Chocolate Moelleux? Grand Cru Truffle ? Gamal Nkrumah takes an axe to the knots in the art of preparing xocolatl for the contemporary palate "Genius is about patience." -- Victor Hugo Chocolate carupas de Venezuela ? Yes, it is pure chocolate with crispy and creamy slated caramel ice cream and fresh candied cumquats. The Spanish conquistadors observed the indigenous peoples of Mexico, the Aztec and Maya, grinding cocoa beans, which they called xocolatl (bitter water, in reference to the intense bitter flavour), into a rich chocolate paste. The native Mexicans added vanilla, wild honey and chili powder to agave juice and water and drank the chocolate-based concoction as a refreshing beverage. It induced an instant and unmistakable feeling of serenity and contentment -- a real joie de vivre. The conquistadors soon discovered that xocolatl, the New World miracle drink, was energising, but they thought it was too bitter for European tastes, so they added dollops of sugar, traces of aniseed and cinnamon, and the paste of almonds and hazelnuts. Chocolatiers and confectioners ever since have found chocolate an indispensable ingredient in their most exquisite desserts. Black Forest Gateau and mousse au chocolat are just two of the more popular delights of the contemporary Western pâtissier. "Nine out of ten people like chocolate. The tenth person always lies," notes artist and cartoonist John Tullius. Of all the foods first produced by the Native Americans of the Western Hemisphere, tomatoes became the most common and chocolate the most extraordinary. Potatoes, maize, avocados, beans, peanuts, pineapples, pumpkins, papayas, vanilla, tobacco and turkeys were all cultivated by the indigenous agriculturists of the Americas. But it is cocoa and its derivative chocolate that has attracted the imagination of peoples the world over. The cocoa tree that produces this heavenly food with its sublime qualities has as its botanical name Theobrima Cacao -- Food of the Gods. The ancient Aztecs divined that their gods savoured the fruit of the xocolatl. The Swiss have the quaint delusion that it was they who first created the perfect chocolate. This is in large measure due to the canny nose for business of Swiss entrepreneur Max Felchin. A quotation from Goethe graced the entrance of Felchin's company headquarters in Liebwylen in Switzerland: "The spirit out of which we act is the highest." And, sure enough, at a blind tasting at the famous Accademia Maestro Pasticceri Italiani, Maracaibo Clasificado 65 per cent was crowned the best fine-flavour chocolate in the world, a tribute to the chocolatiers of Switzerland and Felchin's genius and patience, or rather perseverance. Imagine, then, my rapture when I was told that I would be offered the chance to experiment with the arresting qualities of the dark couverture from Switzerland at a culinary masterclass under the tutelage of a highly esteemed Swiss chef. It was like a dream come true. I was in the heart of Cairo, and suddenly we were enjoying a bird's-eye view of the city while creating exquisite confectionery using Max Felchin AG products. It was one of those special moments of sublime serendipity. "Place a round rubber stencil on a parchment paper. Spray with Maracaibo Clasificado 65 per cent and remove the stencil immediately." Friendly chef Simon Badertscher wears a wily, warm expression as he instructs us in the art of preparing mouth-watering chocolate-based desserts. Badertscher, quietly efficient and prone to sudden fits of the giggles, is a Swiss national and an internationally renowned pastry chef. His enthusiasm is contagious. "I hope you are writing all this down." We were left to our own devices, and I stole a glance at the plump lady sitting next to me who was hungrily licking her index finger dripping with the delicious chocolate. She pronounced the brélée as being "Ooooh". I presume she meant it was outstandingly gratifying. Her hand flew to her forehead and her face crumpled. From hereon things got a little chaotic. The Grand Cru Truffle had barely touched my lips when I felt a sizzling liquid trickling down my spine. As if by reflex, my head whipped round to where it hurt, and I saw the plump lady wearing what looked like a strawberry blonde wig studded with blotches of liquid cocoa butter and a most malicious sneer. The lady in question got away with this particular faux pas. But this neatly sums up how such a gob-stoppingly well-connected and savvy journalist came to need to defend her position. Her earliest memories, she said, were of her mother taking her to Groppi's, the once-famous Cairene patisserie, for a chocolate cake treat. "I remember it so well -- the feisty atmosphere, the boisterousness, and the great adventure of sampling chocolate cookies." She sneezed involuntarily, and I could only think of swine flu, presumably another Mexican invention. Quelle horreur ! Had she been overwhelmed by dark Mexican arts of seduction? Or was she smitten by the conching, the key process of refining chocolate, perfected by the Swiss? "Warm up heavy cream to 30 degrees Centigrade and mix with tempered Maracaibo Clasificado 65 per cent and Maracaibo Criolait 38 per cent using a hand blender." Our instructor quickly clears away the dishes, pots and