A Celebration Of Chocolate

The C.H. Booth Library will present a lecture/demonstration “Celebrating Chocolate,” with Maria Poirier Brandriff, Wednesday, November 3, at 7 pm.

The lecture will include basic information about chocolate, the various types of chocolate, and how to work with it. The demonstration will focus mainly on the hand-rolled and dipped chocolate truffles. Participants will sample the chocolate candies and compare several types of chocolate, both imported and domestic.

Ms Poirier Brandriff is a longtime chef, as well as assistant director at the Cheshire Public Library. She grew up in a Ukrainian household where Viennese-inspired tortes and confections dominated every holiday. Since then, she has experimented with the traditional recipes and has come up with her own variations, becoming more and more involved with the intricacies of working with chocolate.

In 2004 Ms Poirier Brandriff traveled to France where she studied with a chocolatier in Provence, mastering the techniques of molded chocolates. She has won the grand prize twice in the now discontinued New Haven Register cooking contest, once in 1985 with her White Chocolate Torte and in 1986 with her Coffee Walnut Torte. Noted chef Jacques Pepin gave Ms Poirier Brandriff a perfect score for her creation in 1986.

Although this program is free and open to the public, preregistration is necessary, as attendance is limited. Call the library at 203-426-4533 or go online atchboothlibrary.org to register.