Over 400 German restaurants, located throughout the United States participated in this first year of the search for the “Best German Restaurant in America.” Bavarian Grill, located in Plano, Texas, garnered almost one third of all the validated votes cast during the two-month online voting period. They also received the majority of positive judging forms from “undercover judges,” and the restaurant scored well with teams of expert judges who dined incognito at the highest scoring German restaurants. Health Department inspections were also reviewed to confirm a consistent “A” rating for the restaurant.

The goal of the annual competition, according to Inga Bowyer, president of GermanDeli.com, is to recognize German restaurants that serve up a truly ethnic experience. According to Bowyer, Bavarian Grill’s classic German entrees like schnitzel, sauerbraten, bratwurst, and roasted ham hock are complimented by a selection of over 50 different imported German beers.

Das ist alle! Lassen Sie uns essen!

UPDATE: We will be celebrating this Wednesday, October 14 at 7 pm with a victory party where we’ll be presented a plaque by Inga Bowyer, President of GermanDeli.com.  We’d love for you, and any Side Dish readers, to join us for the celebration!

]]> http://sidedish.dmagazine.com/2009/10/12/best-german-restaurant-in-america-bavarian-grill-in-plano/feed/ 19 http://sidedish.dmagazine.com/2009/09/15/best-chocolate-cake-in-dallas-take-two/ http://sidedish.dmagazine.com/2009/09/15/best-chocolate-cake-in-dallas-take-two/#comments Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:51:55 +0000 Nancy Nichols http://sidedish.dmagazine.com/?p=8968 Dishers, you failed to guess the origin of the chocolate cake in the picture. You want a clue? I have a prize burning a hole in my pocket. Lemme see: look at the picture, not the cake.

Perhaps we should have our own little voter’s poll below. Let’s Ranch It Up for these tasty tidbits. Or submit one of your own. Go crazy. Be creative–let’s try for 67 comments. K? Go.
Real Contestants:

Green Goblins – Cherry peppers are hollowed out, stuffed with spicy shredded chicken and guacamole, then battered and deep fried. Served three to a skewer and topped with queso.
Deep Fried Butter – 100% pure butter is whipped till light and fluffy, then specially sweetened with a choice of several flavors. The tantalizing mixture is surrounded by a special dough and quick fried. Served on a stick.
Twisted Yam on a Stick – A delicious, towering, spiral-cut sweet potato on a 13” skewer is fried to a delicate crispy texture, then gently rolled in butter and dusted with cinnamon and sugar.
Fernie’s Deep Fried Peaches & Cream – Sweet juicy peaches are coated in a delicious batter of cinnamon, ginger, coconut, graham cracker crumbs, eggs & milk, then deep fried to a crunchy golden brown on the outside, while luscious and sweet on the inside. Served on a plate drizzled with raspberry sauce and sprinkled with streusel topping & a dollop of whipped cream. A side of vanilla butter cream icing is provided for dipping.
Texas Fried Pecan Pie – A mini-pecan pie is battered and deep fried to a golden brown. Served drizzled with rich caramel sauce, then topped with whipping cream and chopped candied pecans.
Country Fried Pork Chips – Thin sliced pork loin is seasoned, surrounded by a tasty corn meal batter and deep fried. Served with sides of ketchup or cream gravy.
Sweet Jalapeno Corn Dog Shrimp – Shrimp on a stick is coated with a sweet and spicy corn meal batter, then deep fried to a golden brown and served with a spicy glaze.
Fried Peanut Butter Cup Macaroon – A peanut butter cup is wrapped inside a coconut macaroon fried and dusted with powdered sugar. Also available with a scoop of Blue Bell ice cream.

Molto Formaggio. “MF has sourced an exciting new line of handcrafted cheeses from Switzerland and Bavaria that will be new to area consumers. Among the finds that will be introduced this week at both Molto Formaggio shops are Forsterkase, Scharfe Maxx, Heublumen, Bavarian Limburger (organic), and Challerhocker. Molto Formaggio is pleased to announce that they will be receiving shipments for both Thanksgiving and Christmas of the world famous Vacherin Mont d’Or cheese.  These one pound pieces are only produced 3 months out of the year and are truly the most luscious and wonderful cheeses made in the world.  Customers must preorder these cheeses for delivery in November or December as they will surely be sold out due to the limited quantities available.”  HP 214-526-0700. Preston Forest 214-361-9191.