pans. Badertscher's demonstration is arresting. We, half a dozen women journalists and two mesmerised men, watch Badertscher at work, as if hypnotised. There is something stoic about his demonstration. "Eat whatever makes you happy. Chocolate is a mood-modification agent." But that is chocolate in its pure form, which Badertscher assures us, is simply unpalatable. "Sugar is a taste enhancer, and therefore must be added to chocolate for flavour." Eating chocolate makes an old man feel young again. More mature women who don't mind enhancing their feminine appeal also eat this magical substance. Faced with such an irresistible product, information on the risks of overindulgence is highly anecdotal. No definitive research has been done on the long-term effects of intemperance when it comes to chocolate. I summon the courage to ask Badertscher if diabetics can enjoy chocolate in moderation. He offers some whimsical vignettes. "Well, a little will not kill you," he falters. He is the first to admit the problem is a thorny one. "Indeed, indeed, it is," he says hesitantly. "I don't know about that." The sun wasn't shining, but the panoramic view from the revolving restaurant of the Cairo Grand Hyatt was magnificent. My mind wandered to the weirdest of Mexican dishes, the redoubtable mole poblano. A chocolate-based sauce, served with chicken or turkey, this contains traditional Mexican crumbled chocolate as well as onions, garlic, tomatoes, plantains, sesame, almonds, peanuts, raisins, prunes, coriander seeds, cinnamon, stale white bread, tortilla, chicken stock and a cocktail of four kinds of chili and sugar. Having shrugged off the assumption that there is such a thing as sugarless chocolate, we turned to the business of making Chocolate Moelleux. Badertscher was at it again. "To take the air out of the cream," was how he put it. "Ideally, the bowl should be a little bit flat in the middle," he says in heavily accented English. "Mix and turn gently. The Moelleux must be very heavy, and it is best prepared a day before it is eaten." We take a brief detour on the history of chocolate, and it turns out that most of those present have not quite grasped the historical import of xocolatl. Consuming dark chocolate lowers blood pressure and is rich in alkaloids such as theobromine and phenethylamine that increase serotonin levels in the brain and produce antioxidants that reduce the formation of free radicals improving the circulatory system. In short, chocolate is good for your health and well-being. A waiter brings us the Grand Cru Truffle. We munch the mouthwatering delicacies. But Badertscher is at it again. "Add hot butter to begin with." He shows us how. "Don't pour it all in at once. Add a little at a time." We stir and stir. He takes over, showing off his bulging biceps. "Pipe small domes of the ganache onto the disc using a Number 10 nozzle. Let it set in the refrigerator," Badertscher announces with a ring of finality. But as it happens there is more work to be done. "Dip in tempered Maracaibo Clasificado, roll in cocoa powder and shake off the excess powder with a sieve." We move on to a different dessert -- by this time I've crammed in so much information that I cannot remember exactly what we are supposed to be preparing. "Warm up the Caramel Brélé and add the sugar mixed with vanilla beans and agar," the chef proclaims. "Boil for two minutes and let it cool to a temperature of 35 degrees Centigrade. Fold in the soft butter prepared earlier. Pour in a frame and freeze." We take a deep breath and wait for further instructions. "After freezing, make some small balls and roll in flour." This is when the biceps bulge once again. "Pipe some Ch ocolate Moelleux inside an aluminum cup. Add a frozen caramel ball in the centre and cover with Moelleux. Bake for 6-7 minutes in a convection oven. Add some icing sugar on top and serve hot." The demonstration was far from over. Badertscher proceeded to demonstrate how to make another favourite, this time petits gateaux. "Mix California almond paste with egg white and add the liquid butter. Fold the pastry flour in. Fill up small dome flexipan molds. Place some pieces of fresh apricot on top and bake in a preheated oven at 210 degrees Centigrade for about 15 minutes." He fixes us with a rather intimidating glare. "Boil heavy cream and milk. Whip the egg yolk and granulated sugar well. Combine the two mixtures and re-boil until 86 degrees Centigrade -- crème anglaise. Fold whipped cream underneath. Pipe inside a fleximold and freeze. Unmould and spray with couverture." So what next? "Place the sprayed chocolate mousse on top of the Apricot Financier inside the tartlet shell." And then he demonstrates the most intricate display of all. "Decorate with a chocolate disc on top of the dessert." Mignardise flower tartlet ? What a difficult pastry to perfect. The Grand Cru Praline Mousse was the easiest and also the most fun to prepare. The apricot financier wasn't too difficult either. The preparation of chocolate desserts entails equal measures of "genius" and "patience", as Hugo so aptly put it, for perfection indeed bears out patience. At any rate, by the end of Badertscher's presentations, chocolate, as far as we were concerned, was the most valuable food on earth.
