Conference turris::cooks

    I've always thought that "real" hot chocolate was the following:
    		baking cocoa
    		sugar
    		dash salt
    		and mixed with hot milk to dissolve.
    
    Probably the "flavored" grocery variety contains dry milk
    powder( so it's in essence dry chocolatemilk).
    
    Homemade is **much** better .....but must be consumed while
    reading a Stephen King novel, with a crackling fire in the
    the fireplace and in the colder winter months  :-)

    Hi, Kare!
    
    I find that the powdered cocoas from the Coffee Connection in Boston
    and Bread and Chocolate in Vermont are far superior (and a lot less
    sweet) than your everyday store brands.  You add them to milk, rather
    than to water (they don't have powdered milk in them).
    
    Whenever my Texan friends go home for the holidays I beg them to buy me
    Mexican chocolate, which is probably as close to the "original" as one
    can get without an Aztec cookbook!  It comes in cubes, which you
    dissolve in a pan of hot milk, and is usually also flavoured with
    spices like cinnamon.
    
    --Karen

    Oh, forgot to mention one of my favourite cocoa drinks: the orange hot
    chocolate they serve at Grendel's in Harvard Square.  They add a little
    bit of orange extract to the cup, then cover it with whipped cream.
    
    MMMMMMMMMMMMM!
    
    --Karen

    Frothy hot cocoa :
    
    	Use 1 part Cocoa and 2 parts sugar.
    	Put mixture in blender
    	Add hot milk and whip for a couple of seconds.
    
    	I think I use 1 teaspoon cocoa per cup of milk.
    
    	It's best to drink this in heavy flannel pajamas.
    
        aud...

    Lately, I've noticed the recipe isn't on the side of the cocoa can -
    just frosting and fudge.  I make mine by putting 1/4 heaping cup cocoa
    1/4 cup sugar and 1/3 cup hot water in sauce pan.  Cook for a few minutes, 
    then add milk, maybe a quart, pinch of salt.  Heat till as hot as you 
    want it, add a capful or so vanilla, maybe 6 packets of Equal and whip 
    with whisk.
    
    This is our reward for accomplishing our nightly walk, especially so
    when it's in the 'teens outside!  I put the cocoa and sugar in the pan
    before we leave, so we can start ASAP after returning!
    
    Terry
    

    Why is salt added to chocolate? 
    Hot CHOCOLATE has been served all over Spain for centuries... ever
    since Chistopher Columbus returned from the New World with a few of
    those nuts... and has been a favorite drink for the last couple of
    hundred years.  It is done with:
    
    1 ounce of chocolate per cup of HOT WATER
    1/2 cup of milk (not a hint of salt anywhere)
    1 Sp. sugar
    
    this serves a large mug per person.  In Madrid it is served thicker and
    I believe that a tiny bit of flour is blended with the milk and stirred
    till a bit thicker consistency is obtained....
    
    There is nothing better than "Chocolate con churros" after theater
    later at night, or to topple up any late party... HUMMMMMMMMMMM!
    

    Gourmet magazine had a recipe using cocoa and brown sugar, half milk
    and half cream.  The proportions were much too rich for me, but you can
    play around with the combination to suit your taste. Try adding a
    cinnamon stick for a different taste.
    
    Sarah
    

blend semi-sweet chocolate and whole milk in blender....heat slowly over 
simmering water in double boiler, stir alot.  remove from heat and add 
vanilla and sugar to taste if you desire it.

chocolate to milk porportions: 1 oz. chocolate to 8 oz. milk....okay, I
admit it, I use 2 oz. chocolate to 12 oz milk, but I don't drink this often...
it is sooooooo good..1/2 teaspoon real bourbon vanilla.

    My grandmother used to make the best hot chocolate.  I make it all the
    time and how to do it - will try to write it here as best I can.
    
    In a sauce pan put 4 tablespoons cocoa
                   add 9 tablespoons sugar (1 for the 'heck' of it)
                   add 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
                       
    then add some water to make a sauce - about the consistancy of a
    Hollandaise sauce...don't know how else to describe it.
    Bring it to a boil - then add 4 cups milk and stir constantly.
    
    Makes about 3-4 mugs full.
    

    re.: .7
    
    Actually, the natives in Mexico and South America used to drink cocoa
    unsweetened, or with a little spice added... not even sugar.  Think of
    it as drinking demitasses of baking chocolate in water.  That's the way
    Columbus introduced it back to Europe.  (yuck!)
    
    I don't know when it started to catch on a a sweet drink or a milk
    drink, though.
    
    --Karen

>    Whenever my Texan friends go home for the holidays I beg them to buy me
>    Mexican chocolate, which is probably as close to the "original" as one
>    can get without an Aztec cookbook!  It comes in cubes, which you
>    dissolve in a pan of hot milk, and is usually also flavoured with
>    spices like cinnamon.

OK, I live in Texas and I've never seen Mexican chocolate anywhere I shop.  
Where do your Texan friends go to get it?

Steve

RE: <<< Note 2733.12 by SCAACT::RESENDE "Digital, thriving on chaos? Beware the ides of November!" >>>
                  -< Where do you get Mexican chocolate????? >-

>OK, I live in Texas and I've never seen Mexican chocolate anywhere I shop.  
>Where do your Texan friends go to get it?
 
        Chances are that the Mexican chocolate being described is the
    IBARRA brand from Guadalajara.  Here in Colorado, we can get it at the
    Safeway grocery store.  It has almonds (very finely ground) and cinnamon 
    in it.  It comes in disks divided like a pie.  The disks are about
    three-quarters of an inch thick and about 3 inches in diameter.  You break 
    off two sections per cup, dissolve them in hot milk and blend.  I first
    heard about it from Jeff "Frugal Gourmet" Smith.  Now, I drink it at
    the first sign of cold weather.
    
                                      Greg
    
    
    PS: I have seen another brand, ABUELITA, at Safeway, but have yet to
        try it.