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Chocolate mousse

Name: Chocolate mousse
Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 295 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 200 g dark chocolate; 6 piece very fresh eggs, separated; 100 g sugar; 375 g cream (for whipping); 500 ml milk; 1 piece vanilla pod; 4 piece egg yolks; 150 g sugar

Dark chocolate folded with whisked yolks and sugar, stiff egg whites and half-whipped cream, set in the fridge. Jeroen Meus serves it in quenelles on a vanilla custard sauce.

Editorial illustration of the documented recipe; not a photograph of a kitchen-tested result.

Servings: 4
Preparation: 40 min
Cooking: 15 min
Resting: 4 h
Total: 4 h 55
Difficulty: Moderate

Equipment

Bain-marie (pan of water with a bowl or pan above)
Electric hand mixer; two very clean bowls
Serving dish

Servings4

Method

Melt the chocolate gently over a bain-marie.
Timer · 5 min5:00
Whisk the yolks with the sugar, added in stages, until pale and foamy. Fold in the melted chocolate.
In a very clean, grease-free bowl, whisk the whites to a firm foam. Fold them into the chocolate mixture patiently, a portion at a time.
Why Meus says the mousse must be as airy as possible; the whites carry the air.
Whip the cream only halfway, not to stiff peaks, and fold it in.
Why Half-whipped cream folds in without knocking out the air and keeps the mousse soft.
Pour into a serving dish and leave several hours in the fridge to set.
Timer · 4 h240:00
For the sauce, bring the milk to the boil with the split vanilla pod and its seeds, then keep it on a low heat. Whisk the yolks and sugar until pale, remove the pod and whisk in a little of the hot milk.
Timer · 5 min5:00
Pour the yolk mixture into the rest of the milk over a low heat and stir until it thickens; it must not boil. It is ready when a finger drawn across the spoon leaves a clear line. Chill about an hour.
Why Above about simmering the yolks scramble; the spoon test shows the custard has thickened before that point.
Timer · 10 min10:00
Spoon a pool of sauce onto each plate and add a quenelle of mousse shaped with a spoon dipped in warm water. Grate a little chocolate on top if you like.

Substitutions

Vanilla sauce → Serve the mousse plain, or with whipped cream.

Common mistakes

Hot chocolate into cold yolks: let it cool slightly so it does not seize or cook the eggs.
A trace of yolk or grease in the whites: they will not whip firm.

Storage & reheating

Keep covered in the fridge and eat within 24 hours; it contains raw egg.

Safety

The mousse contains raw egg yolks and whites. NHS pregnancy advice: in the UK only British Lion or Laid in Britain hen eggs may be eaten raw; other eggs should be well cooked. Outside the UK, follow your national food-safety advice. Check chocolate labels for milk and soy.

Allergens

Egg · Milk

Check labels: stock, bacon and sauces can contain further allergens.

Dietary

vegetarian · gluten-free

Belgian chocolate at home

Meus's mousse is a home dessert built on dark chocolate, which Belgium takes seriously: Visit Liège's food guide recalls the chocolatier Berwaerts in 1840, then Meurisse, Neuhaus, Côte d'Or, Jacques, Callebaut and Leonidas, Jean Neuhaus's invention of the praline in 1911 and of the ballotin box by his wife in 1915. Meus's mousse needs only 200 g of good dark chocolate for four.

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Three foams folded together

Meus folds three aerated mixtures into the chocolate: yolks whisked pale with sugar, egg whites whisked firm, and cream whipped only halfway. Folding in stages keeps the air, and several hours in the fridge set the chocolate around it. The mousse is not cooked, so the eggs must be very fresh.

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