Chocolate Week 2012 Preview

Chocolate lovers unite, for it’s that time of year again.  Forget Easter, as from 8th October to 14th October 2012, there’s a whole week devoted to chocolate.  Chris Osburn has a round up of some of the best events taking place in London 

Okay folks, I’ll keep this short, sweet and at least 70% cacao. It’s that time again. Chocolate Week, a whole week’s worth of choco-rific celebrations, takes place from October 8th  to the 14th  at various venues across London and around the UK and culminates in a Chocolate Unwrapped weekend held in the heart of London’s Covent Garden at the London Film Museum’s newspace there.

From chocolate chicken mole burritos (at Mexican restaurant group, Benito’s Hat) to a Paul A Young pop up shop (at The Folly restaurant and bar near Monument in The City) with all sorts of quality demos, tastings and indulgent special offers in between, Chocolate Week 2012 promises to be bigger and better than in years past.

Just the two day Chocolate Unwrapped event alone will see more than 50 exhibitors from around the world and will even host UK premiere screenings of a new choc-umentary, Nothing Like Chocolate.

One thing is sure to remain same. It’s going to be an exceedingly popular week with a calendar oozing with lots of awesome events. A proactive chocolate fiend would check out chocolateweek.co.uk and chocolateunwrapped.co.uk for more details along with a full list of participants and a calendar of events. Booking ahead for any happenings that look particularly appealing would be wise.

If you can’t make the events, never fear, as at Great British Chefs we’ve a whole host of chocolate recipes to keep all chocoholics happy.

Food Festivals this weekend October 14th -16th 2011

There are lots of foodie events this weekend and as it is nearing the end of Chocolate Week (yes, we’re sad too), we have added a few chocolate events for you to enjoy.

Melange Chocolate is celebrating its 3rd  birthday with a chocolate food and music festival in Peckham at October 15th from 2pm-11pm. Expect a feast for the senses and enjoy music and chocolate inspired food from countries that produce the infamous cocoa beans. 

Enjoy a free lunchtime chocolate making session at The Chocolate Cellar in Liverpool on October 14th and October 16th . Places are going quickly, email: chocshop@thechocolatecellar.co.uk to secure your place!

Chocolate Week will culminate with a two-day Chocolate Unwrapped showcase at Vinopolis on the 15th and 16th October  There will be more than 40 exhibitors on hand, including Britain’s best chocolate makers as well as exhibitors from France, Italy, Switzerland, Hungary, Holland and Germany. The event is an opportunity not only to eat chocolate but also to view chocolate art, meet and talk with chocolatiers, attend talks and demos and even relax in a Harvey Nichols pop-up chocolate café or watch chocolate being made in the smallest chocolate factory in the world. 

The Autumn Cheese and Wine Festival at London’s Southbank, now in its second year, will take place on October 14th-16th . There will be demonstrations, talks and experts to answer your questions. You will also be able to try some of the world’s best cheese and wine.

The Arundel Food Festival is a week-long festival running from October 14th - 23rd. The week is packed with great food related activities for you to enjoy.  You can make your own fresh juice or cider, just bring the apples or pears and volunteers from Agenda 21 will assist you with the ‘pressing’.  There will also be a smoothie blending bicycle for you to ride… sounds interesting. As Arundel is a recognised ‘Fair Trade Town’ , expect advice on how to save food and make it more sustainable. 

Keeping with the autumnal theme, the Apple and Autumn Fruits Food Fair has come at just the right time. Celebrate Britain’s favourite fruit, with apple pressing, apple tasting and apple picking. Go and talk to the local Bee Keeper, he will explain how Bees are crucial for the growth of an apple.

The Eat Dorset Food Festival runs from October 14th - 16th, and promises to be an event for all the family to enjoy.  The children need not worry about getting bored as there will be a number of food workshops such as bread making, chocolate making and cake decorating for them to enjoy. There will also be demonstrations from top chefs such as Lesley Walters and Valentine Warner, who will be sharing their cooking tips.

And finally if you have the opportunity to head over to the Birmingham Food Fest  on October 14th - 23rd you can enjoy a 10 day gastronomic adventure which will leave your taste buds well and truly exercised.  Birmingham is known for its diverse food and culture, this will be replicated at the festival as you will be able to experience 27 cuisines during 10 days! 

