Review of 'bittersweet' cookbook by Alice Medrich

503-248-2015

In Good Taste
located in the Pearl District, Portland, Oregon.
http://www.ingoodtastestore.com

Review of

bittersweet by Alice Medrich

Photographs by Deborah Jones

Artisan Publishing, 378 pages, $35.00

I was given a mission, to find a chocolate cookbook and review it for February’s newsletter. Most cooks would drool at such a request but I was dragging my feet. It’s not that I don’t like chocolate; it’s that I am not a baker. A few Christmas cookies once a year and bread baking on a rainy day, constitute my limited baking skills. Don’t get me wrong, I love an excellent dessert, but would prefer to eat just one slice at a nice restaurant than stare at the whole cake day after day.

There I was at In Good Taste with eyes glazed over looking at chocolate cookbook titles when a copy of BitterSweet by Alice Medrich caught my attention. I was intrigued by the byline “recipes and tales from a life in chocolate”. This sounded like there would be more than just caloric recipes!

Alice Medrich has been named “The First Lady of Chocolate” and her chocolate passion starts with the first paragraph, "I grew up on Hershey bars and M&Ms in a world of food vastly different from todays. The chocolate that we eat and cook with now is better and more varied than it was thirty, twenty, even ten years ago. It is also different in composition. It begs for the creation of new recipes and a fresh take on old ones.” I can relate to the changing times of chocolate. I remember the black and white Almond Joy and Three Musketeers commercials on T.V. Now, good quality chocolate sprouts its percentage of cacao (which is the blend of cacao mass, cocoa butter, and cocoa powder). I have been out of the chocolate loop for awhile.

With Medrich’s guidance, my interest in chocolate is rekindled and I delved into BitterSweet finding both sweet and savory recipes to try. There are eight chapters from the informational before you start, that explains procedures which will insure successful recipes; to the sweet and the savory: playing with nibs and dining on chocolate. As with any excellent cookbook the side bars and tips are what separate the ordinary from the extraordinary. Medrich consistently has perfect suggestions for the recipe.

It is heartening to read a voice of experience that has also met with disasters. Chapter four-Truffles, Mousses, and More relates Medrich’s truffle education and how her original lack of formal training helped her devise ways to overcome her wrong technique and unorthodox interpretations. “The result of such blissful ignorance? Incomparable chocolate truffles precisely because of all the broken rules.” Now I can trust Medrich and her recipes.

There is a recipe for Tiger Cake that I made. If a cake could be healthy (and my not so silent partner turned the cake into a breakfast delicacy), this would be it. The cake received its name from a five year old boy who found that the stripes reminded him of a tiger. I found it a simple way to make a dramatic cake. The ingredients that intrigued me were extra virgin olive oil and white pepper. After making the cake base, I used egg beaters and skim milk; I divided it and mixed half with a cocoa powder sugar mixture. I used a 12-cup Bundt pan that had been oiled and dusted with flour. I alternated the batter layers. There was no need to do any additional swirling it happened naturally. The results? A fine-crumb cake with a lush hint of olive oil and a mild pepper heat to the palate. I think the addition of sugar dusted strawberries on February 14^th will complete the dessert.

Thanks to BitterSweet, I have discovered cocoa nibs. “Nibs are cocoa beans on the brink of becoming chocolate. They are tiny nuggets of roasted, shelled, and cracked beans.” The nibs add a chocolate flavored nutlike texture. They don’t melt into a dish but stand alone as a unique flavor element.

Medrich’s nib preface is good to read because it defines how she perceives the ingredient and what recipes would be enhanced with them. On the sweet side there are Nibby Nut and Raisin Cookies, a rich Cocoa Nib Panna Cotta, and Buckwheat Cocoa Crepes with Honey, that are dusted with crushed nibs.

It is the savory side of nibs that peaks my interest. The easiest way to start “nibbing” is as a garnish on a salad. Crunchy Baby Greens is no harder than a mesclun mix, the best olive oil you can afford, excellent red wine vinegar, sea salt, black pepper, and cocoa nibs. This recipe stands on its strength and simplicity of ingredients. Each flavor teases your taste buds.

Another recipe that uses nibs as a garnish is Nibby Asparagus with Prosciutto. The nibs are used to infuse the olive oil. The asparagus is tossed in this warm mixture with Prosciutto shreds. This is an excellent dish for our lengthy asparagus season!

A Little Sauce for Pasta, is an insightful example of Medrich’s palate. This dish gets its sweetness from caramelized carrots and browned garlic, salt from diced Prosciutto, a kick from Niçoise olives, and fresh pow from chopped Italian parsley. Nibs and pine nuts round out the complexity and depth of the dish. I was so happy there were leftovers that I could hoard for the next day!!

I’m inspired now to create with chocolate and its relatives. I’ll push my fruit desserts aside and make the rest of my family happy with Melting Chocolate Cookie Tartlets and Black-Bottom Pecan Praline Bars. When no one else is home I will indulge my craving for chicken livers in a sherry-cocoa pan sauce! Happy Valentine’s Day!

Read! Eat! Enjoy!

Judith Bishop