Chocolate lovers do not, of course, need designated holidays to celebrate the heady stuff. We eat it for breakfast, put it on toast, give it to our children, hoard it for emergencies – political, natural, emotional – and use it as currency of one kind or another. Giving your beloved some chocolate, however, can be dangerous, because boxes of the confection can be loaded not just with sugar but with expectation. I was once presented with a heart-shaped box of mediocre supermarket chocolate by a well-meaning, earnest person who was baffled when I retreated in silence with my cocoa-dusted copy of “The True History of Chocolate.” Maybe don’t do that.
Instead, direct your beloved to an excellent chocolatier or head into the kitchen and take matters into your own hands. Sure, you can make something predictable, such as a chocolate souffle or even a batch of brownies, but instead, how about serving your chocolate in liquid form and making a bowl of soup? Yes: soup.
Imagine the chocolate milk of your happy childhood crossed with a bowl of melted ganache and you get the idea. It’s absurdly easy to make (heat milk, pour over chocolate), and you can flavor the concoction or dress up its presentation in impressively baroque fashion.
Daniel Boulud has a version spiked with Sichuan peppercorns and adorned with caramel whipped cream; pastry chef Johnny Iuzzini’s comes flavored with juniper berries and topped with Cocoa Puffs (the cereal of his childhood). And on YouTube you can watch a young Jacques Torres make his baked chocolate soup (with bananas, caramel, meringue) for none other than Julia Child. (“Is this a classical dessert, chef?” asks Child, peering at the tureen. “No, I just try and put whatever I like,” says the French pastry chef, “together in a different way.” “An excellent idea,” croons Child.)