Rathbun’s Blue Plate Kitchen. “Introducing Heart-Healthy Lunch Items and $10 Menu Choices. Chef Kent Rathbun has created heart-healthy menu items including, Grilled Chicken Breast with Portobello Mushrooms, Ricotta, Rosemary Olive Oil and Mache Salad; Salmon Burger; Heirloom Tomato Dallas Mozzarella Salad with Avocado Green Goddess Dressing; Tassione Farm Field Green Salad with Roasted Lemon-Sherry Vinaigrette; Grilled Chicken Breast with California Avocado, Paula’s Cottage Cheese and Avocado Yogurt; and Shrimp, Crab and Lobster “Coleslaw” with Cilantro-Lime Dressing. All heart-healthy menu items are designated by a red heart. In conjunction with these items on our everyday menu, Chef Rathbun will offer a Heart Healhty Blue Plate Special for lunch and dinner until September 5. Starting September 14, on each Monday our Blue Plate Special will be Heart Healthy. Come join us and feel good again! Chef Rathbun has also added new $10 menu items on our lunch menu. Enjoy Carr Valley Mammoth Cheddar Grilled Cheese, Chef’s Choice Taco Plate of the Day, Salmon Burger and Grilled Flatbread and Hummus with Feta Cheese.”

The Pyramid Restaurant. On Friday, September 25th, the Pyramid Restaurant will host a Spaten Beer Pairing Dinner. Executive Chef jW Foster will pair his exciting “modern American” cuisine with the legendary German beers from Spaten. Details and menu below.

Chisholm Trail Longhorn Beef. “Dallas-based longhorn co-op Chisholm Trail Longhorn Beef, which is owned and maintained by several Dallas residents that also own other Dallas-based business. Mike Crawford, not only owns Red Peak Ranch, he owns and operates a marketing firm here in Dallas. The Texas longhorn co-op has just joined the Texas Department of Agriculture’s GO TEXAN program. Chisholm Trail Longhorn Beef is currently being served at Local in Deep Ellum and at Opa! Grill on Preston. Full release below.

Chick-fil-A.  “Free Chick-fil-A Original Chicken Sandwich to all customers wearing any sports-related apparel on Labor Day to celebrate the second-annual Chick-fil-A Kickoff football game!This year’s Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game will feature University of Alabama against Virginia Tech at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.”

The Pyramind Room. Chef Foster and a rep from Spaten will share bits of information on each course, each beer and on the history of this famed brewery with guests.

MENU
Charred Tandouri Spiced Prawn
Tequila Lime-lacquered Lockhart County Quail
House Chorizo and Wild Boar Bratwurst & Braised Buffalo Shortribs
Dark Chocolate Black Forest Torte
After dinner, you’ll adjourn outside to the Terrace for after-dinner libations and to smoke cigars
$80 per person
(plus tax and gratuity)
Complimentary Valet Parking
Reservations are required. Please call 214-720-5249.
The Pyramid Restaurant & Bar
The Fairmont Dallas   1717 North Akard Street

