Shock and pepper

Mediterranean cuisine without tomatoes? Caucasus without beans and burning peppers? Russia without potatoes? And the whole world without chocolate!

Before the opening of America, European cuisine was limited in its menu by local products: cabbage and peas, repo and carrots, honey and nuts. Variety made spices and spices brought from India, but the road was difficult there and they were worth the weight of gold. Wanting to find a simpler way to the East, Christopher Columbus opened a new light – with his abundance of flavors and flavors.

Chocolatl, Cocoa, Chocolate

Chocolate is one of the most important purchases of Europeans in the new light. Columbus, however, delight from his bitterness did not come. But Cortes, the conqueror of Mexico, Chocolatl appreciated and sent among other trophies to the Spanish Yard, accompanying the explanation: "Drink albeit is terribly bitter, but perfectly supports the forces of the tired traveler".

Authentic Chocolatl really was "on an amateur". The Indians served a drink from roasted and crushed cocoa beans in a cold form and without a hint of sugar – on the contrary, pepper, carnation and other spices were added to cocoa, which made bitter taste even sharp. Real shock for uninitiated!

Court cooks The new product began to improve the European taste: In addition to sugar or honey, a cinnamon and a nutmeg.

In Europe, chocolate received a new birth – like a hot and sweet drink. And for a long time, he was considered "male" – women and children Natural chocolate seemed even unnecessary, while the pastry was invented to add milk to hot drink.

Until the XIX century, chocolate was known only as a drink. Cocoa powder and cocoa butter were sometimes added to pastries, candies of nuts and dried fruits, but the world’s full-fledged chocolate candies and tiles did not know until the confectionery press appears. What additives did not come up with confectioners in order to diversify the taste of bitter chocolate: milk and honey, coffee and rum, nuts and raisins, cherry and coconut, vanilla and zest. Chocolate was increasingly apparent, more dairy, farther from the initial taste, where they were mixed baked cocoa and chili burning.

Nowadays more than 500 additives for chocolate. In addition to traditional – nuts, dried fruits, zesto, alcohol and spices – you can find tiles with lard, pepper and even garlic.

Pepper, paprika, chili

Podkolova (vegetable) pepper of Latin American origin in no way is a relative of black pepper (and in general the pepper family), brought traditionally from India. Podpick Pepper – from the Parenic family. It has the richest gamut of taste: from sweet fleshy pepper to the burning of miniature pods. Sweet major copies arrived in Europe under the name "Paprika", and we have this pepper called Bulgarian.

Indians themselves used pepper not only for cooking. Especially caustic copies served them even weapons. Pepper Indians sophisticated prisoner. And one of the companions of Columbus recalled how the Indians were driving them from their land, just scattered fires with chili pepper. Caught smoke walked towards the Spaniards, and they were forced to retool.

Pepper truffles

Combination of chocolate with pepper – the most authentic. Traces of this symbiosis can be found in Mexican chocolate sauces, which are served to meat or bird. You can also independently make soft chocolate candies – Truffles from bitter chocolate and burning peppers. Their truffles are called due to the similarity of the shape with a precious mushroom and with a hint that such candy are not less delicacy.

For cooking, you will need the most bitter and natural chocolate that you can find. It must be with a minimum of additives, and the content of cocoa beans – at least 85%. (These days there are also chocolate tiles with 99% of cocoa content, where 1% remains on the salt, and the sugar is missing at all. Such chocolate is also suitable for truffles, as well as ideal for sauces to unsweetened dishes.)

First step. Cool boiling water. 300 g of chocolate pour 200 ml of cool boiling water – it is not necessary to warm chocolate, it is enough to stir it with boiling water before melting and then give it to cool (in the refrigerator) for 8-10 hours. Make sure it froze with a dense mass. The structure of chocolate remains rough. To obtain a smooth cream structure, secondary heating is required.

Second phase. Heat and beat. If after cooked and cooling the mass is still liquid, you need to add a couple more chocolate. If it, on the contrary, has become too dense and dry, then when repeated heating it is worth adding a slightly melted cream oil. So, we put a bowl with chocolate in a saucepan with hot water for a couple of minutes so that the mass began to melt (and it begins to start it very quickly, because the melting point of natural chocolate is not higher than the temperature of the human body). Lacking chocolate can be started to beat a mixer, a wedge or just fork, and heating, in principle, can be stopped.

If chocolate does not melt in hand, it means that it contains a large number of different impurities and emulsifiers and far from naturalness.

Third stage. Pepper and cold. While chocolate again did not have time to frost, it’s time to add pepper to it – dried ground chili. The degree of burning and the number of peppers and fully depend on your taste. Mass with pepper mix thoroughly and give again cool in the refrigerator for 8-10 hours.

Fourth stage. Art Lepak. Chocolate mass frozen. You can wear surgical gloves (so that the chocolate does not melted and do not smear in the fingers) and start sculpted candy rounded shapes with an elongated tip. Do not forget to apply them in a mixture of cocoa powder and red pepper weak burning (just for fragrance).