Based in Manila, Philippines, Dessert Comes First is a chronicle of the food-obsessed food writer, Lori Baltazar. This website is all about desserts, restaurants, coffee, and the pleasures of homebaking. Read more about me Transforming Tsokolate: Thin to Thick
Thu, November 17th of 2005
8:02 am
Note: This article is the conclusion to a previous post, A Lola’s Hot Chocolate.
“Shall I begin now?” Toby’s mom greeted us with a smile, when we arrived at her home. It was just a little after one in the afternoon; I was early, I knew, but I couldn’t contain my excitement. Finally, I was going to see how tsokolate transformed from an insipid liquid to a cup of thick ambrosia.
Mrs. G reached for a plastic container that held four of those large chocolate balls. She held the container out to me. I took a whiff – again that aroma of coffee fields and cocoa beans. She took two balls and dropped them into a small pot. As she measured out three cups’ worth of water, she said, “It’s usually one cup of water per ball, but we’ll add more since these are quite large.”
Setting her pot onto the burner, she turned the heat up to medium-high. I was expecting her to immediately begin stirring, but instead she turned to me. “I usually don’t stir until the water begins to boil,” she explained. “Let the tableas soften.” My goodness, I usually hacked at the tableas as soon as they were in the water. To heck with waiting for the water to boil.
As the water heated up, the tableas broke apart, staining the liquid with clouds of brown. When bubbles started to peep shyly from under the surface, Mrs. G took her batidor (wooden beater – see photo here) and quickly began stirring the mixture. At this point, the tableas had all but dissolved. With more stirring, the bubbles became larger and more frenzied. When I tried my hand with the batidor, I did my best to keep stirring in one small yet quick circular motion. This was no time for lazy circles in the pan.
I could feel the tsokolate thickening under the pressure of the batidor, due to both the stirring and the reducing of the liquid. To stop stirring now would only mean a scorched pot and wasted tsokolate. “The flame stays the same,” Mrs. G told me, “and you stir until the tsokolate is the thickness you want.”
About 15 minutes since we started cooking, the liquid in the pot was velvety, thick and glimmering. It was hard to believe that I had witnessed the transformation of water and tablea into this vivifying, vermilion liquid; still pourable, but it had crossed the line from vapid to viscous. “So you never made it this far?” Toby asked me. I shook my head. The longest I’d ever cooked tsokolate was 10 minutes, give or take.
As I sipped the tsokolate, it tasted of many things: earth, charred wood, but most of all, the soul of chocolate and sugar. Bitter from the cacao bean and sweetness from the sugar, tsokolate is a marriage of the field and earth. Add sugar and stir.
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Nice! I have a lot of Mexican chocolate, which I think is similar to tsokolate. I can’t get it to be super rich, so I’ll try your suggestion. If I don’t have a batidor, can I use a wire whisk?
[Reply]
Comment by Jessica — November 17, 2005 @ 12:12 pm
can i still get that thick texture even without a batidor? with a wire-whisk perhaps? i wana try it using antonio pueo tableas =)
[Reply]
Comment by Jennifer Tan — November 17, 2005 @ 1:18 pm
..and if you don’t have a batidor OR tableas.. what then?
Seriously – can you make your own tableas? I’d love to give it a try.
[Reply]
Comment by Anne — November 17, 2005 @ 2:27 pm
Jessica & Jennifer-
Yes, you can most definitely use a wire whisk. Just remember to keep your flame on medium to medium-high and keep on stirring to the desired consistency.
Anne-
It’s easy enough.
I don’t know how to make my own tableas. Email me your address and I’ll mail you some.
[Reply]
Comment by Lori — November 17, 2005 @ 4:06 pm
I have been looking for sites like this for a long time. Thank you!
»
[Reply]
Comment by Anonymous — November 30, 2006 @ 12:56 pm
seriously, if i email you, will you send me some tableas, too?
i’m not anne though.
i’ve always thought to just add more tableas…sometimes i use 3 tablets/1/2c water and 1/2c milk.
i will try your instructions here and see. thanks for this!
[Reply]
Comment by janey — December 3, 2006 @ 7:17 pm
I found this blog while searching for a recipe for tsokolate, and… WOW! Not only is the information here useful, but your narration makes me feel as if I really were in a kitchen and smelling all the wonderful aromas of a good ol’ cup of tsokolate–and all the wonderful memories and sensations that it evokes! Keep up the good work!
[Reply]
Comment by Niña Terol — January 4, 2007 @ 12:50 pm
Me again Ãœ I did what you suggested here and, although I didn’t have a batidor, the tsokolate came out just the way you said it would!
I’d like to prepare batches in advance and give them out to friends. How must I package and preserve the tsokolate? How long will it take before it expires? Thanks in advance for your response!
[Reply]
Comment by Niña Terol — January 4, 2007 @ 11:30 pm
[...] Filipino Tsokolate — Sounds similar to Mexican hot chocolate, even with the wooden aerator and all. I can’t seem to find any stores online that sell Tsokolate tableas, but there are apparently a couple of Filipino grocery stores in Jackson Heights. I will do some on-the-street research! [...]
Pingback by infraredherring.com » Global Warming: Hot Chocolate — March 22, 2007 @ 1:36 pm
hi. do you know the difference between tsokolate eh and tsokolate ah?
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Comment by lou — April 28, 2008 @ 8:17 pm
[...] 12, 2010 by ira I’ve been reading posts on Filipino tableas and batirols by Marketman and Lori Baltazar, in search for the perfect cup of tsokolate eh. SO I decided to try for the nth time. My sisters [...]
Pingback by finding that perfect cup of hot coco « peaches and figs — July 12, 2010 @ 6:08 pm