Cooking
In Berkeley there are two famous Alices. One is Alice Waters, executive chef and owner of Chez Panisse, the great proponent of organic and sustainable food production and then there is Alice Medrich. Alice Medrich revolutionized the way way we think about chocolate in this country. Her store Cocolat which opened in 1976 sold the most decadent chocolate desserts and truffles ever. Gourmet magazine famously said, "Cocolat is to chocolate what Tiffany's is to diamonds". Growing up in the Bay Area Alice Medrich was the much bigger star in my constellation. Working at a gourmet food store that carried her products I had firsthand experience of her delicious confections. And so did many folks in the Bay Area as her stores expanded and a wholesale business was developed.
After college I briefly considered going to work for Alice Medrich at Cocolat, but given my retail experience, I was wanted in the store, not in the kitchen which is where I wanted to be. But I got to try my hand with her recipes as she wrote cookbook after cookbook. In fact, in the early and mid-1990's she again revolutionized the thinking on chocolate by coming out with a groundbreaking low-fat dessert cookbook. Her lower fat recipe for chocolate decadence is a classic to this day.
I got to hear Alice Medrich speak this past weekend, promoting her new book, BitterSweet--Recipes and tales from a life in chocolate. Medrich has gone back and retooled old recipes and created new recipes to work with the great quality chocolate that is more available to home cooks today than it ever was. Most of the chapters of the book begin with bits of Alice's memoirs. It is a wonderful way to learn about chocolate and the woman who introduced so many of us to the pleasures of something we take for granted today--truffles.
- Meet Alice Medrich At Charles Chocolates Postponed
Photo ©Abigail Huller Since the 1800's, the Bay Area has been a delicious environment for chocolate. Early on immigrants like Guittard and Ghirardelli made their fortunes not in gold, but in chocolate and their companies exist to this day. Our cool...
- Pure Dessert
I've said it before, but I'm in awe of Alice Medrich. She was an early chocolate evangelist in the Bay Area, who brought us luscious desserts and truffles, inspired by what she had tasted and learned in France. Over the past few years she has...
- Never Enough Chocolate
Is there anything sadder than an empty box of chocolates? I'm not sure there is. If your mom is as big a fan of chocolate as my mom is, consider pairing a box of chocolates with something chocolatey that will last a whole lot longer. Like a book...
- Got Hot Chocolate?
You know the popular image of hot chocolate as well as I do. Hot chocolate is most notable as the beverage of choice when one is relaxing fireside, in an alpine lodge, possibly after schussing down a snow-covered mountainside. But it really shouldn't...
- Chocolate Revisited
Alice Medrich's book Bittersweet: Recipes and Tales from a Life in Chocolate was published a little over a year ago, since then I've noticed how crazy we are for chocolate. Again. It seems we are rediscovering how great chocolate is, especially...
Cooking
Bittersweet Cookbook
In Berkeley there are two famous Alices. One is Alice Waters, executive chef and owner of Chez Panisse, the great proponent of organic and sustainable food production and then there is Alice Medrich. Alice Medrich revolutionized the way way we think about chocolate in this country. Her store Cocolat which opened in 1976 sold the most decadent chocolate desserts and truffles ever. Gourmet magazine famously said, "Cocolat is to chocolate what Tiffany's is to diamonds". Growing up in the Bay Area Alice Medrich was the much bigger star in my constellation. Working at a gourmet food store that carried her products I had firsthand experience of her delicious confections. And so did many folks in the Bay Area as her stores expanded and a wholesale business was developed.
After college I briefly considered going to work for Alice Medrich at Cocolat, but given my retail experience, I was wanted in the store, not in the kitchen which is where I wanted to be. But I got to try my hand with her recipes as she wrote cookbook after cookbook. In fact, in the early and mid-1990's she again revolutionized the thinking on chocolate by coming out with a groundbreaking low-fat dessert cookbook. Her lower fat recipe for chocolate decadence is a classic to this day.
I got to hear Alice Medrich speak this past weekend, promoting her new book, BitterSweet--Recipes and tales from a life in chocolate. Medrich has gone back and retooled old recipes and created new recipes to work with the great quality chocolate that is more available to home cooks today than it ever was. Most of the chapters of the book begin with bits of Alice's memoirs. It is a wonderful way to learn about chocolate and the woman who introduced so many of us to the pleasures of something we take for granted today--truffles.
- Meet Alice Medrich At Charles Chocolates Postponed
Photo ©Abigail Huller Since the 1800's, the Bay Area has been a delicious environment for chocolate. Early on immigrants like Guittard and Ghirardelli made their fortunes not in gold, but in chocolate and their companies exist to this day. Our cool...
- Pure Dessert
I've said it before, but I'm in awe of Alice Medrich. She was an early chocolate evangelist in the Bay Area, who brought us luscious desserts and truffles, inspired by what she had tasted and learned in France. Over the past few years she has...
- Never Enough Chocolate
Is there anything sadder than an empty box of chocolates? I'm not sure there is. If your mom is as big a fan of chocolate as my mom is, consider pairing a box of chocolates with something chocolatey that will last a whole lot longer. Like a book...
- Got Hot Chocolate?
You know the popular image of hot chocolate as well as I do. Hot chocolate is most notable as the beverage of choice when one is relaxing fireside, in an alpine lodge, possibly after schussing down a snow-covered mountainside. But it really shouldn't...
- Chocolate Revisited
Alice Medrich's book Bittersweet: Recipes and Tales from a Life in Chocolate was published a little over a year ago, since then I've noticed how crazy we are for chocolate. Again. It seems we are rediscovering how great chocolate is, especially...