Professor Butter Beard’s “Self Portrait at Twenty-Eight” by Albrecht Dürer
“The air is hot and rich with the scent of chocolate. Quite unlike the white powdery chocolate I knew as a boy, this has a throaty richness like the perfumed beans from the coffee stall on the market, a redolence of amaretto and tiramisù, a smoky, burned flavor that enters my mouth somehow and makes it water. There is a silver jug of the stuff on the counter, from which a vapor rises. I recall that I have not breakfasted this morning.”
― Joanne Harris, Chocolat
Nellie and I spent the day indoors yesterday. The winter sun was hidden in a frosty mist and the frozen wind howled relentlessly, at times drowning out NPR’s afternoon performance of “The Marriage of Figaro.” I slowly wandered through my art and cookbook library and randomly selected one of my well-worn catalogues of Renaissance portraits. As I reached for another crocheted blanket for the sofa, the book slipped from my hands and landed open to Albrecht Dürer’s self portrait from 1500. It was as if Juliette Binoche (as Vianne Rocher) had smiled and whispered, “I know your favorite.”
Albrecht Dürer was only twenty-eight when he painted this self-portrait. The inscription in the top-right of the painting states: “I, Albrecht Dürer of Nuremberg have portrayed myself in my own paints at the age of twenty-eight.” It is the last of his three painted self-portraits and many art historians consider it the most personal, iconic and complex of the three. In the religious iconography of the period and preceding eras, usually only painted portraits of Christ were shown in a full-frontal perspective with other saints and people appearing in profile or perhaps three-quarter view. Dürer’s choice to use a Christ-like pose, complete with a gesturing hand in front, was bold for its time and has led to much speculation on the artist’s meaning behind the work.
The painting depicts a somber man with a smooth long face, intelligent light brown eyes and a soft auburn beard and mustache framing his perfectly shaped dark lips. His hair is the color of toasted hazelnuts, parted in the middle and lying straight down to the ears, but wavy and energetically curled below as it glows over his shoulders with vibrant golden reflections. The sumptuous chocolate coat he is wearing is lined with marten fur and has a slashed upper sleeve revealing a light cotton undergarment. Martens are a cat-sized animal belonging to the mustelid family, native to Northern Europe, whose fur was also a common material used in the manufacture of artist’s paintbrushes. He grips the fur between the fingertips of his right hand, and in doing so, creates an unusual shape with the arrangement of his thumb and fingers which some historians have interpreted as a gesture of blessing the viewer.
Dürer’s placement of his well-known signature and triumphant inscription commands us to look deep and directly into his eyes. Even the gesture of his fingers points us directly back into his mind and soul. I find myself staring right back into his challenging gaze and absorbing the worldly wisdom and confidence he so elegantly offers.
As I put down the book, my baker’s mind transformed the essence of the painting into a recipe for a rich dark chocolate brownie. The golden highlights in the artist’s curled locks are recreated in a woven layer of glistening lemon curd dancing upon the dark chocolate. The addition of cinnamon, espresso and chili powder warms the chocolate and deepens the earthy flavor. As the brownies baked and filled the kitchen with their tantalizing aroma, I returned to my library and pulled down the DVD of “Chocolat” for a late afternoon viewing with Nellie. Oh yes, Vianne Rocher, you will always know “my favorite.”
Dark Chocolate and Lemon Curd Brownies
Makes 18-24 Brownies
Lemon Curd:
¾ cup fresh lemon juice (I use a combination of lemons and clementine oranges – 3 lemons and 2 clementines will usually give me about ¾ cup juice)
10 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar (divided)
2 large eggs
3 large egg yolks
Dark Chocolate Brownies:
1 lb. dark chocolate chips
24 Tbsp (three sticks) unsalted butter
2 cups dark brown sugar
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
6 Tbsp dark cocoa powder
1 ½ tsp fine sea salt
1 ½ tsp expresso powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp chili powder
Zest of one lemon
8 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla paste
1) The night before: Make your lemon curd. Juice your fruit to give you ¾ cup fresh juice. In a medium bowl, whisk together the two eggs, three yolks and ¼ cup granulated sugar. In a heavy bottom saucepan, over medium heat, heat the butter, juice and ¾ cup granulated sugar, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has melted, and the mix is just beginning to simmer. Slowly pour the warm juice mix into the eggs, whisking the entire time. Return the mix to the saucepan and return to a medium heat. Heat the mixture until it thickens and the first bubble of a boil pops – stirring the entire time! Strain the mixture through a fine sieve into a container, cover the top of the curd with a piece of plastic wrap and chill overnight.
2) The next morning: Preheat your oven to 325 degrees and line two 8-inch square baking pans with parchment (see picture below).
3) Place a bowl over a pan of just simmering water and melt together the dark chocolate and the butter. Lightly whisk until smooth, remove from the heat and whisk in the sugars until fully combined. Let cool for five minutes.
4) In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, salt, espresso powder, cinnamon, chili powder and lemon zest.
5) In a third bowl, lightly whisk the eight eggs and then add to the chocolate, whisking until fully combined. Then whisk in the vanilla paste.
6) Fold in the dry mix until just combined. Fill each of the prepared pans with about 3 cups of the batter. Spoon the remaining batter into a pastry bag with a ½-inch tip in the bottom. Spoon the lemon curd into a second pastry bag with a ½-inch tip in the bottom.
7) First, pipe a border of the brownie batter around the edges of each pan. Then alternate lines of lemon curd and brownie batter (see picture below). Starting on the left side of the pan, drag a chop stick from top to bottom and then from bottom to top, alternating across the pan to achieve the decoration.
8) Bake the brownies for 45-50 minutes until just fully set and slightly puffed. Cool completely on a wire rack before slicing each pan into nine or twelve brownies.
