I promised you on Friday I'd return to the NY Chocolate show for Johnny Iuzzini's demo...
So here's JOHNNY!
I don't think I'll ever misspell his name again.
His team of gorgeous assistants. And the guy down in front with the camera? 
That's Johnny's dad, who always shows up to documents his shows for posterity. Sweet no?
Johnny's an upfront, funny kind of guy and happily shared all his tricks of the pastry trade. I'll pass on as much of his wisdom as I could scribble down and translate later. Johnny was French-trained and went to CIA.
Tools are important for his superb desserts at Restaurant Jean-Georges
But every home 'chef' can get his/her hands on an isi whipped cream dispenser. Measuring ingredients is another biggie. Grandma may have used her hands to show you how much of this or that to add to a recipe, but that won't work in a pastry kitchen. Everything has got to be METRIC!
Johnny uses 1.1 grams = 28th of an ounce as his standard measure. And use a thermometer - monitor your temperatures future pastry chefs out there!
Liquid nitrogen..hmm well
Johnny demonstrates dripping chocolate straight into nitrogen to create chocolate lace, but you can do it in your home kitchen using a bucket of ice cubes.
Regarding chocolate - Johnny loves Valrhona, but other chocolates work well too - Guittard, Cluizel etc. depending on the dessert.*Buy 5 different (for example all 70%) brands of chocolates. Get to know their flavor profilesWrite down notes on file cards to refer to later.Chocolate is a lot like wine - it has terroir tooTry & Taste & Smell EVERYTHING! Smell your food first.And eat your food together, not separately. That's how it was meant to be eaten. CONTRASTS! It's important to have different textures, different flavors, different temperatures in a dessert.Always think about the textures.Like think about Mac & Cheese. Then something crunchy to up the ante.Textures are HUGE with JohnnyHis desserts are: a single flavor, single tasting, single season at Jean-Georges. He's not a reader - he likes to touch, smell, blow things up!
"Full blast! Full blast!
Google is my best friend - you can find any ingredient on the internet and where to buy it."
Et voila - Le dessert!'Chocolate Curd with crispy Cacao Nib Tuile, White Chocolate-Sesame Clouds'Quite a delicious mouthful!
So that's your taste of Johnny Iuzzini.
His book, Dessert Foreplay, is written with the home cook in mind.
And I definitely tasted A LOT of chocolate putting together this post.I hope I did you justice Johnny :)
Later on Johnny was signing books and even talking to book buyer's sons on the phone Ha!
Tell me what his flourished handwriting says, I can't figure it out... An watch Bravo's Just Desserts for the finale this week! On the back it says, Paddled, Whipped, Beaten...and left to rest.
Sunday was the last show day and the last chance for some more tastes...
Somehow or other I ended up buying a lot of pre-Xmas gifts...
My 'booty' - all GIFTS!!!
This dog in a shop nearby was giving me dirty looks as I left...
"Where's my chocolate 'chicken drumstick' milk bone?"
I went back for a second healthy dose of the Chocolate Show yesterday...
Looking for Fair Trade (Guittard has it), organic and raw...
With my sustainably niece, Louisa of Lucid Food as my guide
Ecuador's Kallihari Chocolate explains sources, methods and beans to Louisa in Spanish. I simply taste :)
Next door Pacari chocolate is organic and 'fairly'traded as they say...
This chocolate maker was in London too.
Vegan chocolate-maker Grenada has almost too many tastes...
I like the Gnosis story...
Owner Vanessa Barg makes her healthful chocolate in New York. Barg is a certified holistic health counselor and created products to cure just about anything that ails you. Simply name it.
Fairtrade Divine enriches their chocolate package with traditional Ghana Adinkra designs meaning adaptability, interdependence, creativity, vitality, harmony and patience - I will eat some of this today.
Artisanale Comptoir du Cacao said they are 'fairly' traded but the French don't care so much about these things. Oh :O
Nibmor is another New York chocolatier making vegan, organic, non refined sugar, gluten-free, non-GMO chocolates.
Yesterday I was bad. I bought the non-vegan chocolate enrobed bacon :(
