REVIEW – Adventures With Chocolate

Adventures with Chocolate: 80 Sensational Recipes

• Author: Paul A Young
• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Kyle Books (November 16, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1906868050
• ISBN-13: 978-1906868055
• Cover price $24.95

ABOUT ADVENTURES WITH CHOCOLATE

Famed for his exquisite chocolates and ingenious flavour combinations, Paul A. Young now shares his chocolate-making secrets for the first time. After teaching you the finer points of chocolate tasting, you are invited to his masterclass on how to make a classic chocolate truffle. Soon you’ll be melting, blending and tasting chocolate like a true aficionado, and so your chocolate adventure begins.

There are up to 400 flavours in a piece of fine dark chocolate, and the variety and origin of the cocoa beans, as well as the way they were processed, all affect the taste of the finished product. With Paul at your side, you’ll discover why Equadorian chocolate lends itself beautifully to flavours such as marmalade, pink peppercorns and saffron, while Venezuelan chocolate tastes amazing when paired with cinnamon, chilli or lavender. Once you understand how to combine chocolate with other flavours, you can let your imagination run wild and experiment with your own tongue-dazzling combinations.

The recipes are divided into chapters such as Fruit & Nuts, Sugar & Spice and Unadulterated, and offer much more than just truffles. You’ll find recipes for Paul’s famous hot chocolate, cakes, cookies, desserts and even savoury dishes – a sure talking point at any dinner party. Take your pick from Wild Strawberry and Pink Peppercorn Truffles, Sea-salted Caramel Tart and the Ultimate Chocolate Martini. The Alchemy chapter is for the more adventurous cook, with wild and wonderful recipes such as Paul’s Venezuelan Chocolate Chilli Chicken, Sweet Chocolate Pesto, and even a Honey-cured Bacon, Stilton and Chocolate Sandwich – which Paul swears by as a hangover cure! Paul’s enthusiasm for chocolate is irresistible and his stunning, easy-to-follow recipes are a must for any chocolate lover.

MY THOUGHTS

I received a copy of Adventures With Chocolate. Chapters include

• The first thing you do with chocolate is eat it
• How to make a chocolate truffle
• Unadulterated
• Fruits & Nuts
• Sugar & Spice
• Herbs & Flowers
• Alcohol
• Alchemy

I have to start by saying that this book has a lot of information on chocolate in it! The beginning of the book helps you learn about types of beans and chocolates, where chocolate comes from, and even how to eat chocolate properly. (No, you don’t just gobble it up like I have often been known to do.) The book is loaded with color photos. Not all recipes have them but things like the tutorials have multiple photos so you can follow along. I’m not sure where you’d get some of the ingredients needed for these recipes, perhaps a specialty store? Recipes that made me want to eat include Trifle Of Four Chocolates, Citrus Fruit Confit, and Venezuelan Chocolate Pancakes With Chocolate Maple Syrup. This book would be great for anyone that truly loves chocolate and wants to learn how to use it to make far from ordinary creations.

The product(s) featured in this review was provided free of cost to me for the sole purpose of product testing and review. This post has not been monetarily compensated and is based on the views and opinions of my family and/or self. Please note that the opinions reflected in this post have not been influenced by the sponsor in any way.