I think everyone has the same memory of their parent’s dinner parties when they were young. I remember being as ‘helpful’ as possible in the kitchen before hand, stirring things that needed to sit, and fiddling with the oven temperatures. When the front door knocked I legged it upstairs, way too shy to say hello, and spent the rest of the night upstairs reading books and thinking that grown-ups had weird parties. No party bags or anything.
The best part the next morning was rushing downstairs and peering into the fridge to see if any of Dad’s puddings had survived the night. I remember lemon tart crumbs and severe disappointment- but I also remember the coolest thing ever, which, as a ten year old, I simply couldn’t understand the physics of; chess board chocolate mousse
So this recipe is collaboration between Sam Stern and my dad, and is incidentally the best chocolate mousse recipe in the world.
Chess board chocolate mousse
(Sam Stern’s Recipe)
Ingredients
- 4 large eggs
- 6 oz. good quality chocolate
- 2 tablespoons strong black coffee (you can dissolve a teaspoon instant coffee powder in half a mug of hot water)
- 1 tablespoon butter, softened
- 2 teaspoons orange juice
- pinch of salt
Directions
- Separate the egg yolks: yolks in one large bowl, whites in another.
- Fill a saucepan, or the bottom pan of a double-boiler, one-third full of water. Bring to a very gentle simmer. Break the chocolate into the top pan of the double-boiler or a heatproof bowl big enough to fit into the saucepan without touching the water.
- Add the coffee and let the chocolate melt into the coffee slowly — too fast and hot and it will spoil. Stir twice with a wooden spoon to combine.
- Remove from heat. Working quickly, stir in the egg yolks.
- Add the butter and orange juice. Beat fast and furious until glossy.
- Using an electric mixer, whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt until white and stiff but not dry.
- With a big metal spoon, fold the whites into the chocolate in figure-eight movements. Don’t overwork it; you want to keep the air in. The odd spot of white doesn’t matter.
- Spoon the mousse into a big bowl. Chill for a couple of hours or longer.
- Grate about 100g of white chocolate with the second smallest grater side. Then cut some equal squares out of paper, and lay them over the mousse in a chess board patter.
- Sprinkle over the chocolate so the uncovered parts are completely white.
- Carefully peel off the paper, without spilling the grated chocolate all over.
So….it really isn’t that difficult, but it stayed with me because at the time I thought it was magic. So much so that it randomly came back to me this weekend, for a friend’s birthday, and once again the chessboard mousse was admired, although perhaps not to the extent it was 14 years ago. I also used this method on a birthday tiramisu, for ‘L’…
Happy Baking everybody 🙂
Stay Unchained<3
Unchained Baking 