3 gourmet ideas for chocolate-and-meat dishes

Chocolate sauce to pour over meat 

Since ancient times, sauces containing chocolate have been poured over meat: there are a number of versions, from classic red wine-based sauces to citrusy modern ones with orange juice. It takes just a few minutes to make a chocolate sauce for meat, and the end result is delightful every single time. 

Each type of meat lends itself to a different variation of the sauce, but here is the most standard version and the steps involved in making it. 

 

Red wine and chocolate sauce recipe 

Difficulty: easy 

Preparation time: 5 minutes 

Ingredients: 

• 90 ml red wine; 

• 4 cloves; 

• dark chocolate as required. 

 

How to make red wine and chocolate sauce 

• Pour some red wine and two cloves into a saucepan, then bring to the boil over a medium-low heat. 

• Once it comes to the boil, turn off the heat and add the dark chocolate chips, then stir until the mixture is smooth and thick. 

 

We recommend preparing the sauce an hour in advance, so it has time to rest and the cloves have time to release their aromas. 

This sauce is perfect for making a pot roast flavoured with chocolate or for pouring over classic winter dishes, while in summer, you can try a lighter dish such as chicken with chocolate and citrus fruit. When making the sauce for lighter dishes, simply replace the red wine and cloves with orange juice, and add a few drops of brandy. 

 

Wild boar stew with chocolate 

The intense, bitter taste of cocoa works perfectly with game, and wild boar stew with chocolate is the perfect dish for getting the whole family around the table.  

 

Wild boar stew with chocolate sauce recipe 

Difficulty: medium 

Preparation time: 1 day marinating + 2 hours cooking time 

Ingredients for marinating 

• 1L red wine; 

• 2 bay leaves; 

• 2 cloves of garlic; 

• 3 juniper berries; 

• pepper as required. 

 

Ingredients for the stew 

• 1.5 kg wild boar; 

• 1 onion; 

• 1 celery stick; 

• 1 carrot; 

• 200 ml red wine. 

 

Ingredients for the chocolate sauce 

• 80 g dark chocolate; 

• 3 tablespoons of grappa; 

• the grated zest of half an orange; 

• cinnamon as required. 

 

How to make wild boar stew with chocolate 

• Cut the boar meat into small cubes that are as even as possible. 

• Marinate the chopped wild boar for 24 hours in red wine with the bay leaves, garlic, juniper berries and pepper. 

• Make a classic soffritto with carrot, celery and onion, then add the marinated cubes of wild boar, letting them brown over a medium-high heat. Turn the heat down, then cover the meat with wine and leave to simmer for about two hours. 

• Cook until the meat is very soft, then remove any leftover skin. 

• Just before serving, prepare the sauce by melting the chocolate with the grappa over a bain-marie and adding the orange peel and cinnamon. 

 

Those who like intense, strong flavours can add a couple of tablespoons of the wild boar cooking liquid to the sauce, which will make it absolutely delicious! 

 

Rabbit with dark chocolate

Recipe for rabbit with dark chocolate 

It’s difficult to say where the recipe for rabbit with dark chocolate comes from: some claim it's a typical Sicilian dish, while others say that it's a variant of the Piedmontese dish rabbit al civet, and some even state that it comes from French culinary tradition.  

In any event, making it is easier than it sounds, and even those who aren’t keen on the taste of game will be won over. 

 

Difficulty: easy 

Preparation time: 1 night marinating + 2 hours cooking time 

Ingredients for marinating 

• red wine as required; 

• white vinegar as required; 

 

Ingredients for the rabbit 

• 1 kg rabbit meat; 

• 1\2 onion; 

• 1 carrot; 

• 1 celery stick; 

• 1 handful of pine nuts; 

• 15 g dark chocolate. 

 

How to make rabbit with chocolate 

• First, place the clean, bones rabbit in a large casserole dish and marinate it in the wine and vinegar overnight. 

• Prepare a soffritto of onion, celery and carrots, then add the rabbit meat and fry gently for a few minutes. 

• Add two cups of room-temperature water and the pine nuts, then cook over a low heat for 30 minutes. 

• In the meantime, roughly chop the dark chocolate. 

• At the end of the cooking time, add the chopped dark chocolate and stir until melted. 

 

As this dish has a very strong flavour, you can opt to serve the dark chocolate sauce on the side to suit everyone's taste, allowing your diners to try it for themselves in the amount they like. If you do this, instead of adding the chocolate at the end of the cooking time, melt it over a bain-marie, then add a handful of finely chopped pine nuts and a couple tablespoons of the rabbit marinade. 

Following the same recipe, you can also make duck with chocolate, which is an equally delicious version with an even stronger taste! 

 

Beef fillet with Cuor di Cacao chocolate 

Beef fillet with chocolate recipe 

The secret to this delicious fillet with chocolate dish is the flavour-enhancing “brown stock” made from beef bones, vegetables and aromatic herbs. In this recipe, the brown stock is made even creamier by dark chocolate, like Venchi Cuor di Cacao 60%, which has low acidity and unmistakable notes of hot chocolate.  

 

Difficulty: medium 

Preparation time: 6 hours for the brown stock sauce + 1 hour for the fillet 

Ingredients for the brown stock and chocolate sauce 

• 2 kg beef bones; 

• 100 g carrots; 

• 100 g onion; 

• 1 celery stick; 

• 1L red wine; 

• nutmeg as required; 

• 5 cloves; 

• 50 g Venchi Cuor di Cacao dark chocolate. 

 

Ingredients for beef fillet 

• 6 beef fillets; 

• 150 g cocoa butter; 

• 30 ml brandy; 

• Salt and pepper as required 

 

How to make the brown stock and dark chocolate sauce 

• Place the bones in a pan with the spices and chopped vegetables, and gently fry for a few minutes over a high heat. 

• Add the coarsely chopped dark chocolate, pour in the red wine and cook over a low heat for 5-6 hours, adding a couple of glasses of cold water from time to time. 

• Once the sauce is cooked and cooled, remove the fat that has risen to the surface using a skimmer. Before serving the sauce, put it back on the heat for a few minutes to thicken. 

 

How to make beef with chocolate 

• Melt half the cocoa butter over a bain-marie, let it cool, then pour it over the beef fillets, rubbing gently. 

• In a non-stick pan, melt the other half of the cocoa butter and cook the beef fillets over a high heat until golden brown on both sides, then deglaze the pan with brandy. 

• Plate the beef fillets, then top them with the brown stock and chocolate sauce. 

 

More ideas for recipes for meat and chocolate sauce 

Once you’ve tried meat and chocolate together, you’ll find it hard to go without it! 

If chocolate sauce—and all its variations—can be poured over any type of meat, those seeking to impress their guests can try their hand at lots of other unusual yet original recipes. 

 

For example, for a special—perhaps even candle-lit— dinner, you can try the exquisite dish "tartare di fassona" (Piedmont-style steak tartare) with eggs and cocoa grains or, for a light yet tasty meal, Guatemalan soup—a delicious soup made with chicken broth, chopped almonds, cocoa powder and cayenne pepper—is perfect. 

Those who want to be a bit more daring, however, can add a sprinkle of bitter cocoa powder to their meat tortellini filling: even sticklers for tradition will love it!