Fondue - Chocolate

By mariannefeldman

CHOCOLATE FONDUE
http://www.cooksillustrated.com/recipes/print/detail.asp?docid=21965
From The Quick Recipe.
Serves 8 to 10.
WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
While there are a variety of methods for preparing a chocolate fondue recipe, we decided the best approach was similar to the way we make chocolate ganache: melting finely chopped chocolate in hot cream, then stirring the two together. The balance of chocolate to cream was crucial: With too much chocolate, the fondue’s texture was too thick and we couldn’t effectively dip items into it. With too much cream, the fondue’s flavor became muted and it wouldn’t cling well. In the end, we decided a little more chocolate than cream delivered the best results in our chocolate fondue recipe.

The chocolate fondue stays true to the flavor of the unmelted chocolate; therefore, we suggest using a chocolate you like straight from the package. Milk chocolate will produce a mild and sweet fondue, semisweet chocolate will bring a deeper and more bitter flavor to the fondue, and bittersweet chocolate will present a pronounced bitter and even slightly acidic flavor. If you’d like just a touch of bitterness in the fondue, you may combine milk and semisweet or bittersweet chocolates. We recommend about 3/4 cup bread, cake, or fruit per person. The fruit may be prepared up to 4 hours and the bread and cake up to 1 hour ahead of time. You will need a real fondue pot (with heat source) to keep the chocolate mixture warm and fluid.

Ingredients

• INGREDIENTS
• Accompaniments (choose from the following)
• Angel food cake , or pound cake, cut into 1-inch cubes
• Long baguette , French or sourdough, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 4 bananas , medium-ripe, peeled and cut into 1-inch-thick rounds
• 2 medium oranges , mandarin, or tangelos, peeled and segmented
• 1 fresh pineapple , quartered, peeled, cored, and cut into 1-inch chunks
• 1 pint raspberries
• 1 quart strawberries , hulled (see illustration below)
• Fondue
• 12 ounces high-quality chocolate , chopped
• 1 1/3 cups heavy cream
• Pinch salt
• 1 tablespoon corn syrup

Preparation

Step 1

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Prepare the accompaniments and set them aside.

2. FOR THE FONDUE: Place the chocolate in a medium bowl. Bring the cream and salt to a boil in a small saucepan and pour the hot cream over the chocolate. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow the chocolate to soften for 3 minutes. Whisk the chocolate until smooth, then add the corn syrup and whisk to incorporate. Transfer the mixture to a fondue pot, warm the pot over the Sterno flame for 5 minutes, and serve immediately with the desired accompaniments.

TECHNIQUE
Hulling Strawberries


Early-season strawberries can have tough, white cores that are best removed. If you don't own a strawberry huller (and almost no one does), you can improvise with a plastic drinking straw. Push the straw through the bottom of the berry and up through the leafy stem end. The straw will remove the core as well as the leafy top.

STEP-BY-STEP
Preparing the Pineapple


1. Slice 1 inch off top and bottom. Standing pineapple on one end, cut off strips of skin from top to bottom.


2. Quarter pineapple lengthwise. Place each quarter on its side and cut out light-colored piece of core.


3. Cut pineapple lengthwise into 3/4-inch strips. Turn 90 degrees and cut crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces, (or dice as recipe instructs).