the write to be wrong

Saturday, July 18, 2009

couverture vs compound

i decided i quite like the callebaut couverture. i can smell the choc before i even finish opening the jar. the choc has strong fragrance, like roasted beans, a hint of coffee and citrus. it's also sweet smelling.

the flavour itself is complex. it is wonderfully bitter, creamy and quite full-on. so, i'm leaning towards forastero/trinitario rather than criollo. this is bittersweet choc, so not that sweet, which is desirable for me. i taste a touch of butter - might be due to the high cocoa butter content (?). i can make out the grain, although very very very fine. texture is that - very fine and smooth, although quite dense. i dont taste citrus, fruitiness. i dont taste any acidity - another plus for my preference. overall very pleasant and velvety.

the aftertaste is just the resonating velvetiness and the slightest hint of acidity on the palette.

on the other hand, i also bought a bar of compound choc - nestle club classic. it says "rich dark chocolate". first thing i notice, no indication of combined cocoa solids/butter percentage, like most dark choc do, though it says it contains 40% cocoa solids (the callebaut has 53.8% cocoa solids). typically dark choc should have at least 70 % of combined cocoa solids and butter.

compound has typical ingredients, sugar, cocoa mass, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, but has butter oil, like most compounds do as an alternative for the more expensive cocoa butter. also has added 'flavours,' salt and milk solids. interesting that no hydrogenized veg oil is used, so not the worst of compounds.

i do smell the choc fragrance but noticably fainter than the couverture. the fragrance is mellow, sweet and there's something else that im guessing is oil. i also smell a faint citrus.

texture is crumbly rather than snappy. i immediately taste the salt, butter and sugar and then the bitterness comes through. the cocoa flavour is not as strong as the couverture. grain is rather coarse but bearable. overall not very complex. acidity surfaces and the sugar lingers as the aftertastes.

this must be quite a decent compound. i should have bought a cadbury.

the meaningful differences for me between the couverture and compound are the intense chocolatiness of the couverture and lack thereof in the compound, the texture of grain and the salt! i feel like the salt ruins the experience of the choc in the compound. definitely will not use the compound for cooking.

i havent made my mousse. i havent decided on the method and ingredients: cream/no cream, eggs/no eggs. dont think i'll be using vanilla (extract). cos mine is tahitian vanilla and it's quite strong. the purpose of my making the mousse is to taste the couverture in a recipe.

|6:45 PM|