Creamy-sweet, dark and comforting, chocolate has come to symbolise desire and indulgence. The fact that we each munch nearly 20lb of the stuff every year proves that we find it irresistible. Theories to account for our obsession abound: perhaps it's because it melts at body temperature (and therefore dissolves slowly on the tongue); or maybe it's because it contains the mood-enhancing compound, phenylethylamine. I suspect we love chocolate for the simple reason that it tastes so good.
The flavour of chocolate will vary greatly according to the brand you buy. Much will depend on where the cocoa was grown, the variety of the bean, and how it was cured, roasted, blended and ground. Some manufacturers, such as Valrhona, sell chocolate bars from a single, named estate as well as their own distinctive blends, including Guanaja or Jivara. When cooking, you should first think about the correct percentage of cocoa solids and cocoa butter for your recipe. The higher the solids, the lower the proportion of cocoa butter and other fats.
A ganache, for instance, will have a strong, clean flavour if made with chocolate containing cocoa solids above 70 per cent. However, if you make a mousse with chocolate that has more than 60 per cent, you will find that its sets like concrete and tastes too bitter to be pleasant. Quality milk chocolate, which has about 40 per cent solids, is best used for soft, creamy puddings such as mousses and soufflés. White chocolate contains no cocoa solids at all, but makes excellent ice creams, sauces and coatings.
Once you've chosen your chocolate, it's then a question of deciding how to use it. This is an ingredient that works equally well as a dominant flavour - in a dense chocolate pudding spiked with crystallised ginger, for instance - or as one, subtle element in a dish with other flavours. This might mean creating a rich sauce to pour over banana or pistachio ice cream, whipping up a sticky icing to sandwich together a delicate almond or coffee cake, or, perhaps scattering chocolate chips in a vanilla sponge mixture or mint ice cream. It's amazing how many flavours work well with chocolate: orange, ginger, allspice and cinnamon, for example, or honey, pears and nuts. Find your favourite combinations, and you'll return to them again and again.
Individual hot pear soufflés with chocolate sauce
Pear and chocolate is a classic partnership. It works especially well in this subtle dish, where a fluffy pear and Calvados soufflé is broken open by each guest to reveal juicy cubes of pear on to which they can spoon some dark chocolate sauce.
Steamed chocolate sponge with brandy-soaked raisins
Raisins soaked in good brandy for a day or two will retain their intense alcoholic flavour even when steamed in this luscious almond chocolate sponge. Serve with shards of marbled chocolate and raspberries and you're sure to make an impression.
White chocolate chip cookies
Buttery soft, orange-flavoured chocolate chip cookies can be varied by adding different kinds of chocolate or by replacing some of the chocolate with roughly chopped nuts such as almonds, hazelnuts or pecans.
Almond and chocolate petits fours
Exquisite chewy almond biscuits make a wonderful accompaniment to after-dinner coffee when sandwiched together with a homemade chocolate butter. Beware of leaving them unattended in the kitchen, though - they have a tendency to vanish mysteriously.
Dark chocolate cinnamon pots
These rich and intensely dark little chocolate mousses, laced with warm cinnamon, are not for the faint-hearted but will be lapped up by chocoholics.
Recipes