Fred Eckhardt's - Chocolate and beer tasting

Thanks to Fred for emailing this to me. -marc ---------- Chocolate and beer tasting, Holiday Inn Chicago O'Hare International, Rosemont ILL 21 June 2003 By Fred Eckhardt (c) 2003 1. Goose Island Summertime Kolsch (US-IL), 12P, 5%abv, 25ibu CHOCOLATE: handmade chocolate chip cookies by Betsy Elsaesser and Luann Fitzpatrick Note: chocolate chip cookies go with almost any beer, even the Bud/Millers/Coors mob. But no chocolate goes well with an IPA, or other hoppy nonsense. HOWEVER one might try M&M's just to see what goes... RULES OF CHOCOLATE There's good news and there's bad news. The good news is that we have plenty of chocolate and beer. The bad news is that we will continue these meetings until we determine why so many of you are gaining weight. Didn't you make New Year's Resolutions about that? THE BEERS Most of these beers are dark and heavy beers, which is the type that goes best with chocolate. In dark beers the hops are more buffered by the malt, resulting in what might be called a mellower and maltier taste profile. This type of beer loves chocolate. Most of these beers are from Illinois, whose 34 brewers produce many fine beers. Beers to be matched with chocolate are very special. Budwieser and Millers can't cut it. You need something fairly heavy, malty and well balanced with regard to hops. ABOUT CHOCOLATE & BEER This all began as a spoof, although I was serious about the chocolate and beer idea. As I continued my research I realized there was a lot more to that idea than was on the surface. This may indeed be a great spoof, but if you find that you are beginning to enjoy these combinations, beware, you may be a BREWCHOCOHOLIC! A Brewchocoholic with lupulin undertones For each course, first sip the beer, then nibble the chocolate afterwards. Don't overwhelm the one with the other. This is the most enjoyable way. 2. Two Brothers Brown Fox Ale (US-IL), English style brown ale, 9.8P, 4.2%abv, 13ibu CHOCOLATE: Eli's Chocolate Cheesecake RULES OF CHOCOLATE from the Internet -- author unknown. 1. There is no caloric intake when beer and chocolate are combined. The calories in chocolate and those in beer counter and cancel each other out. 2. If you've got melted chocolate all over your hands, you're obviously eating it too slowly. CHOCOLATE GOES GOURMET According to an article by Walter Nicholls (LA Times News Service), dark chocolate is becoming the new expensive gourmet concoction, much like coffee a few years back. In the manner of coffee blenders, the chocolate aficionados blend various basic beans. There are three of these. Pure Criollo, a rare and much sought after chocolate prized for aroma and flavor. Criollo is bulk Chocolate, which is the base form from which chocolatiers make their own presentations. These are huge chocolate blocks they work with. The other two are Forastero beans which are robust and plentiful, but less distinctive; while Trinitario (a cross between Criollo and Forastero) is easiest to cultivate. Countries of origin make a difference, too (i.e. Indonesia and Madagascar to name two). Other differences came from the differences in quantity of cocoa in the blend. Dark chocolate is an acquired taste coming to your chocolatier soon. Even the base products that chocolatiers work with are expensive, and this particular product has a definite presumptuous price. 3. Three Floyds Robert the Bruce Scott Ale (US-IN), Scottish ale, ~17P, 7.2abv CHOCOLATE: Guylian Belgian Sea Shell milk chocolate truffles Belgians make some of the best chocolate in the world, but the Swiss get credit for being the best. RULES OF CHOCOLATE 3. Chocolate covered raisins, cherries, orange slices & strawberries all count as fruit, so eat as much as you want. 4. Money talks. Chocolate sings. 5. Chocolates contain many preservatives. Preservatives help you live longer and make you look younger. 6. Q. Why is there no such organization as Chocoholics Anonymous? A. Because no one wants to quit. 7. If not for chocolate, there would be no need for control top pantyhose. An entire garment industry would be devastated. TASTING CHOCOLATE Like beer, chocolate should be tasted carefully using the same criteria. How does it look? should have an even, glossy surface, lack of shine indicates staleness. It should "snap" on breaking, if it splinters, it is too dry, if it is slow to break, it is too waxy, if it folds, forget it. It should smell clean, and pleasing with no off flavors. The bouquet from the roasting of the beans, blending, etc. The texture or "mouthfeel" (dry/gritty;moist/smooth) is an indication of how long it has been "conched" i.e. made smooth by being moved around in shell shaped vats. If it takes a long time in your mouth to coat your tongue, it hasn't been conched long enough, and if it rushes down your throat, it has been over-conched or conched-out. The taste is a factor of sweetness, mostly sugar, Chocolatitude or chocolateyness--mostly due to the percentage of chocolate liquor, and finally the bouquet from the quality of the beans roasting time and the blending formula. 