Chisholm Trail Longhorn Beef Joins GO TEXAN Program that Distinguishes Local Lone Star State Products
New co-op joins GO TEXAN members in promoting ‘home-grown’ goods
Chisholm Trail Longhorn Beef is produced on family-owned Texas ranches
GO TEXAN symbol to accompany Chisholm Trail marketing materials
Dallas – Sept. 1, 2009 – Texas’ own Chisholm Trail Longhorn Beef earned its Lone Star seal-of-approval by becoming the newest member of the GO TEXAN program. With this membership, Chisholm Trail signifies to consumers that its all-natural longhorn beef is raised and produced in Texas. Chisholm Trail Longhorn Beef gets its Texas credibility from the family-owned Texas ranches that allow the longhorn herds to naturally graze on the Central and North Texas landscape. The natural diet and free-roaming activity help make Chisholm Trail Longhorn Beef the sensible choice for food lovers wanting a healthier, more flavorful red meat than ordinary beef, and with the GO TEXAN brand on Chisholm Trail’s marketing materials, now they know they’re getting the freshest meat from local ranchers.
GO TEXAN helps bring ultimate awareness to consumers wanting to purchase goods and services from in-state vendors and support the local economy. Launched by the Texas Department of Agriculture in 1999, the GO TEXAN program promotes the products, culture and communities of Texas. When consumers see the recognizable GO TEXAN brand, they can be assured that the product comes from one of its more than 2,400 Lone Star providers.
“Chisholm Trail Longhorn Beef’s Texas roots run deep, so joining the GO TEXAN program was essential to showing our customers that when we say ‘local,’ we mean ‘local,’” said Mike Crawford, a Chisholm Trail Longhorn Beef partner. “Texans share a special pride about their state that you won’t find anywhere else and that includes a deep loyalty to the products and services they buy. Chisholm Trail Longhorn Beef provides Lone Star loyalists with a better-tasting, healthier red meat produced right here in Texas. This GO TEXAN membership will help spread the word.”
Longhorn beef serves as a leaner alternative to chicken, turkey, lamb, pork and venison. At only 140 calories per 3.6-ounce serving, 3.7 grams of fat and 81.5 grams of cholesterol, a lean, pasture-raised longhorn steak has less fat, cholesterol and calories than almost any other meat or poultry available. Also, it serves as a great source of nutrients like protein, iron, vitamins B6 and B12, zinc, selenium and omega-3 fatty acids that contribute to a healthier heart and immune system. To learn more about Chisholm Trail Longhorn Beef and the nutritional values associated with healthy beef, visit www.eathealthybeef.org.

We had to stare at this for 75 minutes without tasting.

Allison Hatfield files this report:

Chocolate comes in many forms. My faves: the kiss and the fountain. I never met a marshmallow kabob I couldn’t improve with a pass through a shower of molten chocolate. I even bought a mini chocolate fountain so I could have one at a housewarming (I later tried to turn it into a cheese fountain, but that’s a story for another day).

Anyway, my relationship with chocolate has previously been that of a rather low-end consumer. And I’m fine with that, but I was also excited to expand my horizons at Saturday’s chocolate tasting and dinner hosted by DallasChocolate.org.

From bean to bar.

About 40 foodie types met at Milestone Culinary center in the afternoon to hear Alan McClure and Steve DeVries—world-class artisan chocolate makers and founding members of Craft Chocolate Makers of America—talk about harvesting, fermenting, roasting, grinding, refining, and conching (I still have no idea what that is). It was a high-level education on the sometimes low-tech business of making chocolate, from beans to bar. And it was pure torture. Not because these guys aren’t really smart and interesting, but have you ever spent 75 minutes sitting in front of eight kinds of chocolate without eating any of them? Try it, friends.

When we’d finally learned enough to appreciate what lay ahead, we crunched on bittersweet nibs (roasted then crushed cocao beans) and let a large piece of untempered chocolate melt on our tongues—as happy as Charlie with the golden ticket.

Rhonda Ruckman, formerly of Doughmonkey made us cry.

All that learning worked up an appetite for the chocolate-inspired dinner that followed the tasting. Passed hors d’oeuvres included crostini with lavender goat cheese and nibs. Sit-down fare was summer greens with a savory chocolate tower (chocolate on a salad—really), herb-crusted salmon with a chocolate balsamic glaze, and dueling desserts of chocolate cake and chocolate tart from Doughmonkey extraordinaire Rhonda Ruckman. (We miss you, Doughmonkey.)

More photos here.

Chicken Bites with Mole Poblano Dipping Sauce

Salad
Savory Chocolate Tower on Summer Greens with French Herb Vinaigrette  (Patric 67%)

Main
Herb Crusted Salmon with Celery Root Potatoes and Bittersweet Chocolate Balsamic Glaze (DeVries 77%)

Desserts by Rhonda Ruckman
Costa Rican Chocolate, Costa Rican pineapple (DeVries 77%)
Madagascar Chocolate Cake (Patric 67%)

While the overall trend in dining today is to eat sloooowly, the Gen Y’ers I know are more content to snack quickly. What happened to the good old days of turning on The Thorn Birds (before you knew Richard Chamberlain was gay), grabbing a spoon and a half gallon of ice cream, and eating the whole thing? Once, after I got turned down for what I thought was my dream job, I went back to my apartment, made a three-layer German chocolate cake, and ate every last crumb. Did I feel better? You betcha.

