Lights, Camera…Chocolate?

J.M. Hirsch, National Food Editor for The Associated Press, sharing Chocolate Cherry Truffles recipe from his new cookbook "High Flavor. Low Labor" with Mr. Food for an upcoming Mr. Food show

From Mr. Food VP, Howard

Taping day started as usual. The alarm went off at 5:00 am. “Holy moly,” I thought, “It can’t be morning already.” I hit the shower, walked the dog (boy, Truffles hates getting up so early), and it was off to the office. In case Mom is reading, yes…I normally eat breakfast at home, except on taping day when the whole crew chows down on our first meal together before the cameras roll.

When I got to the Mr. Food office, which is where our studio is, I was met by our sleepy production crew setting up for the busy day ahead. Yup, we were taping 14 Mr. Food segments. So I decided to put a couple extra scoops of coffee in the coffee maker.

By 8:30 we were taping our first show, a baseball brownie cake that was really whimsical. Not only were the bases on the top of the cake loaded with little plastic baseball players…the cake was loaded with sugar. That would’ve been fine if it wasn’t so early in the day. As a matter of fact, it didn’t stop anyone from tasting it…several times.

After another quick segment, it was time for us to tape a segment with a special guest. We like to do that on occasion. As the main kitchen island was being set up  for the segment, in walked J.M. Hirsch, national food editor for The Associated Press. What a nice guy J.M. is, and he really gets how America cooks. He was making a Chocolate Cherry Truffles recipe from his new cookbook “High Flavor. Low Labor” that’s coming out in early September.

As the production crew gathered on the set to go over the technical stuff, I witnessed everyone eyeing — more like drooling over — J.M.’s truffles, not to be confused with my dog Truffles who I walked what seemed like hours before. Anyway, let me tell you, I never saw our crew move through a show so quickly, since they knew they could taste these melt-in-your-mouth chocolaty delights after the segment was “in the can.”

A few takes and we had what we needed for a great show. That meant those truffles became “fair game” for our crew. Let me tell you, it didn’t even take 2 seconds before every camera operator and crew member had a thick coating of chocolate on their teeth as they savored each bite.

The bottom line? Our crew was happy and wired, Mr. Food was happy, and I know our viewers will be happy once they make this and other recipes from J.M.’s cookbook ’cause every recipe seems to be easy, practical and, as the title states, high in flavor and low in labor. Now who doesn’t want that?