Product Details

• Format: Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Mpi Home Video
• VHS Release Date: May 15, 2001
• Run Time: 30 minutes
• ASIN: 6303224806
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #583,309 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Before you watch Jeff Smith, the Frugal Gourmet, cook with chocolate, arm yourself with a good dark-chocolate bar to create the total environment--for the aroma and flavor--as you view this casual purveyor of cultural cookery whip up eight different chocolate recipes.

Smith whisks chocolate and chicken broth together in what he refers to as Montezuma's favorite drink, froths up warm milk with a crushed Mexican-chocolate bar scented with cinnamon, stirs green chilies into brownies, mixes chocolate into a simple mole sauce for chicken, and adds cocoa to black bean soup. Why present such unorthodox combinations? According to the intrepid Smith, who travels widely in his search for culinary authenticity, these are not only orthodox dishes, but traditional fare from the continent where chocolate originated--South America.

At one point in the video--somewhere between the frothy chocolate drink and the rich-looking mole--Smith brings forth a cocoa pod, which he breaks open to reveal the raw cocoa beans. As he slides them through his fingers he explains the origins of chocolate and how it is processed. The viewer can't help but be fascinated by Smith's descriptions, and tempted by the dishes he prepares. --Susan Herrmann Loomis