March 5, 2018

Taste of England: Chocolate Wine Inspired by Heston Blumenthal

Chocolate and wine, two of the guiltiest pleasures, combined. The three-Michelin starred British chef Heston Blumenthal created this recipe for his restaurant Fat Duck in Bray, England.

Read about this restaurant experience here: The Fat Duck by Heston Blumenthal: The Curious Case of Molecular Gastronomy

As always the case with him, the chef's recipe includes some wild methods and techniques that are hard to reproduce for a home cook. The original recipe makes use of a centrifuge to separate the solids from the wine. However, we can certainly take his idea and simplify it to create this decadent chocolate wine. Serve it with some shortbread cookies or chocolate.

CHOCOLATE WINE

Ingredients

1 btl Red wine, preferably Maury or Banyuls
75 g Valrhona milk chocolate, chopped
150 ml skimmed milk

Instructions

Bring wine to a simmer.
Using a kitchen torch set it alight and let the flame burn out. Continue to simmer the wine to reduce it by half.
Place the chopped chocolate in a bowl and the milk in a pan. Bring milk to a simmer, then pour it over the chocolate.
Use a hand held blender to mix in the reduced wine, then refrigerate and serve your chocolate wine when cold.