fully cooked, fully developed ingredient in its
own right, robust and forgiving. Remember
that it has been roasted and then heated again
to fairly high temperatures in the conche, and
that it’s a relatively simple physical mixture
of cocoa and sugar particles in fat. The most
that a cook needs to do to it is melt it to
perhaps 120ºF/50ºC, but it can be heated to
200ºF/93ºC and then some without suffering
disastrous effects. It won’t separate, and it
won’t burn unless it’s left over direct stovetop
heat or in a microwave oven without stirring.
It can be melted and solidified repeatedly if
necessary.
Because they contain more milk solids
than they do cocoa solids, milk chocolate and
white “chocolate” are less robust than dark
chocolate and are best melted gently.
Melting Chocolate Chocolate can be
successfully melted in several different ways:
quickly, over direct stove heat, with care and