Immediately you can tell it’s so rich and thick that as you drink it you feel like you are taking a mug of pudding.
Georgia Freedman is a writer, editor, and author of
cookbooks currently residing in Oakland, California. She has freelanced for
such magazines as Food & Wine, The Wall Street Journal, Afar, Martha
Stewart Living, Serious Eats, and Simply Recipes and was the managing editor of Saveur.
I recently asked 2 corn farmers, about the best way of
cooking corn, and they both told me the same thing.
Years ago when I was 11, my family had a one-month
vacation in the countryside in a friend’s villa that was partly under
construction in Tuscany. Instead, there was our car moving through the sliders
of upturned sunflowers, visiting different towns and cities, and – of course –
trying any kind of pasta we came across. However, the memory that I cherish
most about the food I tasted over there is cioccolata calda, which is nothing
but Italian hot chocolate.
If I was served with this book by my mother ever in a
cafe in the Italian town of Trequanda perched on a hill I did not know what to
do with the document. That chocolate was literally shiny and very dark brown to
tell you it was chocolate! It was dense and thick, you would not even think it
was a drink, more like a pudding! I was not aware of how I should consume the
soup and began to attempt to ask for the spoon to scoop it.
But my mom swiftly went to the café and brought a
carafe of hot milk which she was pouring into my cup to make the chocolate thin
enough so that I could take sips from the cup. The result was still
divine—tasty and rich.
As for that chocolaty dessert, it was three and a half
decades later that I brought it back in the form of a holiday snack for my
daughter. The first time she ate it she opened her mouth wide in surprise as
did I when I was young and immediately automatically took a spoon and began to
scoop up some of it in her mouth.
Cioccolata Calda or Italian Hot Chocolate has been
under discussion today because it has some special ingredients,
What Makes Italian Hot Chocolate Unique From
Conventional Hot Chocolate?
What sets Italian hot chocolate is therefore not only
the taste of the concoction but also its thickness. It has generally a
thickening ingredient added to it like cornstarch, which is used to set
pudding. I have also noticed some recipes that do not include starch and
instead use lots and lots of melted chocolate, which on its own thickens a
little as it sets.
The type I grew up eating would most likely have had
cornstarch; therefore, I used cornstarch here but also melted chocolate. It is
likely more complex than the drink that I used to have, but it tastes divine;
it is special enough to capture my probably exaggerated memory of Italian hot
chocolate.
My Mom Used to Prepare ‘Con Latte’ For Breakfast
It was the time when I was young and she used that
trick to calm me down. All Italian hot chocolate is not hugely thick like what
I was served when I was young, but if one is preparing it at home one is likely
to overcook the mixture and what you are left with is hot pudding. If you do,
then imitate my mom, and add a little more hot milk, the taste is still great.
We thank Simply Recipes for this raita recipe and
Shilpa Iyer for sharing this recipe on her blog.
Variations on Hot Chocolate
·
Homemade Hot Chocolate
·
Boozy Hot Chocolate
Ingredients Homemade Hot Cocoa Mix (enough to make 4-5
cups) 4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa 2 tablespoons powdered sugar 1 teaspoon
finely grated orange zest 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon a pinch of ground nutmeg
Directions Homemade Hot Cocoa Mix In a bowl, mix the dry ingredients, cocoa,
powdered sugar, orange zest, cinnamon, nutmeg, and create a homemade hot cocoa
mix that will perfectly for 4-
Cioccolata
Calda (Italian Hot Chocolate)
·
Prep Time5 mins
·
Cook Time12 mins
·
Total Time17 mins
·
Servings4 servings
Ingredients
·
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
·
2 tablespoons cornstarch
·
2 cups whole milk, and additional as needed
·
500ml warm water 1 tablespoon actively works baking
yeast 1/4 cup granulated sugar
·
70% cocoa dark chocolate, 3 ounces and chopped
Method
1. Combine the cocoa powder and cornstarch:
To start the preparation, mix the cocoa powder and
cornstarch in a medium side dish until it becomes uniform.
2. Heat The Milk And Sugar:
Stir in the milk and the sugar to a medium saucepan
and heat it on medium flame and whisk at intervals until the sugar dissolves
and the milk slightly boils or reach 160°F, 3 to 4 minutes.
3. Add The Milk:
Turn off the heat and take saucepan off the stove,
warm some amount of milk and put a small amount of the cocoa-cornstarch mixture
and stir ensuring that all the mixture reaches the same consistency. Gradually,
slowly, add the remaining milk and continue to whisk incorporating it into the
mixture.
Put the chopped chocolate into the bowl making sure it
is all covered with the hot cream/ Add the mixture to the chopped chocolate and
let it sit for 1 minute until the chocolate has melted. Mix it with the
ingredients.
4. Return To the Heat:
Pout the mixture back into the saucepan and put it
back on the stove on medium heat stirring frequently until the mixture just
comes to a simmer, about 3 minutes (this will begin to activate the
cornstarch). Stir the mix continuously especially around the edges of the
saucepan, where you will see movements and if left for some time bubbles will
look bigger and thicker.
Remove the pan from the heat then continue whisking
for a minute because the heat that is remaining causes the mixture to continue
to thicken.
5. Serve:
Pour the hot chocolate into 4 small cups. Warming mug
or, if the chocolate has become very thick, heat another 1/2 cup of milk in a
microwave or by using the steam wand of an espresso machine until only slightly
warm, then stirring such quantity of milk as required into each mug of hot
chocolate until the stag is of the required consistency.
If you happen to have one in your possession and still
have some remaining after the serving, make sure to cover it with plastic wrap
touching the top to prevent the growth of a film. You can serve it cold and
still delicious or if you want to warm it up you can add a little more milk to
make it fluid then warm in the microwave in intervals of 20-30 seconds do not
let it get hot that it bubbles over.
Love the
recipe? Leave us stars and a comment below!!!
• Voices
• Most Recent
• Drinks
• Desserts
• Chocolate Desserts
Nutrition Facts(per serving)
286 Calories
14g Fat
35g
Carbs
7g Protein
Show Full Nutrition Label
Information about nutrients is based on the data of an
ingredient and may differ slightly for every recipe. In cases where many
ingredients that can be used are given, the first one mentioned is used in
computations for nutrition. This does not include garnishes and anything that
is add-on or extra.
0 Comments