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It’s that time of year when loads of chocolate wrapped in red foil pops up all over the place. In most cases, the foil is an indicator of poor quality. In my rejection of “occasion chocolate”, I turn to one of my closest friends, chocolatier and designer Rafael Prieto – who, through his project Casa Bosques, produces an artisanal line of chocolate – to host a chocolate party with me. It means going to his Tribeca atelier, part workshop, part home, part experimental test kitchen, to get a lesson on how to make real chocolate. Through Casa Bosques, Rafael makes chocolate bars, in addition to sculptures made of chocolate. We’ve worked together in the past to make chocolate modelled after bones, as well as giant chocolate busts. For the party we made chocolate in the shape of bones, as well as tiles with details of clothing imprinted in them. We then hosted a chocolate evening with our abstract creations: our funny Valentine.
The connection between chocolate and love dates back to the Mayans, who first started brewing cacao beans some time around 500BC. Eventually, they came to use this so-called “gift of the gods” in marriage ceremonies. Rafael is from the north of Mexico, and sources the beans from small ranches throughout the country. We used organic single-origin Criollo cacao beans from Chiapas. The fermented beans are roasted to get rid of the liquid content, as well as to develop flavour. Then the beans are cracked to reveal the cocoa nibs.
We ground the nibs in a processor and finally tempered them – raising the temperature until the chocolate goes from a sandy, coarse texture to a smooth liquid. Rafael then poured this warm liquid into moulds so that it could harden into snappable chocolate. To make the bone-shaped chocolate, we poured the tempered chocolate into silicone moulds he made using leftover osso buco bones. (A few years ago we were having an osso buco dinner at my house: Rafael lined up all the bones on the table, noting how beautiful the organic forms were, asked if he could keep them, and then used them to make our moulds.)
I am not totally suggesting you make chocolate from scratch at home, but I’m also not not suggesting it. We ended up inviting a few friends over to try their hand at chocolate making. When hosting a single ingredient party, I love involving friends with the activity as it becomes bonding for everyone. Even more so when it’s something nobody has ever done before. I especially love mixing the group and including a couple of people who know each other well, with a few others who are not as familiar with one another. If the idea of making your own chocolate sounds too much of a headache, Casa Bosques chocolate is also available online.
In addition to the chocolate sculptures, we called on our friend and neighbour, restaurateur and mixologist Arley Marks, to create a few chocolate-based cocktails. I am particularly fond of a drink (recipe, below) he makes using chocolate and oat and coconut milk, which he slightly sweetens with honey infused with juniper that he forages in upstate New York. The warm drink was especially cosy on the eve of the first snowfall of the year, and sitting inside Rafael’s 19th-century loft, with its soaring ceilings, cast-iron columns and giant, oversized windows, felt like being inside a New York City souvenir snow globe.
An hour before the party was meant to begin, I texted Rafael asking him if he thought it was necessary for me to cook an actual dish (aside from the chocolate), and he confirmed my suspicion that, yes, it was most necessary. Apparently, unlike myself, most people would not be thrilled at having just a boatload of chocolate for dinner, so I quickly grabbed some risotto rice and made a simple but decadent risotto Milanese, a three‑ingredient dish made with chicken stock, rice and saffron. There was also a winter bitter leaf salad with a beautiful variety of pink and purple radicchio. But the chocolate was the star. As we were about to walk home in the snow, I overheard one of the guests saying that he may have eaten his weight in chocolate, and might need a break until next Valentine’s Day. Till then.
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Remove flesh and water from the coconut, then blend until smooth with two cups of oat milk. Fine-strain into a saucepan.
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Bring the mixture to a very low simmer, add in juniper berries, honey, cinnamon and chocolate, and stir until chocolate has dissolved. Let juniper and cinnamon steep for 30 mins to release their flavour – do not allow to boil.
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Serve hot in a coupe, over optional alcoholic ingredients if so desired.
