Atkinson, Catherine et al. The Chocolate and Coffee Bible. Hermes House: London, 2009
How one book can solve all your coffee and chocolate needs.
I picked up this book because it was right next to the other ones in this series (got to love Borders’ sales.) I don’t make it a habit of drinking coffee on the regular. Rather, I like to enjoy coffee like I enjoy chocolate. It must be well made, really good, and unique. No Folgers for me, thank you.
I must admit that I took the book more because of the chocolate than the coffee. If there was ever a stereotype that I fulfilled, its that as a woman, I love chocolate. Obsessed really. I once went to a fair-trade flea market just to find bars of 88% cacao from Africa. Can you really blame me?
Not only does this cookbook give you different chocolate and coffee recipes, it also gives a substantial introduction to the history of the beans itself. Each chapter is short but well-written. The authors take you from when cacao was first grown in Latin America where it was regularly made into a drink for the gods. After the Spanish conquistadors developed a profitable trade from the bean, cacao began to transform into a variety of drinks and bars. There are many little vignettes found in the introduction, such as how in France a Marquise ate so much chocolate during her pregnancy that she gave birth to a little boy “black as the devil.” The beginning chapters also go through the start of European and American chocolatiers and their conflicts with both the Catholic and medical worlds. The next chapter outlines at length the methods used in making chocolate as well as the best brands available depending on where you are in the world.
The second part of the book is dedicated to coffee and has just as rich of an introduction as the chocolate chapter. After a description of the bean itself, the authors describe the ancient rituals and ceremonies that centered around coffee, especially in Turkey. They take you through colonization and coffee plantations in Brazil and how the bean was popularly consumed in Europe centuries ago. The rise of cafes and breweries took Europe by storm and the drink became a mainstay in social life. And for any coffee-buffs out there, there is an extensive tutorial on coffee tastings, bean terminologies, roasting gradients, and how best to store specific types of coffee beans. The last chapter is “The Art of Coffee Drinking,” including descriptions of the many machines available today to grind and filter coffee and how to maintain each one for a perfect cup every time.
The recipes themselves complement the massive amount of information given for each bean. The coffee recipes are easy to follow and include traditional cups, such as Irish Coffee and Turkish Coffee, as well as unique cups, such as Cafe a l’Orange and Georgia ‘n Ginger. With the coffee drinks come an array of dessert recipes in which coffee is the main ingredient. Last but not least, the chocolate recipes are exquisite. Rich Chocolate Brioche, Chocolate and Cherry Polenta Cake, and Cognac and Ginger Creams are but a few that make my mouth water just looking at the pictures. I am definitely going to keep this book on hand next time I have a reason to make something sweet.
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