Michael Laiskonis, pastry chef at the wonderful Le Bernardin (where my girlfriend and I recently had a terrific meal, asks why we Americans don't have a native born combination of bread (and bread defined narrowly, as yeast, and flour and water, rather than a muffin or quickbread) and chocolate. France, he says, has the pain au chocolat, but what is our equivalent?
I would have thought that the obvious answer was the chocolate glazed donut. It is, of course, a bread. A somewhat sweet bread, though made properly no more sweet than a croissant. And, of course, it includes chocolate, and, as far as I know, is basically indigenous in this form to the United States. I realize it is fried, and the focus is on fat, in some sense, rather than bread, but on the other hand, I can think of nothing more primal than fried dough and chocolate.
UPDATE: Incidentally, Michael's recipe for chocolate ganache thickened with agar agar and served with bread looks astonishing. I will try it (and probably fail!).
3/25/2008
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3 comments:
Hi Raffi!
I came to your blog via Michael Laiskonis' blog. I enjoyed reading about the chocolate glazed doughnuts and your view on it. I made a chocolate sandwich on my blog a few weeks ago so it's interesting to read your view on that.
Then I really enjoyed your post about organic meat. Interesting view. I had never thought of it that way. I understand it but not completely agree with it. Maybe we should just eat less all together but we are far from that. But I like to read what other people think about these issues even if those points of view are a little different than mine. But it was well thought out and it really made sense what you were saying.
Anyhow, then I noticed you had a link to my blog. Do you read my blog??? You have never left a comment so I didn't know. Sometimes it amazes me that people read my blog. Don't get me wrong, I love it.
I will definitely come back for more.
TRhanks!
Hi Aran - yes, I just linked to you and am reading your blog. Loved the post on chocolate bread. I used to blog a lot about food, and am now trying to rebuild my blog, so I'm looking around for like-minded people to read! Thanks for the nice comments.
Very well. Looking forward to your new blog. I was thinking a lot about the meat issue. You got me thinking that's for sure!
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