From the very beginning of culinary school, perhaps, even that first day of “Skills” with Chef Kennedy, I knew I was destined for pastry and chocolate.

However, one of my favorite classes that tested my curiosity was not one of baking. It was the study of the cold kitchen – Garde Manger- and it was truly a hoot! The odd and indefinable Chef Lewan was my chef instructor and every class period was an, um, adventure – to be sure! There was quite a bit of research and writing for that class and he and I went back-and-forth as to the value of a semi-colon; I loved them and he hated them!

I remember the very moment I drew the line in the flour as to which side I was on; sweet not savory. It was the week of… “Sausage” and these are excerpts from the research and terminology paper required for that week…

Surviving Sausage Making – Confessions of a Closet Pastry Chef

“ People who love sausage and people who believe in justice should never watch either of them being made!” ~Otto Bismark

Dear Chef Lewan,

I love sausage! Really Chef, I do…and I also believe in justice. So if you believe me to have not met all the criteria you set forth for this paper and choose to give me a less than desirable grade, I would understand, for that may well be justice.

This is, in fact, the wurst paper I have written in some time. Somehow, through all this thick opinion, I need to convince you Chef, that I did all the research that you required of me! I apologize for the sloppiness of this soliloquy – it is one long hank of disjointed thoughts with entirely too many run-on sentences. I hope that I am not being un-weasend-able and that you will understand that I just needed to journal this out before I move on to canapés.

Confession! For years now, I have heard about this chasm that exists between bakers and cooks. I always questioned it and I never really believed it; I always thought it came down to a matter of preference. I always considered myself to be both a baker and a cook, maybe with a slight strength towards baking. However, this sausage research has put me over the edge. I am a baker!!! I’ll admit it. Ahhhhgh! I’m a baker!!!

I feel as if I have been farced into a corner and I need to come out fighting! Please, give me a cannoli shell to stuff, some pate au choux to bake into an éclair and pipe full of some ethereal pastry cream or, sweet raviolis stuffed with mascarpone, I’d gladly pump chocolate truffles full of ganache all day long and well into the night, but please, dear Chef! Don’t make me stuff a hog’s bladder with its own flesh and fat, or with the flesh and fat of some other animal!

I think that it is just the stuffing of fat and meat into the intestines, bladders and stomachs that gets to me! It is the law of nature that fat and meat should be flowing in and out of these things, not forcefully pumping them full and then twisting and tying them off at both ends with bubble knots?

I had no problem what-so-ever skinning that chicken, a few short weeks back. I ground up its meat and re-filled it back into its own skin to make what became a beautiful and colorful roulade, especially with the chemise of steamed spinach and roasted red peppers. I enjoyed that process ever-so-much! I’m looking forward to making terrines, pates and pates en croute. I’ve had both rillettes and my share of duck confits where those luscious meats were preserved in their own fat – love ‘em! They are true examples of a little taste of heaven on this humble planet. One of my secrets to my (maybe legacy) fried chicken is that I fry it an oil that is part schmaltz to flavor it up a bit.

I love a good brat with a natural casing that pops when you bite into it. I love bresaola (stuffed in beef bung) with a little drizzle of lemon juice, e.v.o. and shaved Stravecchio Parmagiano –  an opera within the confines of my mouth!

I don’t believe my complex has anything to do with some aversion I might have to offal, indeed, I have no issues with offal. I don’t feel offal is awful, at all! I also find the beautiful webbing of caul fat is a natural wonder, indeed. Heck, as a kid, I cleaned chicken gizzards for part of a summer and I turned out okay (also, a matter of opinion, I suppose).

So what is my problem, dear Chef Lewan? I mean, really, is a sausage stuffer all that different than a hand held cookie press – they both have nozzles and pistons and removable cylinders, my Guru of Garde Manger? I love the science of the whole concept of sausage making – the science and art combination is what I enjoy about baking! I can see the art in terrines, color sheets, roulades and the like, but, I just can’t see it stuffed into a hank of sheep’s intestine… am I blind? Is my normally open mind clouded by tunnel vision through convoluted chitterlings?

Perhaps, this is bringing up some suppressed childhood memory for me. Maybe, this week is proving to be some sort of therapy for me, I don’t know, but, in my opinion this sausage business just isn’t pretty! Don’t get me wrong, I have eaten my share of sausage! For goodness sake, both my parents were from South Carolina and I grew up on “Jimmy Dean” and grits.

I knew my father secretly dreamed of one day making his own sausage. I remember when he became so excited to outfit our family bakery with a shiny new Kitchen-aid mixer, not because this tool would make our lives easier, but because it had the potential to grind and stuff sausages, if he were only to buy the correct attachments!

In order for me to be able to write anything, and I love to write, I have to feel something about the subject, some sort of passion. All week long I have been trying to have words flow from me about sausage. The cheese paper was easy! I could write volumes more about cheese, but this sausage thing was a struggle for me. The more I researched it, the bigger my writer’s block became! My head felt like the hopper of a sausage grinder, the funnel extension down to the blades was plugged up with a big ol’ hunk of frozen fat-back. I tried to find a tamper to get this information flowing, but just thinking about all this created a large bubble knot in my throat and made me want to go poach myself in a hot sanitizing shower.