What is comfort food? At home it is one thing, but now restaurants are trying to comfort us in public. Take Kent Rathbun. (beat, beat…) He has gourmet comfort food. He isn’t alone; there are lots of folks making their mortgage payments by selling upscale mac and cheese. Isn’t gourmet comfort food an oxymoron? If you agree, then WTF is healthy comfort food? A lie? You betcha.

I was curious to see if there were any distinctive differences between generations when it came to constant cravings. I didn’t have to Google far to find this little salty tidbit. Jump with me.The following is copied and pasted from the “Generational Comfort Foods” trend mapping report from the Center for Culinary Development (CCD) and Packaged Facts. (I am not making that up. Someone got paid a lot of money to come up with that. Packaged Facts is going to be the title  of my autobiography.) And here they are:

CCD’s national online survey on the topic (3,700 respondents) found that sweets dominate category choices regardless of age. Nearly half (46%) of men and women across the Boomer, Gen X and Gen Y segments say they turn to baked goods, sweets and desserts for comfort, versus 19% who cite entrées, 14% salty snacks, 13% side dishes, and 4% breakfast foods.
Women favor sweets even more than men (51% of women cite sweets as comfort food, versus 36% of men). Among respondents who cite sweets, 26% chose ice cream as their top comfort food, 23% chocolate and 21% brownies.
Within entrées, roasted meats are the top choice across generations; within side dishes, macaroni and cheese and potatoes are nearly tied in popularity; and within salty snacks, chips rule (cited by 60% of total respondents, followed by popcorn and cheese, at 10% and 8%, respectively).
Cheese — either by itself or with a bread or starchy food — seems to elicit the most “passionate” response across generations, but with generational nuances (Boomers citing artisan cheeses versus Gen X’s cheese crackers, for example).

The research also identified top trends in comfort foods, including:

* Breakfast for dessert. Gen Y pastry chefs and a desire to start the day with a “protein burst” are driving this just-emerging trend. Boxed cereals, already found in snack bars and frozen yogurt shops, are now turning up in desserts, along with desserts such as “glamorized” versions of French toast, waffles and doughnuts.
* Madeover meatloaf. Regional restaurants, nouveau diners and sandwich shops are featuring meatloaf offerings with fuller flavors and natural or leaner meat blends. Boomers like the healthier versions of this nostalgic favorite, while Gen Y is drawn to bolder taste variations.
* Artisan pies. The pies now seen in specialty cafes and fine restaurants reflect the “artisan sprit” of inspired pastry chefs and are not only fresh and “home made,” but “full of good things,” CCD reports.
* Pho/Vietnamese beef noodle soup. First spotted as an emerging trend in 2005, this soup’s popularity has now spread, particularly among ethnically diverse Gen Y consumers. In addition to small shops and Vietnamese restaurant chains, it can now be found in mainstream soup restaurants and Pan-Asian noodle houses. The appeal: flavors that translate well to American tastes, combined with “infinite customizability” via fresh garnishes like sprouts, herbs and condiments.
* Asian curries. Very big among Gen Y and also popular as one-pot dishes among Gen Xers who are cooking meals for growing families. CPGs are beginning to offer curries with new simmer sauces and curry meal kits and frozen entrées.
* “New” casseroles replacing processed ingredients with fresh ingredients, including vegetables and “contemporary” proteins such as turkey, crab and shrimp.
* Mac ‘n cheeses featuring natural and organic ingredients and other flavor twists.

Hmm, is this interesting? Not really, but it is a nice primer to get you in the mood to tell me your guiltiest pleasure(s). When you are down and troubled and need a helping hand, what do you want in that helping hand? Lines are open 24/7. Dish it.

Chef Eric Shelton. What does he have in store for Mama Mia? Greek food!

