chocolate and....

[umbushi plum]

which chocolate combo floats your boat? mint, coffee, strawberry etc...
personally i love almost all the wide spectrum of chocolate combos especially mint although i know a lot of people disagree on this, i understand so dose my father its ok, i also love the controversial coconut and aslo the rum and raisin or fruit and nut varieties (i'm autralian cadburry rules) caramel is a popular one and it is very nice, another aussie favourite is the caramello koala mmm, over all though for me chocolate and mint is my ultimate with a close second coconut and third beiing rum and raisin and caramel sorry i got distracted by the chocolate i mean flavour i mean chocolate hmm anyway....

chocolate and... what floats your boat :-)

[chef chicklet]

Bittersweet or Dark Chocolate, and together, chocolate and marshmallow or cherries.
A hazel nut. Oh and caramel, really good caramel. To absolute die for. And sometimes if I can find it , that seafoam candy. YUM!

[HillJ]

I just started noticing chocolate and LEMON becoming very popular. In cakes, tortes and cookies. But then today the story of the Lemoncello company ran on television and they showed a lemon chocolate bar that was yellow in color. Intrigued me. LEMON & chocolate, I've got to try that.

[linguafood]

Pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds.

Vanilla & cinnamon -- both flavors at Puccini Bomboni. That stuff is worth killing for!

[limster]

One of my favourite dishes at a restaurant is venison with chocolate sauce and dried apricots and prunes. The sauce is a red wine reduction that gets a nutty richness from chocolate.

[Avalondaughter]

My favorite combos are:

Hazelnut
Banana
Coffee
Peanut Butter
Almonds

[umbushi plum]

mmm i love chocolate covered almonds especially dark and truffles with almons are awesome. and i used to buy a baci (hazlenut truffle) at a cafe we went to for breakfast every weekend with my family when i was two they rule!

[umbushi plum]

ok i just tried a marmite chocolate truffle, and heres the shocking part i liked it. this is of course coming from a fully indited vegimite loving aussie, but still it actually wasn't bad.
it was with dark 70% chocolate and the salty deep smooth flavour was awesome! and hey i was ingesting valuable b vitamins and antioxidants (hmmm and fat and sugar etc etc)

[umbushi plum]

by the way i tried to get a friend to eat one (which suprsingly was not hard) he loved it and stole my box!

[lcool]

Dark,intense,bitter sweet 70% cacao with
COGNAC,PORT,some bourbons,scotchs.and orange flavoured brandies etc
Softer versions with coffee,expresso,and a very long list of herbs,fruit and tea

[Kagey]

Marzipan
Orange
Chili

That's about it. Otherwise I don't really like to taint my chocolate with anything!

[umbushi plum]

tried a dark 90% truffle with chilli wow it was intense but sooooo good! also tried the 90% with a hint of orange truffle not so good. for me anyway but orange is a flavour i don't particularly yearn for with chocolate.

[revsharkie]

Yeah, I had a dark chocolate bar with chile not too long ago, and I loved it. It was just warming. I tend to add cayenne pepper to hot cocoa in cold weather, too.

[umbushi plum]

ooh that sounds good i love a spicy hot cocoa in winter! i use just straight cocoa with nothing added from the health food store, its so pure and much nicer in my opinion than sweetened.

[abeane]

chocolate and peanut butter
chocolate and hazelnut (Bueno candy bars rock my world, so does Nutella)
chocolate and strawberries/raspberries
chocolate and nuts (Trader Joe's has a delicious carton of chocolate-covered roasted nuts)
chocolate and orange
chocolate and mint (I just tried a dark chocolate and mint Lindt bar mmmm.......)
chocolate-dipped frozen bananas (which are best eaten as soon as the chocolate sets on the frozen banana)
chocolate and chipotle

But I guess I'd be willing to try just about anything with chocolate. All this talk of chocolate, I think I need a little mid-afternoon snack...

[umbushi plum]

try the mint lindt balls they are very nice !

[Amuse Bouches]

Mint and orange are my top two combos.

http://www.savour-fare.com

[hangrygirl]

Love the sweet and salty combo - here in Norway they sell smash - which is basically bugles covered in the best milk chocolate ever. Delicious, but unsettlingly addictive.

http://www.matvareguiden.no/bilder/86...

[kattyeyes]

LOL, sounds great--I find it amusing they call it "smash" which, seeing it's as addictive as you say it is, reminds me of crack! ;) A good friend of mine is from Finland and will be going back to visit in a few months. I'm going to put in a special request!

[Jacey]

chocolate and toffee...yum!