Please let us know if you visit any of these festivals & events, we would love to see some pictures (which are best uploaded onto our Great British Chefs Flickr Group). Also we’re sure to have missed some special food festivals taking place in Great Britain this weekend (not weekly food markets, there are hundreds of those every week), so please let us know in the comments. Enjoy!

Blog post by Monique from Great British Chefs

Milk Chocolate & Hazelnut Flapjacks from Josh Eggleton

With our celebration of Chocolate Week, we uploaded a picture onto Foodspotting of Josh Eggleton’s wonderful flapjacks from his Michelin starred pub The Pony & Trap.  You got very excited about them on Facebook and demanded the recipe faster than we can actually get it onto our site at Great British Chefs (we have BIG changes approaching on how you can access our chefs’ recipes and we are nearly there!)

However, Josh is an avid blogger and reads our Facebook page too, so he was kind enough to send in the recipe for us to share with you all.  It’s super easy and quick to make.

For 60 portions

Oven Temperature: 180 C

Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

455g Butter

455g Brown Sugar

680g Oats

142.5ml Golden Syrup

125g Chopped Hazelnuts

250g Milk Chocolate

Method:

-Melt the butter, sugar and syrup in a bowl.

-Add the oats, chocolate and hazelnuts and mix well

-Put into tins and cook, chill, slice, serve

Thanks Josh for responding to our Facebook fans and sending this in so quickly. 

We hope you will all try the recipe and let us know how it turned out.  

William Curley’s Chocolate Box pops up at St Martin’s Lane Hotel

Great British Chefs’s guest blogger Chris Osburn was lucky enough to be invited to the opening of chocolatier William Curley’s new pop up Chocolate Box shop in St Martin’s Lane Hotel just in time for Chocolate Week.  

All photography by Chris Osburn

Last night’s opening of William Curley’s Chocolate Box shop in the Front Room of St Martin’s Lane hotel brought the celebrated patisserier-chocolatier’s award winning fine chocolate to the heart of London … if only for a limited time. Although this pop up will only be around until the end of the year (New Year’s Eve will be the Box’s last day of operation), until that time a range of indulgent creations along with a calendar full of chocolate inspired events hosted by William and even a bespoke cocktail available exclusively at the hotel’s Light Bar promises to thrill connoisseurs and unassuming passers-by alike.

Curley, with shops in Richmond and Belgravia, is ‘hugely excited’ about partnering with the hip and designer boutique hotel. He said of the venture, ‘St Martins Lane is far from our usual haunts - we are looking forward to being accessible to a different audience…a young, more urban crowd’.

Indeed, as long as this little shop of yummies occupies such a central location, it should be the mandate of every chocolate loving Londoner and visitor to slide in to try one of William’s sea salt caramels. You’d be doing yourself a favour to devour his Muscovado caramels, his cakes or his different hot chocolates as well. The treats are gourmet expressions by a master of his craft and far and away a much different kettle of truffles than typical high street offering.

 A smart time to check out the shop and its bittersweet delicacies might be during one of the Chocolate Box’s events. From perfume and chocolate pairing evenings, speed tastings, master-classes and Halloween and Christmas themed, these happenings promise the opportunity to learn more about everybody’s favourite guilty pleasure and chat with one of Britain’s best chocolatier. And should you still find yourself craving for more William Curley fine chocolate, elbow up to the hotel’s swish lobby bar for its exclusive White Chocolate Martini created by the chocolatier himself.

The opening also served as the launch of William’s first book, Couture Chocolate, a coffee table book packed full of gorgeous photos by Jose Lasheras and lots of easy to follow recipes. Just in time for the festive season and not one to expose to any dieting friends, the book is available to purchase online at www.williamcurley.co.uk.

You can see more of Chris’s photography from opening here

Blog post for Great British Chefs by Chris Osburn

Food Festivals this Weekend - October 7th -9th 2011

Autumn has finally reached us and many of the festivals are readily accommodating the seasonal change.

The Neath Food and Drink Festival has been extended to two days from October 7th - 8th due to high demand. There will be over 60 food producers from South Wales, with some award winning suppliers. For those of you who love baking, why not enter the Victoria Sponge or scone competition. We’re sure your would children love baking too, so keep them inspired and help them create shortbread or chocolate brownies for the children’s baking competition.

The Manchester Food and Drink Festival runs from the 7th to 17th October packed full of activities for both adults and children to enjoy. This festival is spread over 10 days in various locations around Manchester, allowing more people to enjoy what it as to offer. From chilli eating competitions, cooking demonstrations given by top chefs (including Michelin starred Fergus Henderson) and food stalls displaying the best produce from Manchester, you will be spoilt for choice.

