We know the successful duo between cocoa and cloves, cinnamon or even Sichuan pepper. The association with truffles also makes sense due to their earthy nature. And we know that the chocolate flavors are deliciously highlighted by the silky tannins of a natural sweet wine from the Maury appellation. The cocoa material remains an inexhaustible source of inspiration for chefs and chocolatiers who continue their exploration in terms of taste combinations. For the upcoming Easter holidays, here are three new ones that will surprise you.
With mushrooms
During the last Michelin guide ceremony, Valrhona (delightfully) managed to delight the newly promoted chefs and guests by serving a light chocolate mousse drawing its originality from an association… with morels. A perfect match with the mushroom that chef Edwin Yansané, from Edwart Chocolatier, successfully worked with last fall. The young chocolatier had unveiled a seasonal collection of ganaches made from trumpets of death, truffles, porcini mushrooms and morels giving the tasting flavors of deliciously gourmet walks in the forest. We indeed find notes of cocoa and butter in certain mushrooms, such as porcini mushrooms, which make the marriage obvious.
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With tea
What greater happiness than tasting coffee accompanied by a little ganache? Maybe a bite of chocolate…at tea. It’s true that marriage is less usual, but it is becoming an option for chocolatier chefs like the Meilleur Ouvrier de Europe of Châteaurenard Frédéric Hawecker or the chocolatier Jérémy Breuzin. The latter imagined a chocolate collection for the Kodama tea house based on white tea or black tea leaves. The range nonetheless remains regressive with a recipe combining buckwheat seeds, as in a sobacha, with blond chocolate.
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NO to diets, YES to WW!
With caviar
As an extension of a luxurious pairing such as that with truffle, there is now that of caviar. The merger had already been made in 2016 when the prestigious caviar brand Petrossian collaborated with the Maison du Chocolat for a collection of original ganaches, integrating vodka at the same time. It’s the turn of the Sturia brand to reinvent the tasting of the luxurious dish through a partnership with the Belgian chocolatier and vice-world pastry champion Patrick Aubrion. The collaboration takes the form of a box consisting of placing a dash of sturgeon eggs in the palm of the hand, as tradition dictates. But first, you have to pour a little cream caramel and add a drop of dark chocolate to the puffed rice before devouring the whole thing. An unusual way to invite cocoa no longer at dessert time but as an aperitif, or the opposite by imagining serving caviar at the end of a meal…
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Slide: Choosing your chocolate wisely