[JungMann]

Port
Ancho chilies
Sesame
Bacon
Corned beef (makes a great Cincy Chili)

[fbf242]

I love the combination of chocolate (especially dark) with almost everything... EXCEPT orange. I hate chocolate and orange together. Blech.

But I love it with raspberries, coffee, mint, peanut butter, just about any nut... come to think of it, though, raspberry might be the only fruit flavor that I especially enjoy with chocolate, though I can't think of any fruits that I dislike with chocolate as much as I do orange.

[TampaAurora]

As a kid, I used to love those fake chocolate oranges - smacking it on the table to break it open and sneaking pieces when my parents weren't looking.

[Sam Fujisaka]

Ya'll nuts? Chocolate and cognac or bourbon!

[kattyeyes]

I'll see your cognac or bourbon and raise you a flute of champagne!

BTW, nothing like those holiday bourbon balls made from crushed chocolate wafer cookies and LOTS of bourbon when my mom makes 'em. They are quite, um, intoxicating!

[babette feasts]

My family calls those 'booze squishies' because a little extra bourbon makes them a little soft and they don't stay round when packed in the Christmas cookie tin. Everyone's favorite!

[Sam Fujisaka]

But just a sip of boubon straight up alternated with a nibble of some good chocolate! Come back later and say that that wasn't the best!

[yum_chapulines]

A fine tequila or mezcal goes with DARK chocolate in ways that i can't describe. You ,of course, must like sipping these fine spirits. The sweetness and richness of the chocolate breaks the pungent flowery aromas of the drink

[kattyeyes]

Considering your screen name (yum_chapulines), no wonder you prefer tequila/mezcal! ;) I was the only one at my table who didn't try them when we went to Oaxaca.

We went to a tequila tasting once and still have the tasting glasses. I refer to them as our tequila bongs! Am sure it's a nice pairing with chocolate. As is port, for that matter. So many tasty combinations!

[babette feasts]

Ah, yes, many fond memories of a shared house where we would gather around the table with a pan of brownies and a bottle of tequila.

[purple goddess]

chocolate.... and a paint brush.

And Johnny Depp ;)

[alwayscooking]

tsk tsk PG

now THATs food porn (but shouldn't it be Keller to keep it true to the board?)

=)

[kattyeyes]

Skip the paintbrush--think I'd rather finger paint if it's Johnny Depp. ;) Chocolate really does go with anything, doesn't it?!

[umbushi plum]

the reason i started this thread was because my cousin had a "chocolate" party (he's 7) the other day and all the kiddies were fighting about the snack chocolate bar flavours and which one was the best (snack is a cadbury shocolate bar with six different fillings). but this morning i was finishing off the fondue that my mum made for it (as you would expect my aunt was chocolated up so gave it to us)
anyway for breakfst i dipped starwberries into it fantastic! the fondue was dark 85% lindt bars melted with a few drops vanilla extact and three tablespoons of something we call ABC spread (roated almond brazil and cashew nut paste from health stores) it is a fantastic combo especially with strawberries and i'm just about to try a bannana i think that will be nice to!

[kattyeyes]

Try a dried apricot, too!

[umbushi plum]

didn't have an apricot but thanks to the inspiration tried a prune, it was a revelation prunes are awesome with really dark chocolate i bet they would be nice accompanying a bitter sweet chocolate tart or something similar i might try it at my mums dinner party club next week!

[chicgail]

I know people who use a jar of baby prunes instead of butter in brownie recipes. Sort of like the applesauce thing.

[nmurawsk]

Dark chocolate and red wine. Mmmmmm.....

[kattyeyes]

Trashy confession: m&ms and red wine works for me, too. ;)

[HillJ]

I vaguely remember a Food Network episode where they filmed a winery that bottled chocolate wine. Boy did that sound good to me!

[kattyeyes]

Talk about two great tastes that taste great together! :)

[lcool]

Trentadue Winery releases a chocolate "port".It is lovely.

[HillJ]

Thanks lcool, I'll try to find them online.

[kattyeyes]

Chocolate and...
peanut butter
frozen key lime pie on a stick (Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm!)
apricots
raspberries
strawberries
raisins (Raisinets)
my chili recipe
my taco meat recipe
mint (am currently working my way through a box of Girl Scouts Thin Mints!)

[revsharkie]

Top on my list will always be chocolate and peanut butter. Occasionally I find myself at a candy counter where they have a gigantic peanut butter cup for sale, about the size of a bread plate. Chocolate with coffee is a close second. Chocolate with mint, with cherry, with caramel, with strawberries...but peanut butter's always gonna come out on top.

I once made a vegetarian bean soup and discovered that you could get a bit of a meaty flavor in it by adding a little cocoa. And I love mole.