The festival is also celebrating Chocolate Week and you can visit The Manchester Chocolate Festival on October 8th, where you can sample unusual chocolate delights and even meet some of the well known names in chocolate.

The festival organisers have realised that children need to be entertained for more than a few minutes and have created a Kids Food Fest for the whole family to enjoy. The Festival Hub in Albert Square will be open for children on October 9th  at 11am, activities such as cookie baking, milkshake tasting, pizza making  and a chocolate factory to make sure your  kids get extra messy

The Northumbria Food and Wine Festival runs from October 7th - 9th showcasing the best wine and artisan food from the area.  Attend workshops on finding the best wines without sacrificing on the taste or sample some of the best wines from around the world. There will also be numerous food stalls selling the best food from the area, so you can satisfy both sides of your palette.

With Halloween only a few weeks away, why not start the festivities early at The Autumn Pumpkin Festival on October 8th. There will be a pumpkin parade, pumpkin decoration activities, lots of autumnal treats for you to enjoy and many more activities. Bring a Scarecrow along to help Hampshire set a record for the most scarecrows in a field!

Finally there’s the London Restaurant Festival which started on 3rd October and runs through to the 17th October.  A number of highlights for this weekend include the Tapas Tour on 8th and 9th of October, where you can tour some of the capital’s finest tapas restaurants. Flit from one lively location to the next having a tapa and a glass of Rioja in each using our carefully devised Tapas Passport. The tours are in partnership with Wines from Rioja, LRF’s Official Wine Partner.

And we almost forgot London Cocktail Week which started on 7th October and runs until October 16th. The Whisky Show and the Rum Trail run over the weekend with many other tours and tastings taking place over the whole week.  Registering for a wristband means you get to travel on a special London Routemaster bus so you can enjoy the bars with fellow cocktail lovers.

Please let us know if you visit any of these festivals & events, we would love to see some pictures (which are best uploaded onto our Great British Chefs Flickr Group). Also we’re sure to have missed some special food festivals taking place in Great Britain this weekend (not weekly food markets, there are hundreds of those every week), so please let us know in the comments. Enjoy!

Blog post by Monique from Great British Chefs

Chocolate Week Starts 10th October 2011

It’s that time again! Time for the UK’s favourite and most decadently delicious weeks of the year – Chocolate Week. From Monday 10th October to Sunday 16th October 2011, a range of scrumptious happenings throughout Britain return in celebration of fine chocolate.  At Great British Chefs we will be celebrating with chocolate food and recipes from our chefs every day next week. Look out for a fantastic competition tomorrow which we gave you a taster of a few days ago. But for now Guest Blogger Chris Osburn looks at what to expect from events around the country.

All photography by Chris Osburn

As in years past, fans of cacao can expect some of world’s top chocolatiers and chocolate companies to pull out all the stops for a sweet and rich calendar full of tastings, demonstrations, samplings and more. Chocolate Week will culminate with a two-day Chocolate Unwrapped showcase at Vinopolis on the 15^th and 16^th October  There will be more than 40 exhibitors on hand, including Britain’s best chocolate makers as well as exhibitors from France, Italy, Switzerland, Hungary, Holland and Germany. The event is an opportunity not only to eat chocolate but also to view chocolate art, meet and talk with chocolatiers, attend talks and demos and even relax in a Harvey Nichols pop-up chocolate café or watch chocolate being made in the smallest chocolate factory in the world. 

Among the 350 nationwide events going on over the week, a few notable happenings include the world’s first ever pop-up bean to bar chocolate factory at a chocolate festival in the heart of Manchester; the launch of Hotel Chocolat’s “tasting adventures pack” encouraging consumers to hold chocolate tastings at home; the launch of London chocolatier William Curley’s new book Couture Chocolate; a six course chocolate dinner collaboration between London’s beloved chocolatier Paul A Young and the world renowned fusion chef Peter Gordon at Gordon’s London restaurant Providores; a chocolate and honey dessert available at the Lancaster London hotel actually using honey from the hotel’s own rooftop hives; and lots, lots more!

Booking for many of the tastings and restaurant specials is definitely recommended as is getting your tickets in advance for Chocolate Unwrapped. For more details about Chocolate Week, a full list of participants and a calendar of events visit www.chocolateweek.co.uk .

Blog post for Great British Chefs by Chris Osburn