As the weather gets colder, I want to share my kid’s favorite afternoon treat: hot chocolate.
When I was in Paris, my friend gave me a list of the best hot chocolates in Paris, and we did a tour of them. The chocolate store Jacque Genin was among the top 5. Later, I learned how he made it during my apprenticeship there. It has only whole milk, the best chocolate, Valrhona dark, and a rigorous altitude. I remembered that when I finished making a hot chocolate—it’s stirring chocolate into boiling milk— he asked me to throw it away and make a new one. I was confused and asked why. He said you burned the chocolate. After reluctantly pouring the chocolate into the sink, I saw a small burnt spot at the bottom of the pot. Nobody else could smell it. Then he added, you must be very careful every time. Once you serve a burnt chocolate to your customer, he might never come back again.
This word has printed in my mind. When I made the birthday cake every time, I had to be very careful. Often, a small mistake stressed me out. Of course, this happened a lot since I just started. As I made more cakes, I learned to disguise the errors—no matter how terrible they were— with decoration and in whatever ways possible. Sometimes, I gave myself an excuse: I am not a prominent chef, so why not lower the standard and make my life easier?
Now I understand that on the way to pursuit of perfection, we must put in lots of effort and practice, and allow us to make lots of mistakes and failures. Also, we had better have a more realistic goal at each phase other than a standard that is too far to reach. So, the rigorous altitude is still there, but it works positively other than causing me stress. (Thanks to the book ‘Mindset’ by Carol Dweck, recommended by Yan.)
Here is how I make the hot chocolate at home. Two servings.
whole milk 260g
dark chocolate 54g
I boil the whole milk in a small pot. After it’s boiling, I turn off the heat. Then, I add the black chocolate to the milk while mixing till smooth with a whisk. I don’t measure my ingredients, actually. More chocolate makes it thicker and the taste more robust. Use a better quality chocolate, but any dark chocolate in your cabinet would work. Then we drink our hot chocolate. See, there is no rigor here at all. Just enjoy and relax. ;)