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.
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.
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.
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
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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.
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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.
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Add the yolks to the melted chocolate and whisk the mix to incorporate the chocolate and add the alcohol/vanilla bean mix.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
This is the most amazing mousse you will ever have. Chef Dann invited me into the kitchen at the restaurant he was working at the time and taught me how to make this. Now, you can’t just “teach” someone how to make this. One must practice. One must use love and a gentle hand. You must have a romance with the process. Don’t let other versions of mousse recipes fool you. Whipped cream is not wanted here. If you are a chocolate lover, a traditionalist and like to impress… then this is the recipe for you. But don’t think you can make this for the first time the night before Thanksgiving. No, no. You must get to know your partner before you dance. There is a process of seduction that takes place. You will know when you and the mousse have achieved perfection.
Thank you Kim for that steamy review. You are not wrong, however, that it does take practice. And, hey, you get to eat the homework, so what’s wrong with that?