The serious business of making chocolate

After being diagnosed with lymphoma in 1989, Robert Steinberg ’73 M.D. decided to end his medical practice and devote his time to other interests — piano and drawing lessons, fine food and travel.

Several years later, a friend who had explored starting a chocolate-making business thought Steinberg might be interested in reviewing a 900-page textbook on how to make chocolate from cacao beans.

That led Steinberg to make his way to a small family-owned business in Lyon, France, where he observed the process, in 1995.

The following year, Steinberg and a business partner, John Scharffenberger, launched Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker, the first American company in 50 years to make chocolate from beans into bars.

Steinberg’s latest venture in the world of chocolate is a cookbook, The Essence of Chocolate (Hyperion), co-authored with Scharffenberger, that not only includes recipes but also guides readers through the history of the company and of chocolate making itself.

Many of the recipes are from top chefs such as Jacques Pepin, who offered their favorite chocolate treats.

“Certainly there are more recipes in the book for dessert than anything else, but I found over time my interest in cooking was not in desserts but savory food,” Steinberg says.

“I was looking for interesting ways to use chocolate. I think we wanted to have dishes that were pretty simple to do and that were fun to do. There is a simple elegance to a lot of the recipes.”

Steinberg says that his medical training helped in his new venture because he was taught to resolve health issues by objectively evaluating issues, asking questions and not jumping to conclusions.

“I have never lost sight of the fact that making chocolate is a far less serious venture than taking care of people’s health,” he says.

“But one thing about chocolate that keeps it interesting is that it’s very dynamic. We’re using beans from many different places, so there’s never a time I feel that everything can go on auto-pilot.”

The contribution of recipes by well-known chefs is the combined result of the sharing nature of those in the food industry and the happenstance of meeting people, Steinberg says.

He met Pepin after a former patient who is a television producer invited him to visit a production set where the chef was taping a show.

In another situation, Michael Chiarello decided to visit the Scharffen Berger factory to prepare a segment for his own show.

— Kenneth Best

Success in College
Peter F. Burns
’92 (CLAS), ’94 M.A.
(Rowman & Littlefield Education)

Perhaps the greatest lesson from earning an undergraduate degree is how to learn. That is Burns’ message based on his own experience as a student, complete with his personal transformation from lackluster high school student to UConn honors graduate. An associate professor of political science at Tulane University, Burns includes anecdotes from his students as well as research about effective study habits in a tightly written, highly readable how-to guide to success in the classroom. Among the topics covered are taking good notes, proper study techniques, writing papers and time management.

Tim Hector: A Caribbean Radical’s Story
Paul Buhle ’68, M.A.
(University Press of Mississippi)

Hector is a disciple of C.L.R. James, a key figure in the pan-African movement and for the independence and federation of the Caribbean, as well as the subject of Buhle’s previous writing. Buhle, a historian at Brown University who has written extensively about Caribbean politics, traces the evolution of Hector’s political philosophy from Marxism to optimism for democratic self-determination in his native Antigua. In addition to offering the first major biography of Hector, the author provides a brief history of the radical movements in the British West Indies during the 20th century.

Wally’s World
Steve Starger ’63 (CLAS)
(Vanguard)

Subtitled, The Brilliant Life and Tragic Death of Wally Wood, the World’s Second-Best Comic Book Artist, journalist Starger and co-author historian J. David Spurlock detail the life of the artist who inspired a generation of underground artists, including Robert Crumb and Art Spiegelman. Wood first came to prominence with his work at MAD magazine and EC Comics, later working for Marvel Comics on popular characters, including Daredevil, X-Men and Captain America. In addition to recounting a colorful life, the authors offer insight into the history of comic books and the nation’s history from the Depression to the 1980s.