Summary
An eccentric entrepreneur with a mission to educate the British public into the delights of top quality chocolate, Willie Harcourt-Cooze, star of the Channel 4 series Raising the Bar , shows how to use the ultimate luxury ingredient in a collection of over 60 mouth-watering recipes. In the first half of Willie's Chocolate Factory Cookbook , Willie tells the extraordinary story behind his dream to produce the very best chocolate in the world. Twelve years ago, he and his wife Tania sold everything they had to buy a cacao farm in the Cloud Mountains of Venezuela. Their chocolate dream took the family to near bankruptcy, and from the wilds of Venezuela, where Willie learnt how to be a cacao farmer, to the rolling hills of Devon, where he built a small chocolate factory and now makes his 100% cacao bars.We're conditioned to think that chocolate is a confectionary, when in actual fact the real thing is the most wondrous, versatile ingredient. Willie's recipes show how 100% cacao can enrich an astonishing range of dishes, from Tiramisu and Venezuelan Hot Chocolate to Chicken Mole and Porcini Risotto. Like salt, just a small amount can strengthen or bring out the flavours in food, or simply add depth and richness and body.With stunning photography and fantastic, easy-to-follow recipes (including those from his Channel 4 programmes), Willie's Chocolate Factory Cookbook is perfect inspiration for all food-lovers. The chocolate revolution starts here...
Willie Harcourt-Cooze grew up on a windswept island off the west coast of Ireland where a childhood spent making cheese, smoking fish and pickling fruit inspired his enduring passion for food and adventure. After travelling in Asia and South America, it was in Venezuela that Willie discovered his lifetime passion for chocolate, bought a hacienda and planted 10,000 cacao trees. He lives with his wife Tania and their three children in Devon and makes chocolate from bean to bar.
