Month: October 2017

Chocolate Mousse

 

 

 

Chocolate Mousse

The French have a way with words. Les bon mot, they might say, the right word. Mousse au chocolat. Nearly everyone who has had a spectacular version of this will forever long for it again. And, the wait can be torture. There seem to be far more ways to make it wrong or bad or forgettable than there are ways to get it right.

The best mousse I ever had was, as most good things food are, an example of simplicity disguising its complexity. Chocolate, butter and eggs. Simple, right? Ah, but the secret is always in the production and procedure. I am going to walk you through it and you will have the best chocolate mousse you have ever had.

We have all read recipes which advise us to get the best possible ingredients we can find. In a dish with so few ingredients as this, quality definitely matters. The eggs you buy should be purchased the day before making the mousse.

Chocolate.

You can find some very good selections of chocolate many places these days, including on-line. I enjoy a more bitter chocolate for mousse because that strong flavor will remain, but the bitterness is softened with the butter and eggs and egg whites. The bitter is, in effect, diluted, while the flavor stays. Nice.

ON-It's Chocolate, Baby!

This recipe is an enhancement of the classic three ingredients I mentioned above with the most obvious change the absence of butter. All of the extras may be omitted and you will still have a great dessert (Breakfast?). The coffee and booze are there to enhance the chocolate flavor and the vanilla flavor alone.

Perhaps one of the most important lessons a pastry chef learns is restraint. Supressing the urge to whisk more, add more, fold more, stir more, mix more is an important skill to develop. It is critical here.

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Have all your tools clean and ready to use, including the containers into which the mousse will be served. Allow for room in the cooler for those containers, especially if you are using champagne flutes. Also, have plastic wrap ready to cover the tops of the containers to prevent a skin from forming.

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Chocolate Mousse

There are many almost-as-good versions, but this hits that high bar of being as good as my first memory of the deceptively simple French version.  It is just that good.

Course Dessert
Cuisine French
Keyword Chocolate mousse, Classic French dessert, Dessert for romance, Mousse au chocolat
Prep Time 15 minutes
Refrigeration 4 hours
Total Time 15 minutes
Author Dann Reid

Ingredients

Ingredients for the mousse

  • 8 oz Best quality bittersweet chocolate
  • 2 T Instant espresso powder
  • 8 Each Egg yolks
  • 1/4 C Kahlua or Cognac
  • 6 Each Egg whites
  • 1/4 Each Vanilla pod, seeds scraped

Instructions

Make the mousse

  1. Add the vanilla bean seeds to the alcohol. Save the pod for egg nog.

    Add two inches of water to the pot and place it over medium heat on the stove. Cut the chocolate into rather uniform chunks, place in the bowl and place that onto the pot. Chocolate can burn even from steam, so medium heat is the way to go.

  2. Use the wooden spoon to occasionally stir the chocolate until it is nearly melted. Remove from the heat, turn off the burner, and place the bowl on the counter. Chocolate holds, and makes, its own heat. The rest of the melting will happen on the counter.

  3. Add the yolks to the melted chocolate and whisk the mix to incorporate the chocolate and add the alcohol/vanilla bean mix.

  4. Whip the egg whites in the mixing bowl until firm peaks. That means the whipped whites dip when you remove the whip from the whites.

  5. Folding egg whites is a bit of a skill and an art. Since the chocolate mixture is cooling and getting stiff, we will add a small portion of the whites to the chocolate to soften the base and let us incorporate the remaining whites. See a demonstration here.

  6. The key to a successful fold is to use a wide blade rubber spatula and slice down through the center of the chocolate and lift and drape the chocolate mix on the spatula over the left side portion of the mix. Spin the bowl a few inches and repeat. Once the whites are incorporated, portion the mousse into the cups, top with plastic wrap and cool overnight.

  7. The restraint of a pastry chef comes into play in the folding. I like a few streaks. There is a divided opinion about what is right. At your house, how you serve your food is what is right. The more you fold the less air remains in the whites and the less mousse-y your mousse. So, don’t over fold.

  8. You can top the mousse with whipped cream or eat it plain. It is sure to be a hit.

Recipe Notes

Okay, you've done everything to the letter of the recipe and...something just doesn't look right.

The mousse is lumps instead of smooth and you're ready to commit an atrocity.

Well, I do feel your frustration.  Really.  Nary a baker doesn't know what it is to make and get less than expected.

