Armand Gamache felt he could nod off. His socks were now dry and slightly crispy, the mug of hot chocolate warmed his hands, and the heat from the stove enveloped him. (How the Light Gets In, Kindle, p.223)
Hot chocolate, what a winter warmer! It's winter's
drink, isn't it? I drink coffee or tea all year round, but hot chocolate always
seems to be reserved for those brisk to freezing days where the creamy, sweet richness of chocolate warms your body, comforts and seems to give you an
attitude lift. Is there anything more cosy than cradling a cup of hot chocolate
with its inviting aroma wafting around your face, as you prepare to savour
every sip?
Louise Penny certainly understands this. She has reminded us in every
book in the series, that is set in autumn or winter. Recently I was drawn to
the hot chocolate references in the freezing winter of Bury Your Dead. It seems that as
Gamache pursues several lines of enquiry (assisting the investigation into the
death of Augustin Renaud), he stops to warm up and puzzle over the information
he is collecting with a cup of chocolat chaud.
 |
| Le Café Buade, Quebec City |
Once out of the alley he found the Café Buade and went in to both warm up and think. Sitting in a banquette with a bowl of chocolat chaud he pulled out a notebook and pen. Occasionally sipping, sometimes staring into space, sometimes jotting thoughts, eventually he was ready for the next visit. From the café he hadn’t far to go. Just across the street to the great monolith that was Notre-Dame Basilica, the magnificent gilded church that wed, christened, chastised, guided and buried the highest officials and the lowest beggars. ... The entire altar appeared dipped in gold. ... It was both glorious and vaguely repulsive. (Bury Your Dead, Kindle, p.129)
 | |
| 'The entire altar appeared dipped in gold.' Notre-Dame Basilica |
We've all got our favoured version of hot
chocolate. My preference these days is for le chocolat chaud, in the Parisian
style. This is no commercial drinking chocolate, which I've always found a bit too sickly sweet for
my taste, or milky cocoa which reminds me of being a young child. But rather a
rich, smooth and creamy, intensely chocolatey experience (can we have more
adjectives please!) that leaves you totally satisfied with one cup. Though I
guess that depends on the size of the cup! It really is an adult's drink,
particularly if one goes as far as adding a dash of liqueur 'deliciousness' like
Kahlua, Frangelico or Amaretto.
The key to a great chocolat chaud though, is
the quality of the chocolate that is used. There is chocolate and there is
chocolate!! For this drink, for me, there is only one choice and it is
couverture chocolate. Couverture chocolate is chocolate which has a minimum of
32% cocoa butter. It is the chocolate that chocolatiers work with. It melts
beautifully unlike most chocolate found on supermarket shelves, which is
comparatively low in cocoa butter. Mouth melt is outstanding. And it also has a
high cocoa mass. Most couverture has a cocoa mass of at least 55-70%. It is
different to cooking chocolate which has little cocoa butter and vegetable oil
(usually palm oil) substituted.
And certain chocolate is thought to have some
health benefits (research is still ongoing). Some recent research even points
strongly to the beneficial effects on brain activity, including reasoning,
memory and recall. But it needs to be cacao-rich, dark chocolate with a minimum
cocoa mass (as opposed to cocoa butter mass) of 60%. Suits me as I've never
really cared for milk chocolate, and my brain does need a bit of attention! I'm starting to think that all those cups of
hot chocolate have served Gamache well in deciphering the information he has
collected.
Armand Gamache sat in the Paillard bakery on rue St-Jean and stared at Augustin Renaud’s diary. Henri was curled up under the table while outside people were trudging head down through the snow and the cold. ... Gamache took a sip of hot chocolate. (Bury Your Dead, Kindle, p.243)
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| Paillard bakery, rue St-Jean |
This was the moment that Gamache started to make
sense of the information he had been puzzling over, and identified some
significant connections. It is a relief to have him so engaged with the
investigation, giving respite from the voices in his head and the pain of
working through Agent Morin's death and that of his other agents. He is haunted
by a terrible mistake.
