I had the good fortune to attend a tasting class—a parcours initiatique—at the La Maison du Chocolat boutique on Madison Avenue in New York City. This session, called Tamanaco, was a more advanced tasting session than the last one I attended and I was particularly interested in it because it included a demonstration of ganache-making technique.

Oversized ticket clutched in hand I made it to the class at the appointed time, and, joined by nine others, made my way to the the private room in the back of the boutique where I got my first surprise: Robert Linxe was not teaching the class. (He gave the class I attended in 2002.) Instead, Pascal Le Gac, who has apparently been with him from the very beginning was there in his stead.

These initiatiques are very interesting in the sense that they are really as much about promulgating a philosophy of chocolate making as much as they are presentations of the mastery of the house of chocolate—or about selling chocolate! (I guess if you’ve made it to the class you don’t have to be sold on La Maison du Chocolat.)

LMDC’s philosophy of chocolate making can be summed up with one word, balance (in French, equilibre). In everything they do, the goal of La Maison du Chocolate is to create the perfect balance between all of the senses engaged in enjoying each of their confections.

The Tasting

On the tasting menu were five truffles, Traviata (almond and hazelnut praline with a layer of chopped caramelized hazelnuts enrobed with dark chocolate); Truffe Nature (a classic dark chocolate ganache enrobed in dark chocolate and coated with cocoa powder); Rigoletto (a milk chocolate burnt caramel enrobed with milk chocolate); Jolika (pistachio-flavored almond paste enrobed in dark chocolate); and Zagora (a mint-flavored dark chocolate ganache enrobed in dark chocolate).

As we were tasting the Traviata, we were also given a taste of the unadulterated praline paste that is used to make it. The dominant nut in this particular paste was almond (with hazelnuts), and that praline is mixed with chocolate in the ratio of 500gr dark chocolate (a bittersweet blend in which Venezuelan beans dominate over the Madagascan and Ceylonese blends that are also in the mix) to 1 kg of praline paste for the filling. Peanut butter will never be the same for me after that experience.

It was explained that the couverture used to make LMDC ganaches is always darker than the couverture used for the enrobing. The reason given is that the couverture in the chocolate needs to be more intense to stand up to the various flavors and other ingredients mixed in. (There is a more prosaic technical reason to use lighther chocolates for enrobing: thin enrobings made with couvertures with more than about a 60% cocoa content are prone to cracking.)

The balance of the Traviata is very nice, with the fruit and acidity of the Ceylonese beans in the blend balancing out the sweetness of the praline. The crunch of the layer of caramelized almonds added a welcome “adult” texture to the piece that is far more interesting than, for example, crisped rice would have been.

One thing that people may not know is that Valrhona owns La Maison du Chocolat (and has for many years). This relationship explains one of the secrets to LMDC’s unique taste: Valrhona produces about 20 different couverture blends exclusively for LMDC.)

The next piece, the Truffe Nature, is one of those sublime experiences where the utter simplicity of the product—dark chocolate mixed with cream, coated with more dark chocolate and then rolled in cocoa powder—stands in stark contrast to how difficult it actually is to produce something so refined so well.

Monsieur Le Gac revealed that LMDC uses cream with a 28% fat content and that the ratio of cream to chocolate in their ganaches ranges between 1.5 - 1.9 kg of chocolate per liter of cream. (The ratio of cream to chocolate in the ganache of the truffe nature is 1 liter to 1.8 kg.) He also revealed that after the initial mixing of the ganache it is let to cool and then, after several hours, is reheated slightly and then beaten gently. Although he did not explain exactly why this unusual technique was employed, I surmise that it is done to make the ganache lighter and fluffier. Because of the very short shelf life they are apparently not worried about bacteria formation through the incorporation of air into the ganache (and yes, they do use whisks). I asked this question directly ("Aren’t you worried about bacteria formation in the ganache through the incorporation of air using a whisk?” and it was shrugged off in a very Gallic way.)

The next piece we tried was the Rigoletto, but before we dived into that we were given samples of the burnt caramel (with cream) used for the filling. Yum. The milk chocolate chosen to mix with the caramel and for the enrobing is chosen for its complementary caramel flavors. Did I say yum, yet? At this point I also just had to try mixing some of the caramel with some of the praline from the Traviata, and the praline/caramel combination was very yummy.

I must admit that pistachio-flavored almond paste is not one of my favorite flavor combinations with chocolate. Nonetheless, the Jolika is a very well made piece with a good balance of flavors and a nigh on perfect creamy texture.

The final piece in the tasting was the Zagora, which is made by infusing fresh mint into the cream before it is added to the chopped chocolate. The result is a very fresh-tasting mint flavor in the ganache that is quite complex, with a strong bitterness characteristic of eating fresh mint leaves in the middle taste of the piece in the mouth.

Ganache Technique Demonstration

The ganache-making demonstration showed the basic process by which the mint ganache for the Zagora is made. Tthe ratio of ingredients is 50gr mint to 1 liter cream to 1.8 kg chocolate. The mint leaves (minus the stems) are snipped into the cream (which has just been taken off the boil) using scissors and let to steep for approximately 10 minutes. The cream is then strained and the mint leaves are pressed into the seive using the back of a wooden spoon (I presume to extract more of the essential oils and flavor that add the bitter quality to the ganache).

And, yes, Monsieur Le Gac used a whisk to make the ganache.

Overall, I rate LMDC’s work “superior” to “extraordinary” across the board (see the chocophile rating system for an explanation). One unusual exception to that is a new product LMDC has developed for making hot chocolate. While we were waiting for the tasting to begin we were given a taste and it would rate only a “good” to “very good” on the chocophile.com ratings scale. The taste is okay, but made according to directions it is not really substantial enough. We were given a sample box and I will make a batch differently from the instructions to see if it’s possible to make something that is as rich as it should be.

The cost of the roughly two-hour session is $50 and, from where I sat, worth every penny. The session was different from the one I attended last year, and they work hard, I was told, to ensure that the sessions are very different from year to year so that a person can attend many of them and learn something new each time. Call the boutique on 212.265.9404 to see if you can get on the mailing list for the next series that will be offered. Maybe Monsieur Linxe will be on hand to give those.

I plan to travel to Paris in April and have been invited by Monsieur Le Gac to visit. Hopefully I will have wonderful tale, not only of Paris, but of my visit to La Maison du Chocolat.