Glory to the Béchamel....Yes a new way to apply two old tricks

So, this morning a thought occurred to me, a technique that I used before to glorious ends.

...So, who among you out there like Chocolate Pudding? *Waits for imaginary responses* What about a Rich Chocolate Dessert that could only be described as Liquid Sex? *Waits for considerably more enthusiastic responses* I know most people like chocolate cake, what about combining the two?

And How did I come to this conclusion? Well, truth be told this method has been one that has been knocking around my skull for the last couple years. Have I tested this recipe? See the above questions. Very recently I've been craving two things in particular, 1) Mexican food, and 2) pasta with a nice creamy silky sauce. I admit this posting is more based on the latter, because what does a cheese sauce have to do with Chocolate Pudding? One word my friends: Béchamel. It's the Technical name for a milk based sauce that is thickened with a Roux, I like to smile at myself that this Greek-Italian discovery was officially taken as the "plastic" of the french Culinary movement. Why Plastic? Because if you can make Béchamel out of milk and roux there are dozens of sauces that can be made...though not long ago it occurred to me that in my searches of my cooking literature I did not find any use of the Béchamel in a dessert manner, I found this very odd. So, somehow the idea of combining a Béchamel with chocolate came to me. If you know me outside of this blog you know that I had to sate my curiosity by making the dish. and of course what happened was that I discovered a way of making a fantastically rich form of Pudding. The Béchamel takes to chocolate like Mango takes to White chocolate, not something that you'd normally think might work, but if you were paying attention enough you find that they complement each other beautifully. (Trust me the mango-white chocolate thing is another post.) so since I've no doubt whetted your taste buds for the dish I might as well tell you what I did to make it.

First I made my Béchamel, taking equal parts Butter and Flour...at the time I was making a lot, so if you just want enough for you... Say 45 ml of Butter and flour and 1/2 Liter of Milk.

First, Get your wisk close to the pot that you intend to make this in, you'll need it ASAP when I tell you you'll need it and I never recommend searching around for equipment when time is indeed an issue. Take your milk and either heat it up(in a microwave, or slowly inside a pot) to about room temperature or just over. Now to the Roux! Here's what you do, you melt the butter in a pot say over low-medium, and after the butter has been melted you pour your flour into the butter and stir the flour into the butter until both ingredients are completely incorporated with each other, if you need to use your wisk do so. It should look kinda gross and smell like flour and butter, but trust me it's a roux. Just stir it around until it's bubbled for a couple minutes, at that point the flour should be completely cooked through. Now, get your wisk and your milk.

Slowly pour the milk into your roux and wisk CONSTANTLY to combine. You don't want ANY and I do mean ANY lumps in your sauce, though this should not be an issue if you did your job with the roux in the first place. When you combine the two ingredients, raise the heat to medium, you want to see some small bubbling in the dish when you've combined the two ingredients. You should notice that the milk is now nice and thick. TURN DOWN THE HEAT...trust me, burnt milk is bad, burnt Béchamel is a crime against taste.

Chocolate Pudding
Ingredients:
Béchamel
Chocolate: 250 ml-450ml (broken-up chocolate, Chocolate chips, whatever.)
Liquor: 60ml(Orange, Coffee, Hazelnut)(Optional but worth it.)

Take your warm Béchamel, place it over a low heat, just enough to maintain a warm temperature, and mix in the chocolate into the sauce until it melts, if you aren't opposed to making more dishes use a double boiler and melt the chocolate and mix. Now, I suppose you're wondering why I have a variable amount of chocolate for a fairly static recipie. Simple, not all chocolate is make alike, and not all chocolate cravings are easily sated. I have listed the maximum amount you should need and the minimum amount you should need, do some work of your own and find what works...and if I need to tell you how to add 60mls of Liquor to a dish...no comment.