Forget the elections, and SOPA, and all that trivial stuff -- we're talking HOT CHOCOLATE!

You can watch Anthony Sasso, the chef at Mario Batali's Bar Jamón in Manhattan's Gramercy Park neighborhood, make his signature spiced (and spicy) hot chocolate here. The recipe is below. From DNAinfo.com's "How to Make the City's Best Hot Chocolate."

by Ken

It's not just Anthony Sasso's hot chocolate at Bar Jamón that's highlighted in Andrea Swalec's DNAinfo.com article. She also offers information from:

* Manhattan's Otto Enoteca Pizzeria in Greenwich Village, which offers "gianduja calda," or "hot hazelnut chocolate," according to pastry chef Meredith Kurtzman, who combines melted Italian hazelnut chocolate with milk that's had hazelnuts soaked in it.

* master chocolatier Jacques Torres (of Jacques Torres Chocolate, now at five locations in Manhattan plus Harrah's in Atlantic City -- not counting the Ice Cream Shop in Brooklyn, currently closed for the season), who stresses the importance of the highest-quality ingredients, explaining, "I wanted [the hot chocolate] to be like when you go to a little salon du thé in Paris and get a little drink and a croissant."

* Max Brenner ("First Food, Then Chocolate"), off Union Square in Manhattan (with locations in Boston, Philadelphia, and Las Vegas, plus Australia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Israel). The New York location, at least, serves "eight styles of hot chocolate drinks," made with dark, milk, or white chocolate -- including " 'choco-pops' hot chocolate with crispy chocolate wafer balls, Italian thick hot chocolate with vanilla cream, and Swiss hot chocolate that's whipped."

Still, the only actual recipe we get is Anthony Sasso's spiced version.

The chef at Gramercy Park's Bar Jamón begins his signature hot [chocolate] by grinding together bittersweet chocolate, cayenne pepper, chili flakes, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Anthony Sasso then melts the spicy chocolate mixture, combines it with steamed milk and serves it up alongside Spanish-style churros at the cozy Mario Batali-owned tapas and wine bar at 15 E. 17th St.

"Spaniards drink really strong coffee, and it's the same with their chocolate," he said. "When they want it, they want it with a nice kick."

[You can click to enlarge the recipe card.]

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