at Tue, 03 Feb 2004 12:49:09 GMT in >,
deedoveyatshenteldotnet (Dee Randall) wrote :

>My mom in 1940 used to coat/frost regular boxed graham crackers with
>chocolate which hardened enough to eat without coating our hands. It was
>thin, but not brittle. I have occasionally, but seldom, seen these in
>"Borders" at the coffee counter.

What you are describing is what is known as "compound coating" - chocolate
that's been combined with a certain amount of another vegetable fat,
generally palm kernel. Using palm kernel oil instead of cocoa butter raises
the melting point, so it doesn't melt in your hands so readily, and also
softens the consistency so it isn't as hard as pure chocolate. You can find
it in some supermarkets with bulk bins, usually as discs. Guittard is one
of the larger manufacturers of compound coating. They also make good
"regular" chocolate for coating graham crackers, which goes by the name of
"couverture". Couverture, unlike compound coating, uses only cocoa butter,
and has a large amount of it. It does melt in your hands, and it hardens to
a fully hard, brittle shell. In addition, it's more fussy to work with
because you have to "temper" it. Its advantage is that it tastes
significantly better than compound coating. Couverture is usually easier to
find for the home chef - virtually all quality eating chocolate is
couverture, as are the broken-up chunks of chocolate you see in other bulk
bins in other supermarkets.

One easy place to get compound coating online is
http://www.bakerscandc.com. It may be easier going that way than asking
your supermarket clerk, who as likely as not is going to be clueless.

--
Alex Rast

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