4. Bell's Porter (US-MI), 13.6P, 6%abv CHOCOLATE: Callebaut Bittersweet SWEET AND SEMI-SWEET "DARK" CHOCOLATE Sweet and semi-sweet "dark" chocolate is made from 15-35% chocolate liquor, plus sugar, cocoa butter and vanilla. Sweet, semi-sweet, and bitter-sweet chocolate varies in sweetness and color intensity, and the description has little to do with sweetness. You just taste to decide what you like, and what it is called. Manufacturers are just as reluctant to tell us what level of sweetness their product has as winemakers are. We call this chocolate dark chocolate, too. This is the chocolate for connoisseurs, although these chocolate "chips" would hardly be welcomed in that venue, they are nonetheless quite delicious. The FDA has dark chocolate requirements. Cocoa and cocoa butter must be present at 35% minimum with the balance from sugar, milk solids, lecithin, flavorings and stabalizers (paraffin), and now you can get single origin bars (E. Giutard, Burlingham CA -- the chocolatiers' chocolate. CHOCOLATE IS GOOD FOR YOU -- IF YOU WEIGH ITS EFFECT Micronutrients seem to boost heart health. AP article. Summary from Seattle PI, Sat, Feb 19, 2000. Candy maker Mars, Inc., has funded a study, by Carl Keen, nutrition chairman at UCD, showing that chocolate seems to contain some heart healthy compounds. It was a study of limited size but it indicates that dark chocolate contains some heart healthy micronutrients called "flavonoids" (the same as are found in red wine). They appear to "temporarily stimulate antioxidant and blood clot-inhibiting effects in (one's) blood." "Ancient cultures in Mexico drank chocolate for medicinal purposes, such as to gain weight, calm agitation and improve digestion," this according to Louis Grivetti, a UCD nutritionist, who is a student of chocolate history. "Keen gave 10 healthy adults a cup of hot chocolate made from special flavonoid-rich cocoa powder. After the drink, blood cells were temporarily less prone to clot...(an effect) similar to how aspirin effects blood...although aspirin is much stronger." "In other studies, small groups of healthy adults ate a Dove bar or serving of MM's Baking Bits. About two hours later, their blood contained elevated levels of flavonoids and antioxidants, Keen said." Cyndi Thomson of the U AZ, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association said the research was too preliminary to tell if people eat lots of healthy foods. "Chocolate is calorically dense," she said. "You have to weigh that." 5. Two Brothers Ebel's Weiss (US-IL), Bavarian wheat beer, 12.3P, 4.9%abv, 15ibu CHOCOLATE: Peanut Butter Cups go with any beer RULES OF CHOCOLATE 8. If I eat equal amounts of dark chocolate and white chocolate, is that a balanced diet? Won't they actually counteract each other? 9. Problem: How to get 2 pounds of chocolate home from the store in hot car. Solution: Eat it in the parking lot. 10. If calories are an issue, store your chocolate on top of the fridge. Calories are afraid of heights, and they will jump out of the chocolate to protect themselves. 11. A nice box of chocolates can provide your total daily intake of calories in one place. Isn't that handy? 12. If you can't eat all your chocolate, it will keep in the freezer. But if you can't eat all your chocolate, what's wrong with you? 6. Affligem Tripel Benedictine Abbey Beer (Belg-Bra), 17.6P, 8.5%abv CHOCOLATE: Lisa Futterman's Pepper Fudge You can make a simple fudge, but not as good as Lisa Futterman's. This is an easy-to-make recipe: HOT PEPPER FUDGE Fred's ersatz Ingredients: 3 cups (18-ounces/e.g. 1-1/2 packages) semi-sweet chocolate chips -- (e.g.Ghirardelli or Nestle). 1 (14-oz) can sweetened condensed milk (e.g.Eagle brand) NOT evaporated milk. 1/8-teaspoon salt. 1 scant teaspoon (i.e. just less than level) ground cayenne pepper. Procedure: 1. In a double boiler, or heavy saucepan, over low heat, melt chips with the sweetened condensed milk. When the chips are fully dissolved, sprinkle the cayenne pepper around, and stir until that is thoroughly mixed in. 2. Spread evenly into a wax paper lined 8- or 9-inch square pan. 3. Chill two hours or until firm. Turn fudge onto a cutting board; peel off the wax paper and cut into 1-1/2 inch squares. Store covered in a refrigerator. The fudge does not store well at temperatures above 70F. Makes about 36 squares. (Serves 36 people in this case). ABOUT CHOCOLATE The Mayans and the Aztecs made a drink they called xocoatl, (XOCOATL, sounds like the famous Aztec god of death and destruction). The Spaniards brought it to Europe in 1528, it quickly spread to France and England, but it wasn't until it got to the U.S. that they were able to pronounce it correctly: Chocolate: CHOCK-lit. The drink eventually became a solidified bar, and the most common form in this country is milk chocolate. The cacao plant, more a shrub than a tree, grows in tropic zones 20-degrees North or South of the Equator, and most of ours comes from Java, Columbia and Ghana in Africa. The beans are harvested in pods, where they are separated and dried in the sun for about 10 days. The beans are roasted, and the shells are separated from the meat, and these, (called nibs) are crushed and liquified to form the chocolate "mass," or liquor. 