[kattyeyes]

Truly two great tastes that taste great together, aren't they? Right there with you on chocolate and PB.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWMM7H...

I love the extra "something" I get in both my chili and tacos with just a bit of cocoa powder. If you don't already, try a little cinnamon, too.

[umbushi plum]

funny in australia there aren't many peanut butter chocolate combos (i think at least) the idea dosn;t appeal to me but everyone in the us seems to love it so maybe i should get my uncle (he lives in the usa) to bring back a reices pieces or something and yes mole is great my brother just came back from two years in mexico and he makes a mean mole, a guilty pleasure is having it with doritos!

[kattyeyes]

I don't care for Reese's pieces, but am a fool for Reese's peanut butter cups. Better still, in my neck of the woods, a local candy company (Munson's) has the creamiest PB centers covered in milk chocolate. I am completely shameless with them!

I do wonder if the pb/chocolate thing is largely a US treat. My friend's sister lives in Paris and was completely disgusted/shocked that we would put peanut butter sauce on an ice cream sundae (another fave). In her exact words, "Mummy puts that on BEEF!" ;)

[revsharkie]

Peanut butter M&Ms are better than Reese's pieces.

[kattyeyes]

You bet--PB M&Ms are far superior! I had actually started to say that, too, but edited myself because I was getting rambly!

[pickledginger]

If you do try something PB/chocolate, would you mind reporting back? I know other countries aren't as wild about PB as we are in the US, and I'm curious what you'll think of one of our favorite sweet combos.

For the record, I adore PB and chocolate together.

[kirinraj]

in atole with canela (champurrado)

[babette feasts]

candied orange
hazelnuts
coconut
ginger

[chicgail]

bacon
coffee
ancho chile
raisins
anything crunchy

[umbushi plum]

hmmm i've heard of bacon and chocolate interesting, i don' like bacon (i know a travesty) so i think i'll skip that one if you like crunchiy you definetley need to try an australian crunchie or violet crumble mmmm its hard spongy honeycombe covered in a thin layer of chocolate i hope that sounds appetising it is really and coffe and chocolate rule in so many forms mocha tirimisu ice cream ....

[chicgail]

Vosage makes an incredible bacon-laced chocolate bar. I would never have thought of it myself, but oh, boy. Yum.

[umbushi plum]

my brother mentioned this to me recently he highly recomends it, although he can't face it anymore he ate three blcoks in two days (lucky for him he has a metaboslism like mine and dosn't put on weight) anyway he gave me a leftover block i tried it and it may be the only way i like bacon!

[KiltedCook]

Orange

or Wasabi!

I do a dark chocolate-wasabi ganache as one of two frostings for my signature Black Pearl Cake. You don't taste the heat, but it kicks the chocolat-ness into a whole new orbit in ths same way hot chiles make mole poblano a unique experience.

[revsharkie]

Wow...I need to know more about this!

[JungMann]

The Black Pearl cake is a good recipe. I think the sesame adds a lot more to the chocolate than the wasabi does, though.

[babette feasts]

Is this the same Black Pearl from Vosges Haut Chocolat?

Kilted Cook, are you making this cake or something different for your 'signature black pearl cake'? I'd be interested to hear your variation!

[JungMann]

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/foo...

It's based on the black pearl from Vosges, which I like, though I think it needs to be less timid with the wasabi.

[babette feasts]

I'm wondering what Kilted has done to turn Vosges' signature black pearl cake into his/her signature black pearl cake.

[bayoucook]

I'm a chocolate purist. Rich, dark chocolate ONLY for me. Especially hate it with mint!

[Lenox637]

MORE CHOCOLATE!!!

[Emme]

when i used to be able to eat it, i was very anti- chocolate-and-fruit

i'd say white chocolate and key lime or whtie chocolate/pretzel
occasionally chocolate and caramel (a la rolo)
chocolate and crispies - (a la crunch or one hundred grand bar)
chocolate and honeycomb (a la Violet Crumble)
chocolate and wafer (a la whatchamacalit or kit kat)
chocolate and hazelnut (nutella...)
chocolate and cream cheese (swirl brownies)

[gordeaux]

A blend of chile ancho and pequin.

[alwayscooking]

Gordeaux - I was going to say that! Love the heat with chocolate especially for savory dishes. Second best set of chocolate enhancers are salts.

[TampaAurora]

My chocolate combo is really just chocolate and anything! If I had to decide, it would be between milk chocolate and peanut butter or dark chocolate and berries - fresh strawberries or raspberry in cooked forms. Ooh, dark chocolate and coconut. Not a huge caramel or raisin fan, but I'll eat it if you give it to me in chocolate form. Chocolate and more chocolate is good too.