIC!
Johnny uses 1.1 grams = 28th of an ounce as his standard measure.
And use a thermometer - monitor your temperatures future pastry chefs out there!
Liquid nitrogen..hmm well
Johnny demonstrates dripping chocolate straight into nitrogen to create chocolate lace, but you can do it in your home kitchen using a bucket of ice cubes.
Regarding chocolate - Johnny loves Valrhona, but other chocolates work well too - Guittard, Cluizel etc. depending on the dessert.
*Buy 5 different (for example all 70%) brands of chocolates. Get to know their flavor profiles
Write down notes on file cards to refer to later.
Chocolate is a lot like wine - it has terroir too
Try & Taste & Smell EVERYTHING! Smell your food first.
And eat your food together, not separately.
That's how it was meant to be eaten.
CONTRASTS!
It's important to have different textures, different flavors, different temperatures in a dessert.

Always think about the textures.
Like think about Mac & Cheese. Then something crunchy to up the ante.
Textures are HUGE with Johnny
His desserts are: a single flavor, single tasting, single season at Jean-Georges.

He's not a reader - he likes to touch, smell, blow things up!

"Full blast! Full blast!

Done and done!

Google is my best friend - you can find any ingredient on the internet and where to buy it."

Et voila - Le dessert!
'Chocolate Curd with crispy Cacao Nib Tuile, White Chocolate-Sesame Clouds'
Quite a delicious mouthful!
So that's your taste of Johnny Iuzzini.
His book, Dessert Foreplay, is written with the home cook in mind.
And I definitely tasted A LOT of chocolate putting together this post.
I hope I did you justice Johnny :)

Later on Johnny was signing books and even talking to book buyer's sons on the phone Ha!

Tell me what his flourished handwriting says, I can't figure it out...

An watch Bravo's Just Desserts for the finale this week!

You can get that T-shirt on the website.

On the back it says, Paddled, Whipped, Beaten...and left to rest.

Sunday was the last show day and the last chance for some more tastes...

Somehow or other I ended up buying a lot of pre-Xmas gifts...

My 'booty' - all GIFTS!!!

This dog in a shop nearby was giving me dirty looks as I left...

"Where's my chocolate 'chicken drumstick' milk bone?"

BONJOUR JOHNNY IUZZINI!

New York CHOCOLATE SHOW 2010

I went as 'press' yesterday to the New York Chocolate Show and it never disappoints though I was surprised to see so many French chocolate companies represented.
It's never surprising to see all the free samples offered at the New York show, unlike the Paris Salon du Chocolat where 'free' samples often require a magnifying glass...ahem
Mary Chocolate Co. of Japan always has yummy macha-chocolates to taste...
Even more surprising was catching top Paris patissier, Pierre Herme onsite tasting and checking out the New York show! ! !
I couldn't miss catching a group shot of Pierre Herme at the French Valrhona stand with the chocolate show organizers, Sylvie Douce et Francois Jeantet.
Francois Pralus showed up at the NY show with all his French goodies.

Do stop by and taste his chestnut spread-miam-miam

It's a bonanza for the kids, who surely need more early training in the finer points of chocolate percentages at Comptoir du Cacao...

Enrobed grapes in French milk, white or dark chocolate from Les Fondues au Chocolat anyone?

Truffles?

And for the grownups rum punches...

There were lots of people out tasting and buying yesterday perhaps because it was Veterans Day...

Swedish chocolatier, Hakan Martensson of Fika Choklad NYC is usually on hand creating chocolate sculptures. He told me he never knows exactly what's going to come out - it's all left up to serendipity. The chocolate wolf sculpture in the foreground has just eaten Red Riding Hood!

I love Maison Boissier's packaging and they have special prices for the show - I didn't realize they have a tea salon in the 16th arr...

I bought some Barry Callbaut chips - perfect for my morning cup of chocolat chaud...

Chocolat Michel Cluizel now has a shop on 5th Avenue...

A ready education in percentage chocolates from E.Guittard, supplier to most US pastry chefs, is on offer...

Taste PLEASE!!

And sniff something savory - Spices and Tease are at the Paris Salon too...

There are chocolate fashions to consider nibbling - Not allowed!

I tried Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula free samples last year and I love this stuff.

Your friendly undercover pastry stalker kept her eye on Pierre Herme. I was interested to see him pick up and purchase hot NY pastry chef Johnny Iuzzini's Dessert Foreplay cookbook...

This morning I spent several hours watching chef Iuzzini online at Bravo's Just Desserts - Are you a fan?

Quite elaborate and intriguing desserts - I'll be back at the Chocolate show on Sunday to see Chef Iuzzini do his demo and I'll report back on Monday.

BONJOUR NY CHOCOLATE SHOW 2010!