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A Mouthwatering Morning of Chocolate Tasting at Montage Beverly Hills

Today’s class “Chocolate – Without Fear!” was the third “Yes You Can Desserts” class I’ve taken at the Montage Beverly Hills.  I love these classes because Chef Richard Ruskell gives the inside scoop about Montage and Scarpetta desserts – and shows why he’s so buzzed about in the dessert world.  Plus, you never know who you’ll meet in class (hint: possibly Chef Jamie!).

Chef Richard shows the “Michel Cluizel” chocolate from France.

Newsflash: the Chef loves Twix bars – and all kinds of chocolate.  Why Twix?  Because he has one before every flight, easing his fear of flying (maybe this is why he called the class “Chocolate – Without Fear”?).  When someone asks him what the “best” type of chocolate is, he always says it’s the type that they like best.  Like wine, cars or anything else, it’s what each person prefers that matters.

He told us chocolate is really a compilation of three key types of cocoa beans, blended in varying proportions and then roasted in varying types of ways.  As such, even if a particular type of chocolate may have more sugar than another, it may not taste sweeter due to the other factors that go into its creation.

Chef Richard offers taste of chocolate ganache.

He revealed the different brands of chocolate Montage and Scarpetta use.  Chef Richard really likes Michel Cluizel from Normandy, France.  Cluizel has become the leading supplier of chocolate candy (under different names) in France.  Amadei is another brand used in Scarpetta for their chocolate cake.  Both of these brands may be purchased online.

In addition to tasting bites of white, milk, dark milk, dark and bittersweet chocolate, we also got to try the Montage’s hot chocolate, a mix of whole milk, milk and dark chocolate …

Chef Richard pouring hot chocolate.

Chef Richard said he’s the only chef in Southern California who has access to a very rare type of chocolate called “Pure Nacional” (only five chefs across the country have access to it).  As the NY Times pointed out also, a few companies in the U.S. are making candies and bars from it, introducing it to market earlier this year at the Fancy Food Show in San Francisco.

Courtesy New York Times.

“Pure Nacional” was used in the Chocolate Cream Pudding that we tasted.  The pudding is used in many of the chocolate desserts at the Montage and Scarpetta.  No wonder I’m in love with this pudding … the recipe card shows it has 14 egg yolks!!!!!  Oh well, it’s worth it my friends.  In my humble opinion, I think this pudding should be a STAPLE dessert on their menu.

DeathbedFood Alert: Montage Chocolate Cream Pudding!

We all got to leave with some of that rare “Pure Nacional” chocolate to take home … so now I need to think of something really good to bake with it (OMG, that pudding!).

Gift of "Pure Nacional" Chocolate to Take Home.

Last, but certainly not least, another big treat for me was meeting one of my fellow “students”, Chef Jamie Gwen!

I’ve been a fan of her radio show (“Food & Wine with Chef Jamie Gwen”) on KFWB for many years.  She was sitting fairly close to me but I didn’t realize who she was until the end of the class … meantime, all during the class she asked really good questions of the Chef.  So, when I found out it was Chef Jamie, it all made sense.  She was interviewing him like the pro that she is.  I’m looking forward to hearing her coverage of today’s class for sure.

Chef Richard will be teaching more dessert classes once a month through November (each class is $50 per person).  Next month will be “The Secrets of Mousse” on Wednesday, September 28th, where he will show how to make the perfect chocolate mousse at home.  They had me at “chocolate”.  For highlights of the first two classes, you may check out my blog about the first class on how to make their Blackout Cake and second class on how to make their Buttercream.