Enough! Enough! Please give me some chocolate to console myself with! Make this quarter come to an end quicker and please, please, please, catapult me two Labs down the hall into Chef Winter’s Bakeshop!…

Perhaps, the inspiration of this post is a new product we are carrying – Olympic Provisions Chocolate Salamis. Not to worry – these Italian inspired cylindrical treats are made to look like charcuterie, but are anything but:

Salame De Chocolat- Italian style chocolate ganache with candied orange peel, nuts, and Oregon grappa

Salchichon De Chocolat- Spanish style chocolate ganache with a hint of smoke and spice, candied grapefruit, nuts and Sherry

Saucisson Au-Chocolat French style dark chocolate ganache with a hint of warm baking spices, nuts, candied ginger, and red wine

Thanks for letting me share, my Lovelies!

-Mdme Chocolat

I made the cacao trees that grow at 805 Pearl Street! You see, one of the interesting and somewhat challenging things that come up when you seek to lease out a space are the “bones” of existing architecture that you must adopt. Having been a graphic artist and sign builder in my former life, one of my biggest revelations was when I acknowledged how when parameters were placed on a project I was working on, the more creative I became… My cacao tress are an excellent example of just that.

My “trees” are actually support posts to beams in my “chocolate” ceiling. Although, I inherited the space from Bayleaf (now at 1222 Pearl), rumor has it that my space was once the very memorable Time Out Hot Tubs and, at that time, there were many hot tubs on the roof requiring extra support posts in the main space. I won’t go into too much detail, but many of our guests have blushed as they remembered their experiences at Time Out HT, mmmmm…? My broker had admitted to working as a server there. All of this is a very different story, indeed!

Suffice to say, we were able to remove several of the posts, but our mechanical engineer insisted that two needed to remain.

These two posts were not far from the wall or each other and created a rather tight space. So, I embraced this opportunity and with a little chicken wire, rebar and papier-mâché, I created our cacao trees.

I bent and twisted fifteen 10 foot pieces of rebar and attached them to the posts at irregular intervals with self-tapping screws, rebar twist ties, and baling wire. I then attached the ends with screws and wire to the underside of the beams in the ceiling. I took each bar and wrapped it in many layers of chicken wire.

I bought several hundred “bird nest fern” silk plants from Michael’s craft store – they were the closest thing I could find that resembled cacao leaves. I wired them onto the tree skeleton much like you would if you were adding feathers to a tied fishing fly (and yes, I also can tie flies). This would give them strength so that I could pull, twist and arrange them the way I liked.

I sacrificed one of my beloved cacao pod molds and used it to create several life-like pods with plaster of Paris. Before the plaster set up completely, I sunk baling wire into it to give a hook to attach it to the tree. I initially tried to make the pods from other materials including papier-mâché, but they were too light and did not hang properly from the tree – they felt fake and awkward. When the cacao pods are ripe on a real tree, they are very heavy with thick rinds like small pumpkins and contain a lot of moisture. It was important to me for the pods to hang properly.

Cacao trees are very funny looking trees. They are cauliflourous – meaning the flowers and fruits sprout directly from the trunk and not the branches like apples or oranges do. For those that haven’t traveled to the tropics, a cacao tree appears very exotic and otherworldly. BTW, the Denver Botanical Garden has a wonderful cacao specimen in their green house! It has flowered and produced fruits for many years now – truly a must-see for all cacao lovers!

After I attached the heavy plaster pods to the trunk with more baling wire, I wrapped mesh drywall joint tape around and over the chicken wire to give a toothy surface for my papier-mâché to adhere to.

I have used a wonderful craft product for years that I just love! It is called “Celluclay” from Activa, a delightful company in Marshall, Texas (wonderful customer service, too!) Here is their website: www.activaproducts.com/. I will send them a picture of how I use their wonderful product!

What is unique about Celluclay is that it is non-toxic and comes as what appears to be dried ground up newspaper with a paste already mixed in. All you need to do is add water and it mixes into a thick modeling paste – my kids love it, too!!! Working from the bottom up, I slathered the papier-mâché paste onto the skeleton, using my thumbs to create pruned branch stubs and rough bark. After a few days, the mâché was dry enough to paint.

I spent many enjoyable hours on a ladder with Yo-Yo Ma and Anne Sophie Mutter (on my IPOD) building my trees. One of my fondest memories was getting to know some of my neighbors during this construction phase. Many would pop in and say, “Hi!” as I worked. Anna, you all know her as “Ma” of Zoe Ma Ma, would frequently stop in on her way to work and we would chat.

Actually, I haven’t finished painting my trees yet. One of these early mornings, you will catch me and Yo-Yo on the very tall ladder finishing the painting of my trees… before I start my day melting lovely chocolate.

A lot of love went into my space, piece by piece. When you come in to visit, I know that you will feel it, too!

Sarah created their chocolate wedding cake, a giant rainbow teacup with the Flatirons in the background – “Yes, Please!”

We wish you all our love for your continued happiness.

The simple answer is that cacao refers to the fruit in it’s most raw form. The base of this word comes from the Latin plant name given to this small under story tropical tree by the “Father of Taxonomy” Swedish born Carl Linnaeus. The name is a literal translation of the Central Mexican Mayan people’s cherished belief that cacao was “Food of the Gods”.

Cacao remains cacao until it is processed. Once winnowed and roasted, a portion of the cocoa butter is pressed out of the beans and only then is it properly referred to as “cocoa”. When the cacao beans are fully processed without removing any of the rich cocoa butter, sometimes sugar, emulsifiers, and milk solids are added to create our beloved chocolate.

“Raw” chocolates are never fully roasted or processed and are mostly referred to as “raw chocolate” or “raw cacao”.

Something to sink your chocolate lovin’ fangs into! Come in a try one today! Yum-ilicious, indeed!