Chocolate French

Chocolate French is an introduction to the language of French Chocolate. It explores the relationship between international French culture and global chocolate cuisine. The foreword was written by Bernard Poussin of Debauve & Gallais, a historic Paris chocolatier.

Chocolate French begins with a look at the history of chocolate and begins with Cortes' introduction of chocolate to the court of Spain in 1510. It discusses the appearance of chocolate in Europe and touches on its inclusion in early literature. Chocolate was believed to have healed many illnesses including fever, inflammation, stomach upset, coughing, and to even cause hallucinations. Chocolate was officially registered as a medical substance in France in 1758.

From the historical look at chocolate, Chocolate French goes to discuss the technique of melting chocolate and begins a wonderful section of chocolate recipes. These are not your average chocolate recipes. You won't find recipes for brownies or chocolate chip cookies. These are exquisite and often fairly complicated French recipes using a variety of different types of chocolate. A few tempting examples are Chocolate Croissant Pudding with Toffee Sauce, Strawberries & Pecans and White Chocolate Bread Pudding with White Chocolate Kahlua Sauce. The recipes are very well written with step by step directions. There's even a section in the back on French vocabulary that explains many of the unfamiliar French words included in the book.

Chocolate French is much more than a chocolate cookbook. Scattered throughout the recipes in this book are articles and photographs that introduce you to chocolate in French literature, chocolate in the cinema, celebrities of French chocolate, poems about chocolate, famous chocolatiers, and even fashions by famous pastry chefs.

If this book doesn't leave you with a serious craving for a chocolate eclair, you have much more will power than I do. Don't read this while you're hungry or you may find yourself devouring an entire bag of Lindt chocolates!

My thanks to the sponsor for allowing me to review this book.

As required by the FTC: I received a product sample in order to write my review. I received no monetary compensation. All opinions expressed are mine and mine alone.

Article first published as Book Review: Chocolate French on Blogcritics.