His late night walks through the streets of Quebec City,
as conversations with Agent Morin play in his mind, have recently resonated
with me rather deeply. I have had the voice and face of a dear girlfriend in my head in anticipation of catching up with her husband who I had not seen for quite a few years, as
he lives interstate. We are forever connected by her, and she, like Agent Morin
is forever young, killed in (what seems a lifetime ago) a horrendous car accident with
their eldest child. It was so terribly, numbingly shocking. I don't know if (in those days) we really understood well
enough how to handle grief or support someone else through their grief. Back
then there was a stultifying reserve in talking about things. And there
certainly wasn't the level of counselling services that are available
today. And we were all so young and relatively inexperienced, in our twenties.
So, there's a part of me
that feels I didn't support my friend well enough in dealing with the death of
his wife, my friend, and the care of his two other infant children, severely
injured in the accident. I've spoken to him about that and as much as he
reassures me, I still feel a sadness over it all, knowing that I could have
done more, a little haunted by regret. It has taken him a long time to feel truly comfortable
in his life and she is still with him, and is with me too, and I take solace in
that. I still see her bright, smiling face and feel her bubbling spirit, wit
and verve. Forever young.
But I have a lump in my throat
writing this. Some things never leave you, and it is thirty plus years later
(yes I am quite a bit older than Amy!). So perhaps it's true, that regrets
about action not taken are more likely to stay with us over a longer period of time, than regrets for action taken that leads to a mistake being made or something not working out. But somehow we manage to find ways to accept, learn and move on, or at least try to. I know Amy has written about how books can add layers of meaning to your ideas and the thinking driving them, and how they even coincide at times with particular events or feelings you are experiencing. Well this has been one of those times for me.
I thought more about all of this while slowly immersing myself in a comforting world of chocolate.
As far as chocolate goes, the higher the cocoa
mass the more intense the chocolate flavour. But it is the percentage of cocoa butter
in it that indicates the quality of a chocolate, for that's what gives
chocolate it's melt-in-the-mouth character. So for me, dark couverture
chocolate it is for le chocolat chaud!
You can get it in blocks (which are easy
to shave with a serrated knife), chips or drops. Some recognised brands of couverture chocolate
are Callebaut, Valrhona, Sharfen Berger, Veliche and Michel Cluizel. The bottom
line, though, is if the word 'couverture' is not on the packet then it's not
couverture chocolate. For this recipe I used a mixture of Callebaut (55.5%
cocoa mass) and Valrhona (I had drops of 60% and 70% cocoa mass).
Le Chocolat Chaud
145g / 5oz couverture chocolate
2
cups whole milk
lightly whipped pure cream for serving
chocolate shavings for
serving
1. Chop or shave the chocolate into small pieces for an easy melt.
2. Heat
the milk in a saucepan until it is almost reaching simmer point.
3. Add the
chocolate pieces all at once and stir constantly with a whisk until it
completely melts into the milk.
4. Increase the heat to bring the mixture to a
low boil while whisking constantly.
5. Allow the hot chocolate mixture to reduce
to thicken it slightly, lowering the temperature if necessary.
6. Pour into a
serving pot or directly into cups.
7. Top each cup with some whipped cream and a
scattering of chocolate shavings.
The amount of milk, chocolate and cooking time
can be adjusted to taste. A thinner hot chocolate, for example, requires less
reduction. Any leftover (highly unlikely!) can be refrigerated and heated up
the next day, without any change to the texture or flavour. Great for making
ahead of time!
The richness and smoothness of this hot
chocolate is deeply satisfying, and soothing. There is no 'graininess', or 'fattiness' to
it. And It doesn't cry out to be
accompanied by anything. I had planned to make some biscotti (double-baked
Italian biscuits) to eat with it, but changed my mind.
The whipped cream
elevates the drinking experience to another level. There is an amazing
silkiness, sipping the hot chocolate and cream together. Serve this to family
and friends and their hearts will fill with warm feelings, it is so totally
distracting (there's a presumption here that they like chocolate).
Or at least
they'll want to run their finger around the inside of the cup to get out the
last of the lusciousness...like I did!