7. Unknown Illinois barleywine, ~23.9P, ~9%abv CHOCOLATE: Aunt Nasty's Chocolate Moose Cake baked by Nancy Cline. BAKING CHOCOLATE Then there's "baking chocolate," dark and bitter with no sugar at all, which is the basic baker's ingredient in using chocolate. This is the hardened chocolate "mass" or the basic chocolate liquor (hardened). Very sturdy stuff. And oddest of all is Baker's German's Sweet Chocolate. An American (Samuel German) employee of Walter Baker's chocolate company, in 1852, added sugar to Baker's baking chocolate to create Baker's German's Sweet Chocolate. Naturally they charged a hefty price for adding that sugar to the chocolate, and that may have been the first time we began paying through the nose for having sugar added to commercial products--certainly it is not the last such idea. RULES OF CHOCOLATE 13. Diet tip: Eat a chocolate bar before each meal. It'll take the edge off your appetite and you'll eat less. (There actually was a diet program in the several years ago where they turned old chocolate into these "diet" candy-like things to eat before every meal with a hot drink. It would briefly raise your blood sugar level, or so the theory goes, so you wouldn't eat so much at the meal.) 14. Put "Eat chocolates" at the top of your list of things to do. That way you'll at least get one thing done each day. Americans do not do their duty to the world consumption of chocolate The Swiss consume about 22#/person, and England, Germany, and Belgium are close behind, and the U.S. was not far behind, but lately we have become negligent: we're down to 14#/person. 8. Flossmore Station Imperial Stout, (US-IL), Imperial Stout. ~21P, ~8.6%abv CHOCOLATE: Annette May's Imperial Stout Truffles, rolled in powdered malt. Recipe: Beer Chocolate Truffles Brewers were often willing to name a chocolate for one of their beers, but it remained for Alan Sprints, Hair of the Dog's brewmaster and former chef, to produce a chocolate recipe to go with his Adam. His recipe reflects a "short-cut" used by many professional chef's: Use a commercial sponge cake. Break it up into little pieces, place them in a blender with enough chocolate (melt carefully in a double boiler). Blend to form a chocolatey mass. Use about 1-lb of bittersweet chocolate. When such a mass has been formed, add about 6-oz barleywine or whatever beer is to be matched with this recipe. Form balls, be careful not to use too much beer, or you will have to add more cake, and more chocolate, and more beer and more cake and more chocolate, and more.... Meanwhile crush some British dark crystal (80+L) in a blender, or coffee mill, and roll the truffle balls in the crushed crystal malt. Alternately use cocoa powder, or dry malt extract. Chill, and store in a refrigerator. 9. Rogue Shakespeare Stout (US-OR), oatmeal stout, 15P, 7.3%abv ICE CREAM: Pierre's Vanilla Ice Cream from Cleveland It was way back in 1989, when I first started this nonsense. I called Portland's Heathman Hotel's Executive Chef, Greg Higgins, to get any ideas he might have for a beer and chocolate tasting. He told me that he liked the idea of serving a fudge brownie and vanilla ice cream with Guinness. It was his idea to serve it as a Guinness Float! That was a stroke of genius. The stout float is the all-time favorite at all of our chocolate-beer tastings. Greg is now the owner of one of Portland's finest restaurants: Higgins. Chocolate has very little caffeine and no cholesterol. The active ingredient is theobromine, which acts like caffeine--gives it zing--and, incidentally, is good for asthma. The ratio of theobromine:caffeine is 10:1, and there's about as much of the two as is found in a bottle of coke. In the old days doctor's actually recommended beer, especially stout, for expectant mothers. In Europe they still do. The only pregnancy problem's, I've ever heard about, stem from total abuse of alcohol, not from the occasional sipper. Most of us in this room were born of mothers who sipped an occasional alcohol beverage during their pregnancy. But today American doctors wouldn't dare make such a recommendation, they are intimidated by stupid political warnings put there by vengeful members of congress. Pregnant women have actually been arrested for ordering alcohol beverages in public. They'll come after us chocolate lovers next. copyright (c© 2003 by Fred Eckhardt, all rights reserved, may be reproduced with copyright notice