Indulge in All That Chocolate
By Kwon Mee-yoo
Staff Reporter
``All Cacao'' a six-course meal flavored with the finest chocolates for each dish goes beyond the conventional use of chocolate as a mere dessert ingredient. The Grand InterContinental Seoul's Executive Sous Chef Eric Pellen created the menu, tasting some two kilograms of chocolates by himself for six months.
Pellen is a French chef with culinary experiences in various European countries, as well as Egypt. Using chocolate in different dishes is a new trend in France and the chef devised a chocolate-featured menu to share this new sensation with his guests at the hotel's French restaurant Table 34.
The chef started to develop the special chocolate menu last November. He first read books on chocolate to learn more and then made various combinations of different chocolates, products and vegetables to learn the best combinations of ingredients.
``You have to be careful not to have one product overtaking the other,'' Pellen told The Korea Times Wednesday. ``It is very important to keep balance.''
The course employs seven different kinds of chocolates in 11 ways. White, dark and milk chocolates are used and cacao leaf, cacao nib and cacao butter are applied as well. In addition to basic explanations of the dishes, descriptions of each type of chocolate used are included on the menu.
In the Grue chocolate and tuna tataki, red capsicum and mango salad with yuzu vinaigrette selection, Pellen chose a slightly sweeter tuna to match the strong, bitter cacao. With sweet mango and sour yuzu vinegar, the dish has all four tastes on it.
``The major product for main dishes, beef and halibut, are both popular ingredients in Korea,'' Pellen said. He emphasized the quality of the product itself to make delectable dishes. However, he again exhibited his skill in showcasing various flavors on one plate.
For the roasted halibut, cacao polenta, pistachio foam, asparagus and spicy chocolate shavings, sweet pistachio, salty fish sauce, bitter polenta and spicy chocolate altogether entertain diners' taste buds.
At the end of the course, two desserts are served ― one cold and one warm. Light ivory cream and mango caramel sauce are served in the shape of cooked eggs to delight not only the mouths but also the eyes of guests. Meanwhile, white and dark chocolate creme brulee and chocolate sorbet use Guanaja, 70 percent cacao with an extraordinary bitterness, revealing an aromatic range of warm tones.
The course seems to please guests who always seek something new. ``People are surprised because they didn't know that chocolate can go so well with starters or main dishes,'' he said. ``This menu will open a new vision of world to guests.''
Chef Pellen is quite interested in fusing Korean ingredients and French cuisine. ``I think Korean cuisine is misunderstood by foreigners,'' he said. ``When I create a dish, I try to imagine what types of produce I can use.'' As a result, he's been trying various ways to cook Asian products via different culinary techniques. For example, yuzu dressing used for the appetizer is an Asian touch added to the course.
There also are two appetizers in Table 34's regular menu that use Korean pork belly and pork cheek from Jeju Island. Sweet and sour cabbage terrine is a French version of kimchi, according to Pellen. ``I put tomato chutney between the layers of cabbage. It looks like kimchi, but the taste is different,'' he said. ``This could be an example of globalization of Korean produce.''
The culinary adventure of Pellen seems to continue. He plans have some other chocolate-infused dishes to regular items and is working hard to find other ingredients he can use to create new dishes.