Chocolate Mousse
Julia Child
“Find something you’re passionate about and
keep tremendously interested in it.”
One can be passionate about many things – cooking was
definitely a passion of Julia Child –
Chocolate is also a passion shared by many.
This week I will be making Julia Child’s
Chocolate Mousse.
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this recipe gave me opportunity to use my Artisanal Chocolate I shared with you here. |
Making and then tasting this superb dessert is an experience.
Today, I read through the recipe several times, set out all my ingredients and the equipment necessary to concoct this satiny dessert.
This dessert is not for the faint of heart. There is a lot of beating of the ingredients in the process. This elevates the Mousse to a level far above your custard or your pudding.
Incorporating beautiful air bubbles into the mousse at each stage produces a very silky, decadent dessert.
And don’t forget – it’s chocolate.
I imagined as I followed each step the heroic measures taken by Julia and French chefs to beat the egg yolks and sugar, then the chocolate, coffee and butter and finally the egg whites and sugar into creamy submission. To accomplish this dessert without the aid of electric mixers and/or hand mixers (I used both!) would have been quite a work out.
But, then you come to the conclusion resulting in a fine, satiny mousse ready to be put into beautiful dessert dishes – to be gloriously displayed.
You need the chilling time, to devise a wonderful dinner, clean the sink full of dishes, to prepare your self for an elegant meal.
Going through the process of making a Chocolate Mousse – Julia’s Chocolate Mousse – causes one to desire to make the meal an event!
The recipe and instructions for this dessert will be made available through JC100 on Tumber and Facebook.
To get you prepared here are the
ingredients and equipment necessary to make
A 3-quart porcelain or stainless steel mixing bowl
A wire whip or electric beater
4 egg yolks
¾ cups instant sugar (very finely granulated)
¼ cup orange liqueur
a pan of not-quite-simmering water
a basin of cold water
*beat the egg yolks and sugar together until mixture is thick, pale yellow, and falls back upon itself forming a slowly dissolving ribbon. Beat in the orange liqueur. Then set the mixing bowl over the not-quite-simmering water and continue beating for 3 to 4 minutes until the mixture is foamy and too hot for your finger. Then beat over cold water for 3 to 4 minutes until the mixture is cool and again forms the ribbon. It will have the consistency of mayonnaise.
6 ounces or squares semi sweet baking chocolate
4 tb strong coffee
a small saucepan
6 ounces or 1 ½ sticks softenend unsalted butter
melt chocolate with coffee over hot water. Remove from heat and beat in the butter a bit at a time, to make a smooth cream. Beat the chocolate into the egg yolks and sugar, then beat in the optional orange peel (1/4 cup finely diced glazed orange peel)
4 egg whites
pinch of salt
1 Tb granulated sugar
beat the egg whites and salt until soft peaks are formed; sprinkle on the sugar and beat unti stiff peaks are formed. Stir one fourth of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture. Fold in the rest.
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turn into serving dish, dessert cups or petite pots. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.
Please, do yourself a favor and try this one day –
You will feel quite accomplished and admire Julia and the French all the more!
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*Excerpted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child. Copyright © 1961 by Alfred A. Knopf. Reprinted with permission from the publisher Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc.