Meet The Producer #1: Mast Brother’s Chocolatiers

We’re proud of the local producers who make and grow our food at Poco so we thought we’d celebrate them with a new series of bi-monthly events at Poco, Hackney called Meet The Producer. At each event Tom Hunt (executive chef, cookbook author, Guardian writer and eco-chef) will create a menu in collaboration with one of our artisanal producers that represents their finest ingredients. Tom will introduce the meal with the producer and talk about the menu and the ethics of the ingredients, before sitting down to dine with you.

#1 Meet The Producer: Mast Brother’s Chocolatiers
Tom first discovered Mast Brother’s chocolate on an inspirational trip to New York city in 2011, just before opening Poco in Bristol. They produce artisanal chocolate that is made to meticulously high standards, with an emphasis on clarity of flavour. They produce chocolate bars with beans sourced from a single origin. It’s quite remarkable how their chocolate bars differ in flavour so much, just by the origin of the bean. Their Kenyan chocolate bar has distinctive notes of tobacco whilst the Tanzanian tastes like butterscotch, but it’s the goat’s milk chocolate bar that Tom found to be a real revelation, it’s still considered ‘dark’ chocolate as it has a 60% cocoa content but has a remarkable tangy flavour that brings out the flavour of the chocolate. After eating it Tom decided it would work perfectly in my chocolate pot, served with caramelised beetroot and Neal’s Yard cream. For the purpose of this event Tom’s written a menu to be served on one night only at Poco in Broadway Market. The menu is inspired by Mast Brother’s chocolate identifying flavours and marrying them into new sweet and savoury dishes.

The Format
Arrive to a cider brandy, hot chocolate shot, before beginning the meal with a raw chocolate amuse bouche and an introduction from Tom and the head chocolatier from the Mast Brother’s factory in Shoreditch. A three course feast will then commence with Tom describing each course. Tom, the chocolatier and Lani the manager of Mast Brother’s UK will sit with guests and be available for questions throughout the evening. You will learn about chocolate making and Tom’s recipe style Root-to-fruit cooking, and be given chocolate recipes to take home and cook yourselves.

The Menu
Cider brandy, hot chocolate shot
Toasted cacao beans, rhubarb leather, roasted rhubarb, chervil, Tanzanian 80% chocolate
Cacao beer braised venison, pine, smoked chocolate
Seasonal greens, lemon
Freekeh, cinnamon, wild garlic
Olive oil chocolate cake, chocolate sorbet, frozen creme fraiche,
Chocolate shards, tobacco