Recipes
HOT CHOCOLATE
Two weeks ago, I made a quick visit to the city of love. If you haven't read about it yet, you can do so here. And Paris is indeed the city of love, and yes, chocolate is love. While I was browsing through the articles of our friends from www.frankrijk.nl, my eye fell on something very cozy.
Namely, a specialty that we didn't know yet from our southern neighbors: the chocolat chaud à l’ancienne. Even I, as a health freak, am interested in that, because yes, chocolate. Chocolat chaud à l’ancienne. That's quite a mouthful, yes. If you've never tasted this, you might as well start booking the first available TGV, because you MUST try this.
Hot chocolate like you've never had before, so delicious. The French have understood it better and use chunks of pure chocolate instead of cocoa powder. Every chocolate lover who drinks this for the first time in Paris will surely fall off their (bistro) chair. Because let's be honest: while we Dutch call it chocolate MILK, the French present it as melted chocolate. Thick, creamy, and velvety soft. I'll give you one tip: drink it for breakfast or lunch, because it fills you up quite a bit.
In old French cookbooks, you come across two variants: the chocolat chaud à l’eau, chocolate with hot water, and the variant with milk. The first variant consists of pieces of melted chocolate diluted with hot water. Here you taste chocolate in its PUREST form. Softer in flavor is this variant with milk (and also secretly much tastier). Of course, you can also replace the milk with plant-based milk.
“And Paris is indeed the city of love, and yes, chocolate is love.”
Chocolat chaud – for 2 people
Ingredients:
4 dl milk
100 gr pure chocolate (I prefer to use 80% Lindt chocolate)
And easy peasy, you make it like this:
1. Heat the milk in a saucepan.
2. Place the chocolate in the pan and let it melt very slowly while continuously stirring with a whisk until the mixture is nice and hot.
3. Let it rest for a moment and then stir it well again.
Now you understand that I sprinkle a pinch of cinnamon over it at the end. But a little fleur de sel or some pink pepper also scores points.
And if you're in Paris, be sure to check out one of the addresses below that our friends from www.frankrijk.nl picked out for you.
– La Charlotte de L’Isle. This cozy tea salon is located near Notre Dame and serves divine chocolat chaud à l’ancienne.
– Angelina. Here they make the most famous hot chocolate in Paris. It's called Chocolat Africain and is so thick that your spoon almost stands up in it.
– Jean Hévin. On the top floor of the well-known chocolatier in Le Marais, it's quite logical that you get one of the best hot chocolates here. Go for the variant with green tea if you want a surprising twist to your hot chocolate.
source: www.frankrijk.nl
