Chocolate that Melts in Your Pan
As fun as it is to eat, chocolate can be frustrating to work with in the kitchen. If you want praise for the chocolate goodies you serve over the holidays, you have to earn it.
Even a seemingly simple maneuver like getting chocolate to melt juuuust right can be difficult. Some tips:
Keep your utensils and pans dry, and even use rubber spatulas instead of wooden spoons that can retain moisture. Chocolate that takes on water can seize, or get lumpy, which is precisely what you do NOT want to happen.
One method that is nearly foolproof for the neophyte chocolate-melter is the double boiler method, which works along the same lines as a chafing dish. Heat a pan or pot of water and put a shallow glass or metal bowl over the pan. Work the chocolate with a spatula. This warms the chocolate slowly, avoiding scorching from direct heat.
You can always use the microwave, too, but don’t heat chocolate as you would other foods. Use medium power, remove the chocolate from the microwave well before it’s completely melted and work it with a spatula (yeah, a rubber one). You’ll be surprised how residual heat will finish the job.
****
Utterly Random Food Fact, Chocolate Division: Montezuma, the leader of the Aztecs, loved himself some chocolate. Some estimates say he drank 50 to 150 cups a day. In his time, it was strictly a spicy beverage; European methods of sweetening and solidifying chocolate had not been developed. No word on how he slept after slogging down all that caffeine, although the Spanish conquistadors probably had more to do with making his nights restless.
