Ever eaten chocolate covered vanilla ice cream on a stick? Remember taking a bite of the chocolate and finding the coating cracking? And while you ate the ice cream, you would have to hold it upside down so it wouldn't drip down your hand?
Magnum ice creams from Unilever made its maiden journey to Chennai's Hyatt Regency hotel on March 27th. Yes, the same company that makes Kwality Walls in India. Unbelievable, right? Bloggers, photographers, ice cream aficianados and wannabe ice cream makers of the city got together for a masterclass cum tasting session of this delicious ice cream.
Chef Abhiru Biswas of Barry Callebaut and Chennai's funny man/RJ/VJ Cary Edwards started off the show with an introduction to Magnum ice creams and a chocolate taste test.
We were seated at tables which had 3 bowls of chocolate buttons, taste the contents of each bowl and identify the country of origin. All three chocolates were delicious, soon it was revealed that Bowl No. 1 contained the perfectly balanced Belgian chocolate, Bowl. No 2 milky Swiss chocolate and Bowl No. 3 dark, bitter French chocolate.
We then were given the task of tasting a stick of Magnum's Classic. The first bite was sheer bliss- the snap of well tempered chocolate that enrobed creamy, dreamy, vanilla ice cream. And the chocolate coat stayed on the ice cream till the last bite.
Asked to articulate our thoughts, adjectives like smooth, flavourful, creamy and delicious, floated around the room. Cary then got down to making a sundae with ingredients ranging from orange cake, chocolate sauce, fruit slices and Magnum bars.
Next, occupants of each table were instructed to make their own sundaes using ingredients like cake, strawberries, kiwi, pepper, star anise, grapes, celery, basil and strawberry, white and dark chocolate sauces. Only 5 ingredients could be used along with a base and a sauce. The combination of chilli and chocolates is the latest craze in Chennai. As there was no chilli among the ingredients, almost all the sundae makers used pepper. And star anise.
 |
| Pepper, star anise, kiwi, almond, basil & chocolate sauce-my table's choice! |
We also had to use Magnum's Classic- chocolate coated vanilla ice cream,
Almond- almond and chocolate coated vanilla ice cream and
Chocolate Truffle- truffle sauce mixed through chocolate ice cream and coated with Belgian chocolate.
And this what it looked like after assembly:
We then had to taste our own creations- a smart move by the Chef! The basil tasted weird in that melange of flavours, the saving grace of the evening just had to be the wonderful Magnum bars.
Chef Biswas ended the evening with a Q&A session. And with the promise that Magnum bars would very soon be available in the city at a very affordable price of Rs. 75/.
Which should give ice cream parlours in the city something to think about.
Photos courtesy Bhagirathy Samudram and Madan GC.
0 comments:
Post a Comment