A mousse is an odd thing. In a sense, it sort of cancels itself out. Essentially, it’s a dense foam. Dense. Foam. Two entirely different things. Yet they combine to work their sorcery to create one of the classics of the French kitchen. The oxymoron of desserts.

Dense: solid, holding itself firm, “closely compacted in substance”, according to encyclopedia.com; “containing a lot of matter in a small space” (Cambridge), adding, “plutonium is very dense”.

You don’t want your chocolate mousse to be as dense as plutonium.

Merriam-Webster describes dense as “Having parts that are gathered tightly together”. Collins: “Thickly crowded or closely set … thick; impenetrable”. 

Yet, while a mousse is being quite as dense as all that, it also has to be a foam.

Foam: “A mass of small … bubbles” (Cambridge). “A light, frothy mass of fine bubbles” (Merriam-Webster). And Collins, somewhat alarmingly: “Something like foam, as the heavy sweat of horses, frothy saliva”.

We definitely don’t want our chocolate mousse to be anything like that.

The very word mousse means foam in France, where it first appeared in the 18th century. A perfect mousse, well executed, is a thing at odds with itself. It is trying to be two things at once, both dense and a foam, and it is the task or art of the chef or cook to achieve that, if there’s to be any point in making a mousse at all.

For many of us, the perfect chocolate mousse is the epitome of what a fine and decadent mousse can be; a pinnacle to be achieved. This is not to say that a divine savoury mousse, such as one that celebrates foie gras or truffle, cannot exceed the beauty and appeal of a dense chocolate “foam”. But I don’t see other sweet mousses such as strawberry, vanilla or lemon trouncing their rich chocolate cousin although, for me, lemon puts up a good argument for itself.

Britannica defines a mousse succinctly as a “mousse, savoury or sweet dish with the consistency of a dense foam, composed of a puréed chief ingredient mixed with stiffly beaten egg whites, whipped cream, or both”. Chocolate mousse, Britannica continues, “may be made from whipped cream or whipped egg whites, with the addition of bittersweet chocolate and sugar”.

What goes into a good chocolate mousse? Chocolate, yes, but more precisely, the consensus today is for it to be 70% dark cocoa chocolate, if it’s a dark chocolate one you’re making (you get white chocolate mousses too, though they will never have that satisfying deep richness of dark). You get denser, darker, more bitter and less sweet chocolate, but 70% brings what might reasonably be considered a perfect balance between the bitter and the sweet. Intensity, yes, but rein it in at the end.

Eggs. They add bulk and a certain texture, and the yolks in particular bring a luxuriousness that completes the impact of a great mousse. It finishes off that dreamy mouthfeel and has you dipping your spoon in for more.

A shot of espresso is not essential but it’s well worth including; an extra shot of deep, dark flavour without the coffee dominating and turning it into a chocolate-coffee mousse. It must be there but yet strangely understated, which is not the usual thing we are looking for in good coffee.

Sugar is essential, obviously, and a shot of liquor of some kind, such as Cognac, whisky or a liqueur such as Drambuie or Cointreau, can only make it even more luxurious. I did not use liquor in the mousse but did for macerated strawberries to serve it with.

It is essential that you allow time for the mousse to set in the fridge and it must be served cold. That plays a key role in the density you’re seeking. The more time out of the fridge, the more it will soften.

(Makes 4)

Ingredients

1 cup / 250 ml cream, cold

160 g 70% cocoa dark chocolate

2 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp espresso, hot

3 XL eggs, separated

1 Tbsp light brown sugar

Macerated strawberries:

1 punnet strawberries

¼ cup caster sugar

⅓ cup liqueur

Method

Whip the cream to soft peak stage, and refrigerate.

Break the chocolate into the top of a double boiler or a small bowl set in a saucepan of water on a low heat, add the butter and stir until it melts into smooth delight. Stir in the hot espresso. Leave it to cool off the heat.

Before it becomes cool (it needs to be tepid), whip the egg whites a little, sprinkle the sugar over, and whip to soft peak stage.

Beat the egg yolks and stir them into the chocolate.

Stir in one third of the whipped cream, then fold in half of the egg whites first, followed by the remainder.

Finally, fold in the rest of the whipped cream.

Spoon into elegant glasses. Cover with cling film, and refrigerate.

Quarter the strawberries after hulling them, and stir the caster sugar and liqueur in. Refrigerate for several hours.

Serve each chocolate mousse topped with whipped cream and the macerated strawberries. DM/TGIFood

Tony Jackman is Galliova Food Champion 2021. His book, foodSTUFF, is available in the DM Shop. Buy it here. 

Follow Tony Jackman on Instagram @tony_jackman_cooks. Share your versions of his recipes with him on Instagram and he’ll see them and respond.

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