The difference between which makes a difference is knowing how to handle this challenge.  Put it in an over proof dish, a souffle dish, perhaps, and bake it.  A cake pan will do well also.

It will bake very nicely at 450°F for about 10 minutes, maybe 15, and you'll get a flourless, dairy-free "cake".

See, problem at least averted and product and labor saved. 

It ain't what you set out to make, but it ain't garbage either.

Kahlua

Homemade Kahlua is well worth the time.  5 minutes of work for excellent results

 

I’ve got a beverage here, man!

My parents loved Kahlua. White Russians and Black Russians were their favorites. Sometimes, just a small Sherry glass snoot full just before bed.

As a teenager, I wasn’t then all that concerned with coffee of any stripe, and certainly not vodka flavored coffee. The coffee part has changed. So to has the vodka part.

Here is the first video showing the making.

The important part of coffee drinks is good coffee. I prefer very strong coffee. But, I also want a coffee which starts and finished with flavor. Such a thing is a challenge to find. I just bought one small harvest bean which was basically fancy named diner coffee. Bold up front and disappears in seconds. Pick the coffee you like best. I use a French Press for control of extraction for my strong coffee.

Dried vanilla beans have next to no flavor to offer. Tahitian, Indonesian or Madagascar vanilla beans have been the best I’ve used over the years.  Buy vanilla beans from a trusted source, not the grocery store.  Read more about vanilla here.

I split them the length and carefully scrape out the seeds. Place the seeds and the pod into the pan with the other ingredients (this method also works for anything vanilla such as Crème Anglaise or pastry cream).

A tip: If you are frugal and think there may be coffee to be made from the coffee beans…there isn’t.  I tried and it was insipid brown water.  Sadly, the beans have given all they had and have nothing left for a Kahlua coffee.

The finished product.  The recipes are below.  The first is this one and the second is for a higher sense of urgency.

Homemade Kahlua as Christmas gifts. Recipe is here, culinarylibertarian.com/kahlua
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Kahlua

If you've time to plan, say 6 weeks, this is the Kahlua to make.

Course bar component
Keyword Better than the store, Black Russian, Home made, Kahlua
Prep Time 10 minutes
Author Dann Reid

Ingredients

Kahlua

  • 750 ml Vodka
  • 12 oz Dark rum Meyers, for example
  • 12 oz Sugar
  • 12 oz Dark roast coffee beans
  • 1 each Vanilla bean, whole
  • 1 each Cinnamon stick
  • 2 each Strips of orange zest

Instructions

Mix the Kahlua

  1. Add all the ingredients to a bowl large enough to hold them.

  2. Mix well.

  3. Place in a resealable container and store for at least 6 weeks.

    Shake the contents to stir the contents every couple of days.

  4. Strain Kahlua through a tea strainer of a coffee filter.

    Store in pretty bottles.

  5. Pretend you are The Dude making a beverage, man.

Recipe Notes

Coffee loves friends.  Pick those flavors which you think are good chums with coffee and add them to your Kahlua. 

Bay or cardamom or black pepper might be some good choices.  It's your drink, so make it as personalized as you can.

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If not that, then this

If you are a bit pressed for time or have a higher sense of urgency, make this one.

Bottles of Kahlua waiting to be gfted
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Kahlua

Homemade Kahlua is an excellent gift, or an excellent reason to host a party.  Either way, good imbibing is on the menu.

Course Drinks
Keyword Black Russian, Drinking a beverage, Man, Kahlua, White Russian
Prep Time 10 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Author Dann Reid

Ingredients

Kahlua

  • 2.5 C Strong, freshly brewed coffee
  • 1 lb Granulated sugar
  • 2.25 C Stoli or Absolut vodka
  • 1 each Split vanilla bean

Instructions

Make the Kahlua

  1. Add the strong coffee, sugar and vanilla bean to a pot.

  2. Bring the coffee mixture to a boil.  Stir to dissolve the sugar.

  3. When the coffee mixture reaches a boil, lower the heat to simmer and cover.

  4. Let simmer, covered, for 20 minutes.

  5. Remove the pot from the heat and remove the lid.  Allow to cool to 130°F.

  6. Add the vodka.  Transfer the liquor to a pitcher or other easily pouring vessel.  With the aid of a clean funnel, fill the cleaned bottles.  Seal and store away from light for at least 4 weeks before drinking or gifting.

  7. Enjoy.

 

Let the bottles age for at least a month before drinking.