Omigod, omigod you guys. Last night I took one of my perfect nieces and her almost perfect BFF to see Legally Blonde at the Music Hall at Fair Park. Natch, we were undernourished and running late. We decided to take the easy way and eat at the Music Hall. Yow. Zah. Not only was the food lovely, it was fun.

The dining room, managed by Culinaire (Nicola’s, Coast Global Seafood) International, and kitchen have been overhauled. The restaurant even has its own name—M. And chef—Eric Shelton. Chef Shelton designs a menu around each musical. For Happy Days, it was roast beef sliders and shakes; bangers and mash for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. But I have a feeling he hit his stride with Legally Blonde: the buffet included “Bend and Snap” peas, “Oh My God You Guys” salad, and a “Carvard University” meat slicing station. Okay, you think it’s corny? Then you have a chip on your shoulder. My girls, who know every song and dance movement of this show, loved it. The festive food followed by a fabulous show combined to create an evening the three of us will never forget. Seriously.

UPDATE: NYT article on food prep for the movie.

Several Dishers attended, and I await their reviews below. I am not a movie reviewer, but the following is my Sybil-esque recap. (I say Sybil-esque because I had two strong and separate reactions to the film.)

Full disclosure: I have not read Julie Powell’s book or blog. I am extremely jealous of her rags-to-riches-by-blogging success. Also, other than Lions for Lambs, the movie she did with Tom Cruise, I have enjoyed watching every film Meryl Streep has ever made. (“I haaad a faaaarm in Aaaafricaaa…..” slays me every time.) Okay, here goes:
Overall observation: Julie & Julia is the ultimate chick flick for middle-aged chicks with stylish short haircuts and funky jewelry who wish they were married to either one of the perfect husbands portrayed in the film.

Thumbs-Up Sybil: Meryl Streep pulled it off. Julia Child was a larger-than-life personality, and acting the part must have been a huge challenge. The only other actor who has successfully pulled off a Julia Child was Dan Aykrod when he spoofed Child on Saturday Night Live. BTW, the clip is in the movie and is the funniest scene.

Stanley Tucci, who played Child’s devoted husband Paul, was buff, tan, and kissable. I would like to be married to Paul—he loved Julia’s big sassy body and brain. Not to mention her obnoxious voice. (Note: I am middle-aged with short hair and funky jewelry.) The grainy photography of Paris in the 40s and the set designs were delicious. I laughed effortlessly a couple of times, but I can’t remember why. Actress Linda Emone, who played Child’s bitchy co-author, Simone Beck, was brilliant.

I wish the movie would have just been about the life of Julia Child and not interwoven with the present blog/book, but that is probably just me. However, one redeeming value to this juxtaposition is that it illustrates Child’s unbending devotion to conventional cooking and shines a light on her culinary force. She was earnest and not a slave to fads. Current day reality TV chefs look stupid and shallow in her shadow.

Thumbs-down Sybil: Yes, Julie Powell was writing a food blog in 2003. Yes, she was ahead of the curve and got a break. So, cynical me has to not like her. That said, Amy Adams, who played Julie, didn’t have a chance. The relationship with her husband is sickeningly sweet. A couple of the scenes made me wish I could be a film editor. TOO LONG with the fake crying (she needs acting lessons) and the kitchen melt downs. If Meryl Streep is criticized for overacting, then Amy Adams should be called out for under acting. (When you see the movie, watch for her pathetic attempt to yawn convincingly.)

Men are not like either of the husbands portrayed in this movie. (Yes, I wish I were married to Paul.)

The use of the word “yum” must cease immediately. It is insulting to food.

Questions:

(1) How did Julie and her perfect—and poor—husband afford the ingredients for this project? In the beginning, Julie is cooking on hand-me-down cookware. A few scenes and recipes later, she is tossing about $200 of live lobster into a copper stock pot. (Maybe that is in the book.)

(2) How did Julie and her perfect—and poor—husband not gain 50 pounds eating Julia Child’s butter-laden recipes? In one scene late in the movie, Julie is lying across the marital bed fake sobbing into a pillow while dressed in her perfect-and-poor husband’s dress shirt that conveniently cups her tight little butt. She had been cooking for over a half a year and complaining about weight gain. She did not weigh 100 pounds. (Note: I weigh more than 100.)

