Hot Chocolate, version 1: Drinking Chocolate

There are two basic methods of making hot chocolate: the easiest way, and the tastiest way. Next week, we'll do the easiest way. This week, we go tastiest. And the tastiest way is to melt chocolate into milk and drink it. Generally, this is called "Drinking Chocolate."

Drinking Chocolate is a continuum which goes anywhere from skim milk with a hint of chocolate (which is hardly worth making) all the way to Chocolate Ganache, which is cream and chocolate that could be used for filling bonbons, covering cake, eating as a popsicle, or melting into hot chocolate. In fact, Alton Brown freezes his ganache into popsicles, then suggests people melt it for a quick and decadent hot chocolate drink.

The drink that we'll make today isn't ganache-rich, but it is very tasty if you do it right. And to do it right, you get the best chocolate you can get your hands on. Everything depends on the chocolate, and to a lesser extent the milk. Because there are three ingredients in the basic recipe: milk, chocolate, and salt.

Put the milk into a sauce pan, and start heating over medium heat. Add in the chocolate. I started by using a microplane to shave the chocolate into quickly-melting bits.

This got old really fast, so I broke out the chef's knife and shaved thin layers off of the chocolate. This is easy to do and very quick. Since we don't really care about the final look of the chocolate, this works well.

Heat until it melts, stirring frequently. There may be the occasional bit of solid chocolate floating around in the milk, which won't kill anything and will probably be gone by the time it's served, but you can keep stirring for a while if it bothers you. Add in a scant pinch of salt to bring out the flavor even more.

Pour into glasses. Drink. Marvel.

Of course, you don't have to stop here. You could add 1/4 teaspoon of extract at the end, such as a vanilla or a peppermint. You could add a cinnamon stick or vanilla pod at the beginning before the chocolate goes in to infuse it. You can add more chocolate if you want, or you can use whole milk, half-and-half, or cream if you either love the person you're serving the chocolate to or if you're trying to hasten their imminent heart attack.

All that being said, the version presented here was unbelievably rich and chocolatey. On the first sip, I thought it was too much. By the third, I was over that.

Drinking Chocolate

Serves 2. Because you should share this. If you have to halve the recipe, I'm sure you can figure out the best way. If you want to infuse flavor, add ingredients that are either liquid or can be removed (such as whole spices) while the milk is heating. Remove when the milk is heated but before the chocolate is added.

Ingredients

• 2 cups milk
• 4oz highest-quality chocolate, roughly shaved
• scant pinch of salt

Directions

• Heat milk over medium heat
• Add chocolate and salt
• Stir frequently until chocolate is melted