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Cooking with Raymond

Chocolate mousse

This is one of the best chocolate mousses, certainly the lightest, straight from the repertoire of 'Maman Blanc'. You'll need a stainless steel whisking bowl. Do use the best quality of chocolate. With 70% cocoa solids you can expect the best chocolate experience!

Name of dish:Chocolate Mousse
Preparation time:20 mins
Cooking time:n/a
Serves:4 people
Chocolate mousse

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Raymond prepares a chocolate mousse.

Ingredients

  • 165g dark chocolate, at least 70% cocoa solids, finely chopped
  • 240g/8 egg whites, free-range/organic, medium
  • 20g/4tsp fructose

Method

  1. Place the chocolate in a large bowl set over a pan of hot water (Chef's note 1) and leave to melt over a low heat.
  2. Turn the heat off. In an electric mixer, (not on full power) whisk the egg whites and fructose until they form soft peaks (Chef's note 2).
  3. Whisk in a third of the egg whites to lighten the mixture and immediately fold in the remaining egg white with a large spatula (Chef's note 3).
  4. Pour into a glass bowl or individual glasses and leave to set in the fridge for 2 hours or until required.
  5. For best results, prepare one day in advance and leave, covered, in the fridge.

Variations

  1. You could use this recipe for a baked chocolate fondant: Dilute 12g of Arrowroot (or corn flour) with a tbsp of water and fold it into the chocolate mousse. Fill small oven proof moulds (buttered and lined with half cocoa powder and half caster sugar) two thirds of the way up the mould and bake in a preheated oven (170ºC) for 6-7 minutes. The chocolate fondant should be cooked on the outside and melting in the centre.
  2. Add a liquor to the melted chocolate.
  3. Add some toasted nuts - hazelnut, pistachio, almond.
  4. Serve with Caramelised bananas, macerated raspberries, caramelised pear, apricots.

Chef's notes

  1. The bowl of water must not touch the water and the water must not boil; the chocolate becomes grainy at 55ºC.
  2. By whisking egg whites, one has the amazing ability to 'harvest' the air by trapping tiny air bubbles inside a network of protein. However, if you over whisk the egg whites, they will become thick and grainy, lose volume and separate into a dry froth and a runny liquid. The resulting mousse will have an unattractive appearance and texture.
  3. Do not over mix at this stage as you will knock all the tiny bubbles of air out and be left with a dense mousse.

The Menu

Raymond Blanc

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The Inspectors' verdicts

David Moore and Sarah Willingham

"They're a really strong couple"

David and Sarah on the winners.

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