(3) The scene with Julie and her perfect-and-poor husband making love while the answering machine plays back 65 messages of offers to make her famous made me sick at my stomach. Jealous? Me? Yes. Gross.

And speaking of sex, I had a hard time watching Julia Child, excuse me, Meryl Streep playing Julia Child, in a sex scene. But that’s just me wishing I was having a sex with Stanley Tucci in Paris.

The exclusive dinner on August 22 provides a chance to meet the chocolate makers. Milestoneʼs staff, under the direction of Chef Sharon Van Meter, W.M.C.S., will prepare a small plates menu. In addition, special guest pastry chef Rhonda Ruckman (Doughmonkey) will craft desserts featuring Patric and DeVries chocolates. The dinner will begin at 5:00 pm in the Milestone Culinary Arts Center’s front room and attendance will be capped. The price for the dinner is $50 per person and reservations are required.

On August 21, 2009, McClure and DeVries will also be guests at Collin College’s new culinary school facility in Frisco, TX. Along with Pastry Arts Professor Michele Brown, the chocolate makers will answer students’ questions and explain how to incorporate their chocolate into desserts that showcase its uniqueness.

After a life-long love of food and a year living in France led to a passion for fine chocolate that could no longer be contained, Alan McClure decided to start a bean-to-bar chocolate company in 2006. In between cacao sourcing trips to Central and South America, McClure designed his own chocolate-making facility and built several types of small-batch chocolate equipment. In January 2007, Patric Chocolate opened its doors. Since that time, McClure has released two single-origin dark chocolate bars,with other fine chocolate products on their way. To learn more about Patric Chocolate, visit www.patric-chocolate.com

After buying his first cacao and making a crude chocolate in 1999, Steve DeVries spent five years — the last two full-time –traveling and studying the history and traditions of chocolate. After visiting more than a dozen factories in Europe and the Americas and numerous cocoa plantations in Costa Rica, Venezuela, and Mexico; he started DeVries Chocolate using “100 years behind the times” as a tagline and guiding principle. At DeVries, the chocolate making begins on the plantation with close personal involvement in the fermentation and the slow sun-drying of the cacao to maximize the development of positive flavors and aromas. In the factory, after a long, low-temperature roast, the beans are processed on “classic” granite chocolate machinery, including over three days in the original type of conch invented by Rudolph Lindt in 1879. Finally the chocolate is aged in blocks for at least three months. To learn more about DeVries, visit www.devrieschocolate.com.

Both DeVries and Patric are founding members of the Craft Chocolate Makers of America. The organization strives to educate the public on the virtues of chocolate made by small, independent companies using only traditional methods.

The Adolphus Hotel is sponsoring these events by graciously providing lodging for the chocolate makers. In 1912 fortune, flamboyance, and fame came together to produce the “grande dame of grand hotels.” Beer baron Adolphus Busch, founder of The Adolphus, chose to honor his adopted city of Dallas with twenty-one stories of baroque splendor. Critics have called this Texas landmark “the most beautiful building west of Venice.” Its fine-dining restaurant – The French Room – is the only restaurant in Texas to receive the AAA Five Diamond Award in 2009. DallasChocolate.org is a not-for-profit entity created to excite Dallas about the accessibility and appreciation of fine chocolate.Reservations for both the tasting and dinner can be placed at DallasChocolate.org.

My Red-Headed Woodpecker prefers nuts to cookies.

First comes news that the FDA is suggesting that consumers should not eat refrigerated raw cookie dough or bake the Nestle Toll House products because there could be a risk of spreading E.coli through handling or on food-preparation surfaces. There haven’t been any deaths reported, but the government has received 66 reports of illness in 28 states. (Is there a slight chance that these folks ate the whole package?) This morning, Nestle issued a voluntary recall. Hmm.

However, there is some good cookie news. Yesterday,  a little bird flew into the Dan Koller’s office upstairs and sang to Overheard: Crème de la Cookie is opening in Snider Plaza. It didn’t take long for super sleuthly songbird TG  to tweet about the sweet shop. I’ll bet Leslie “Catch a Falling Star” Brenner is already typing the back story of this “delectable journey for your taste buds.” (I wonder if J.T. Lemley  will deliver tomatoes to you while you wait.) Anywhoo, they open today in the space formerly known as Doughmonkey.

