RCP: The best chocolate sauce

[Jenise]

I found this recipe on the internet about a year ago and made it. It was published by some chef whose name I apologize for not remembering, a David Something I think, who said it was the culmination of an effort of his own to have a truly perfect chocolate sauce for I'm not sure what, at this point. Layered with a blood orange marmalade, I used it as a dipping sauce for folded, whipped cream-filled chocolate crepes which I served as the dessert at Gastro/Danse I, and indeed it was the best chocolate sauce I've ever tasted. I wanted to archive it here but never got around to that, perhaps because I went to do that during one of this forum's brief outages, so had instead saved it as a memo to myself sans the details that would allow me now to give proper credit. So too bad, but at least here's the recipe.




The Best Chocolate Sauce

About 2 1/2 cups
1 cup (250 ml) water
1/2 cup (100 g) sugar
1/2 cup (160 g) light corn syrup, agave nectar, or glucose
3/4 cup (75 g) unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-processed)
2 ounces (55 g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

1. In a medium saucepan, whisk together the water, sugar, corn syrup (or agave or glucose), and cocoa powder.
2. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Once it’s just begun to simmer and boil, remove from heat and stir in the chopped chocolate until melted.

Serving: You should let the Chocolate Sauce stand for a few hours before serving, which will give it time to thicken a bit.
Storage: Store the chocolate sauce in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 10 days. Rewarm before serving

That looks great! We've been using this one from "Good Housekeeping: Desserts A to Z" (circa 1978) for decades:

1 6 oz Pkg Semisweet-Chocolate pieces
2/3 C Light corn syrup (et al)
1/4 C Light cream
1 tbl Butter
1/4 tsp Vanilla extract

Melt chocolate with corn syrup in a double boiler. Stir in the rest of the stuff. Viola!
It is under "S" for sauce, and not "C" for chocolate.

Layered with a blood orange marmalade, I used it as a dipping sauce for folded, whipped cream-filled chocolate crepes

Must.Have.

Wow.

[Jenise]

It was so cool, Cynthia! I had to serve 40 guests plus a cast the same menu two nights in a row. Nothing more than a fork could be required, so this dessert, the fifth to appear over the course of the evening and meant to be eaten with one's hands, was extra good in every way. I called the course "Isadora's Dunkin' Donut", and the folded crepe was meant to represent the scarf that she accidentally killed herself with. Dark humor, but it went over very very well with an artsy fartsy crowd.

Dark humor, but it went over very very well with an artsy fartsy crowd.

And I'm probably one of them.

What were the other items on the menu? Is there a previous thread I should check out?

[Jenise]

Dark humor, but it went over very very well with an artsy fartsy crowd.

And I'm probably one of them.

What were the other items on the menu? Is there a previous thread I should check out?

You sure are; and that's a good thing.

There was a previous thread, maybe even two--I might have posted a results thread, which would be the only one worth reading. If that. But the gist is, I was asked to be the Exec Chef for a modern dance event called Gastro/Danse. A guy who has degrees in dance and choreography but who can't make a living at that, like most dancers, cleared out his living room and sold tickets. They put together a program and I put together a menu that would result in a small plate of food being served about every 20 minutes up thru the dessert already described. The dishes all had names like Top Hat and Tails, Corn en Releve, and The Beat Stroganoff and I can't remember what else, except that I came up with the names and then created a dish to go with it. The Beat Stroganoff, for instance, was a stripe of beet salad next to a stripe of potato salad (both cut in identical, perfect 1/2" cubes) belted with a dollop of sour cream and topped with chives. It was one of the funnest challenges I've ever undertaken--the dining room was the performance space separated by a curtain from the kitchen where I had to plate up the food silently while bare feet were prancing just a few feet away. Oh, and the biggest challenge of all? The budget: $200 for BOTH nights combined, which I actually managed to underrun by $25. Gastro Danse II is already on our radar.