Dark and steamy
Hot chocolate, three ways. Plus: music, watercolours and avoiding mauvais ton.
At work this week I tried to impersonate Kim Hill. No, you didn’t miss me cleverly using “rapport and evisceration” to get the most out of an interviewee. Nor did I delight the nation by making a special guest appearance on Morning Report. Instead, I followed her recipe for a sustaining mid-morning pick-me-up: “a cup of very, very, very strong hot chocolate and Milo made with milk. A meal in a cup!”
Kim mentioned this drink in her farewell interview with Jim Mora in November 2023 and it made me see her in a whole new light1. If only I’d known that she was an ordinary person who occasionally needed a sustaining mug of chocolatey goodness when I bumped into her on my first day at RNZ I might have had something useful to say. Alas.
While I missed the chance to give Kim my chapter and verse on hot chocolate making, let me deliver it to you. No Milo involved!
Spanish Hot Chocolate
Spanish hot chocolate is thick, rich and chocolate-y enough to keep you going until tapas hour. Making it at home isn’t quite as much fun as drinking it in a little Spanish cafe, but it’s infinitely more achievable.
For best results, use the best cocoa powder and chocolate you can find. This makes enough for a good-sized jar – instructions follow on how to take it from powder to liquid heaven.
1 cup cocoa powder
1/3 cup caster sugar (sweet tooths: icrease this to 1/2 a cup)
6 Tbsp cornflour
200g dark chocolate, smashed into little bits
Put all ingredients into a food processor and whiz until it forms a fine powder. Alternatively, sift the cocoa, caster sugar and cornflour into a small bowl, then stir in the finely chopped chocolate. Transfer to a screw top jar.
To make two elegantly sized servings: Mix 1/3 cup (6 Tbsp) of the chocolate mixture with 1/2 cup milk of your choice in a small saucepan. Heat, stirring all the time, until it thickens, then add 1 1/2 cups milk and stir frantically. Keep cooking over low heat, stirring all the time, until the mixture is thick and velvety. Pour into cups and drink it as soon as you can. Churros optional.
Alternatively, try this spiced version, which is more of a mugful.
Spiced Hot Chocolate
For two servings, you’ll need:
400ml milk or milk-adjacent product
2 tsp cocoa
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
A fat pinch of chilli flakes or powder (or a pinch of ground ginger)
100g dark chocolate, finely chopped
Put the milk, cocoa and spices in a small pot set over medium heat. When it comes to a simmer, add the chocolate. Turn off the heat and stir VERY vigorously until the mixture is thick and smooth. Pour into your favourite cup and drink immediately.
Please note: Do NOT wander away or start doomscrolling when the milk is heating up, it will invariably boil over and you’ll have to start again (and clean up).
To make it fluffier, use a milk frother or pour the hot milk into a coffee plunger and froth it up before pouring it over the chocolate.
Desperation Hot Chocolate
The third method - which I only use in desperate times, such as when I’m working from home and need a quick hit of something chocolatey to warm me up - is to drop a couple of squares of dark chocolate into a mug, top with boiling water, then stir like mad until it’s dissolved. The results are surprisingly good. You can also do the same with coffee, but that requires making the coffee first.
Good Things
Vote for Aotearoa’s favourite song
Speaking of RNZ… we’re currently asking people to vote for their favourite New Zealand song and waiata Māori from the last 100 years (yes, John Hore Grenell features on the longlist, but I promise there are plenty of more modern options). Check out the long list and find out how to vote.
Sketches from the Trenches
Should you find yourself in Upper Hutt in the next month, I recommend whizzing into Whirinaki Whare Taonga to see this exhibition of Nugent Welch watercolours. Welch, who is considered to be New Zealand’s first war artist, spent two years in the trenches capturing the devastation of World War One. After the war, he came home and continued painting, focusing this time on the gentler landscapes of the lower North Island. (There are other shows on at WWT too, but I was busy discharging my duties as a dance mom… and eating great chips and kasundi at the attached cafe.)
‘There are naturally many chances to meet persons of distinction’
‘Marguerite’, the narrator of The English Understand Wool receives many useful life lessons from her mother about how to meet persons of distinction, dress with elegance and, above all, avoid anything that might be construed as ‘mauvais ton’. It’s very hard to talk about this delightful novella without giving the game away, but I loved it. And just look at that cover!
Have a wonderful week x
I’m probably the only person who fixated on that part of the conversation. But to me it’s news you can use!
Go on n then, I’ll take a few.
Churros. Yum yum