Then she lowered the boom: “If you eat them, you have to blog about them.”

So, here I go.

These precious cups of sweet heaven are UH-MAAAZING! The icing is made with the same high-quality butter he uses in his other products. It’s rich but light. In a nutshell – or paper cup, rather – you MUST try them.

They sent eight vanilla and four chocolate. You may not be able to tell in the pictures, but two of the vanilla were sprinkled with toasted coconut. Those were my faves. The chocolate creme filled chocolate was a close second.

Here’s how they looked before I did a face plant into them.

J Dorian Cupcakes

In Kenosha, Isenberg was selected as one of the “Key Opinion Leaders” for “combining the traditional Belgium chocolate techniques with the taste profile of the American Consumer.” Oh, I could so go there, but I’ll leave it all up to you. Use your First Amendment right to comment while we still have it. Jump if you love recipes.

Hennesy Paradis Cognac Truffles
Recipe courtesy Dorian Isenberg

Ganache center
12 oz Chocolanté 60% dark chocolate, chopped finely
5 oz heavy whipping cream
1 oz Hennessy Paradis Cognac liquor

Coating
21 oz liquid Chocolanté 60% dark chocolate, tempered

Using a ladle, fill molds with tempered chocolate. When they are full, empty the excess back into the bowl of chocolate. The inside of the molds should be evenly coated with chocolate. Wipe the lip of the molds clean and place them upside down on a wire rack over a baking sheet to drain. Once the chocolate starts to harden, about 5 minutes, use a wide pastry scraper to clean the edges of each cavity. This is important because when the chocolate sets, it shrinks or retracts from the sides of the mold. A clean edge will keep if from sticking and cracking as it shrinks. You can place the mold in the refrigerator for several minutes to help the chocolate harden.

Place the cream into a small saucepan and heat to a boil. Add the Hennesy Paradis Cognac. Pour the hot mixture over the chopped chocolate and blend until smooth by hand or with an immersion hand blender. Allow the mixture to cool (~26C/80F) until it has a thick consistency (thick enough to pipe). Place the mixture in a piping bag and pipe it into the chocolate-filled molds. Let set overnight. Close the bottom of the molds by applying tempered Chocolanté 60% dark chocolate with an offset spatula. Scrape clean. Allow to set. When the chocolate has set, remove the truffles from the molds. Store in a sealed container at room temperature for up to six weeks. Truffles do not need to be refrigerated.

Yield about 30 truffles

Allow me to confess. I’m a bit of a chocolate slut. It’s true. I purchased a box of Neuhaus’ unforgettable truffles for my Valentine. He offered to share…and I ate half the box! Sad, true story. So, tail between my legs, I drove up to Neuhaus to replenish my love’s stolen chocolates. “Closed for Private Party” the sign read. Gulp. Inside was a SEA of red and purple. You’ve seen them…the red-hatters…senior ladies with attitudes…they travel in tribes. Here was Dallas’ chapter aptly named the “Frisky Foxy Jewels” literally rockin’ the house to the tunes of Nathan Olson, who was doing his best Elvis gyrations. Closed? Really? What’s a chocolate slut to do? I must have looked pathetic peeking through the window because the owner, Mervyn Sacher, spotted me and surprisingly waved me in. You see, we Snooty Foodies are no strangers to Neuhaus Café – we list their yummy hamburger on our DISHES TO DIE FOR roster. That’s right, a burger from a candy shop! It’s one of the best in town, with caramelized onions sitting atop and crispy steak fries riding side saddle. I’ve been hounding poor Mervyn to share his secret ingredient brought all the way from his days growing up in South Africa. I guess he just wanted to see my jaw hit the floor. Upon entering “wow” was the only word I could muster for the first few minutes. I’m years away from menopause and suddenly I felt like the oldest chick in the room! Those red- hatters know how to partaaay! I left there with a bag full of goodies, a groove in my step and no divulged secret ingredient. A very nice man he is…that Mervyn…but when it comes to secrets, he’s just not gonna tip his hat! (Sorry, I couldn’t resist.)