Chocolat: From the Cocoa Bean to the Chocolate Bar

The Belgian-born pastry chef and confectioner Pierre Marcolini won the World Pastry Cup in 1995 and has since opened an array of shops that stretch from Brussels to Monaco and from Shanghai to Honolulu. The bean-to-bar promise in this handsome book’s subtitle is born out on page 34 where instructions appear for transforming raw cacao beans into chocolate with nothing more elaborate than a professional-grade blender.

The recipes that follow include a 100-odd-page section of sophisticated home recipes for dishes savory and sweet. The nearly 200 pages addressing professionals are arranged by chocolate variety ( Forastero, Criollo, Trinitario, and Ecuador Nacional). Most recipes are suitable either for individual plating in a restaurant or for pastry case presentation. Photography is gorgeous in its simplicity.

Color photographs throughout. Hardcover.