Chocolate And Commemoration Of The Dead

My son André Alexandre loved well made dark chocolate from the best artisanal chocolatiers here.  I always enjoyed bringing him some from the finest chocolate makers in Paris each time I flew across the pond to visit him.

He also enjoyed going with me to these salons when he was a culinary student at Ferrandi.

Therefore, going to the Salon du Chocolate on Friday, then the solemn Mass of Commemoration of the Dead the next day was another very personal celebration and remembrance of him.

Any parent of a deceased child will tell you that each day is a commemoration of their child in their heart, thoughts and memories, but having a special annual religious celebration accentuates that perpetual love and remembrance.

Ever since André’s first birthday, I always made him a Dobos Torta.  It is a luscious Hungarian multi-layered cake filled with dark chocolate ganache and topped with a crystalline mirror of caramelised sugar.

It was a labour of love to make each one of those layers individually.  Sometimes there were 8 layers, and sometimes even 9 or 10 depending on how thin I was able to spread my batter in the pan.

It became known as “his” birthday cake, and he always looked forward to the day to having one to celebrate.

Halloween has never taken off in France.  It is seen mostly as another invasion of Anglo culture geared more for commercialization.

The French Catholic church looks down on the event, rather than allowing for any possible connection to the Christianization of All Hallows’ Eve as it was originally called as a prelude to All Saints Day.

A few grocery circulars do advertise candies and costumes and I did see some young school children with plastic jack o lanterns Thursdays, but there isn’t any trick or treating, except for expat children.

In Paris, you will find a Haunted House and some nightclubs along with Irish, British and American bars drumming up special Halloween celebrations.  These are mostly for expat Anglos and young French intent on following alternative cultures.

There were several Mexican celebrations of Dia de Los Muertos too, which seems to be more palatable to the French than Halloween.

I do not have any problems mingling or connecting any of them any more than Mardi Gras to the solemnity of the religious ceremonies that follow.

Here is my Halloween decor along with the candles lit in my icon corner on my table.

I like going to the Chocolate Show for other reasons rather than just running around looking for all the chocolate samples I can stuff in my mouth, like I see many others intent on doing.

Chocolate tasting, like wine, can only be appreciated in my opinion in small quantities in a limited time frame.   That means tasting a few samples from chocolate makers you judge worth tasting in the first place.

After a while, your palate can be oversaturated and can become less discerning of the best expressions of really good chocolate.

Again chocolate like wine takes many of its various nuances of flavour from the earth where it was grown. Fruity, woodsy, spicey, etc all comes from the different soils of each country.

A little bit of sugar can be an enhancer, but too much is used to cover up poor grade chocolate sold to the masses.  Good chocolate is very expensive, but sugar is cheap.

Milk chocolate and white can be sugar-laden too, so you must read labels carefully to determine chocolate cocoa butter content and sugar amounts.

Avoid those with a low chocolate amount, high in sugar, loaded with emulsifiers and vanillin, the artificial vanilla flavour.

Baking chocolate should be the best you can obtain and afford.  I buy my cooking chocolate from G. Detou and currently like the 76% dark chocolate from Ecuador.

Like tasting wine, chocolate should be smelled first for its aroma, before tasting.  Take note of how it melts or not in contact with your hands, as good chocolate will melt easily on contact with body warmth.

Small pieces, like small sips, are better to gain a fuller appreciation of the quality by allowing them to melt on your tongue.

When you pay close to or well over 100 euros/kilo for finely made chocolate, you want to treat it like a refined cognac or Armagnac.  Best time to enjoy is late afternoon, not after dinner.

 

 

 

 

 

I generally seek out the new French chocolatiers and foreign ones, as the famous ones are easily obtainable here in Paris.

There were quite a few Japanese chocolate makers who create very delicate floral designs as seen above.

Recently I have been interested in the exotic tastes of Vietnamese and other south Asia and Pacific chocolates.  They seem to be to my palate to express more of their indigenous terroir rather than being overly developed and refined.

The Tahitians were decked out in traditional attire and played some island melodies, always drawing a crowd for photos.

Most of the time I enjoy sitting through the demonstrations of very elaborate pastries by well known and upcoming pastry chefs.

Most of them are young men and a few women who have already broken through ranks to a level of notoriety to be invited to the Chocolate show.

I go with a notebook and pen in hand to write down their ideas and any new techniques I might discover.  The added plus is getting to taste a miniature sample of whatever they have made.

When you think of the cost of tasting some of their pastries, often in  Parisian palaces at tea time and the price of attending a master class with them, these pastry demonstrations are a real bargain!

The minus for me is the heart-tugging nostalgia seeing the students from Ferrandi, the cooking school here that my son attended, who are always on hand to help each chef.

The multi-layered chocolate pastry from the chef of Café Pouchine, Patrick Pailler had a biscuit and croustillant made from whole buckwheat grains! Delicious!

 

 

 

 

 

This year, they had a Buche de Noel exhibit of various chefs on display.

As you can see there is much artistry in designing and confecting these elaborate masterpieces of delight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was dark by the time I left having seen the very last pastry chef, a famous one from Mexico, José Castillo.  He did a most unusual sweet take on the flavours of chillis Relleno using chocolate with a poblano jelly layer and cream-filled ganache enveloped in his own plantation’s chocolate decorated with Mexican inspired gaiety.

The only thing I brought home was some unrefined chocolate nibs from Honduras.

The pastry journal was serving Champagne to cap off the day, reminding me it had become aperitif time!

The following day was the Catholic tradition to commemorate the deceased.  Friday was to celebrate All Saints, those magnificent human beings already recognised and canonised Saints.

As we say, we can all be saints in the making, therefore the second day is for all deceased. For all of our own loved ones and the many souls departed that we don’t know.

I went to the evening Mass and as I walked in the darkened church, it was only illuminated by candlelight.

At a table in the entrance, they were offering candles to write the names of our beloved ones on them and place them in the front of the altar.

As is the tradition, lit candles representing all of those who had died this past year framed the steps of the altar.  The priest read out each one of their names.

I already have a ritual of lighting a candle for my son after each Mass under a large icon of Holy Mary Theotokos, but I placed this one in front with all the others flickering in the darkness.

Flames of remembrance and love resonate with my prayers for him from my grieving heart. I feel his presence as I often do in Mass.

Tears flowing down my cheek behold the words of sorrow too deep; that they can’t be written with words but only in the recesses of my heart.

Death remains a universal mystery we will all pass through.  For Christians, the light of Christ’s resurrection illuminates our faith with promises that we too will be reunited and rise anew as He did.  Amen.