Chocolate Mousse (Mousse au Chocolat) Ingredients, Tips and History

Article

Chocolate Mousse (Mousse au Chocolat) Ingredients, Guidelines and History

by Doug

Article	Reviews
Article	Reviews

"Mousse" is the French word for "foam", while "Chocolat" is of course French for "chocolate". Consequently, "Mousse au chocolat" translates as "foamy chocolate", and is one of a number of foamy desserts (many of which are fruit based).

With a few rare exceptions, all chocolate mousse recipes have two ingredients:

Chocolate, which is of course the essential element of the dessert, and
Egg white, which is whipped into a foam and then added to the melted chocolate to provide the light and foamy texture, which is the essence of the recipe

To this, depending on the recipe, additional ingredients can be added to change the taste and texture of the dessert. Common examples are:

Sugar - Mainly to make the dessert sweeter, as dark chocolate can otherwise be too bitter for most people.
Cream - This gives the dessert a softer and lighter texture. For recipes using dark chocolate (some use white chocolate), this ingredient makes the dessert taste more like milk chocolate than dark chocolate.
Egg yolks - Adds a rich taste to the dessert, plus uses the yolks left over after one has used the egg whites.
Butter - Like egg yolks, add a richness to the dessert.
Flavourings - Many different flavourings can be added, the most popular including: vanilla, orange and coffee. One could argue that this is not "authentic" chocolate mousse, but if people enjoy it, why not introduce some variety?
Decoration - After the dessert is prepared, decoration is sometimes added to the top. Most commonly, this is flakes or sticks of chocolate, which not only is visually interesting but also adds contrast (in both taste and texture) between the chocolate flakes and the underlying chocolate mousse. Other common decorations are cream or berries (raspberries and strawberries are often used). A less common but elegant edition is mint leaves.

Of these additional ingredients, sugar is present in every recipe I've ever seen and cream is present in most. The other items are frequently, but far from always used.

Here are some general tips on how to make Chocolate Mousse:

When melting the chocolate, it is very important that this should be done gently and that the chocolate is not overheated (if overheated the chocolate ingredients will separate or burn). Consequently, rather than melting it in a pot, it is best to use a double boiler if you have one. If you don't, a good alternative is to place a casserole dish inside a pot of water. In both cases (double boiler or casserole dish in pot of water), the water should be heated to warm but not to boiling.
To allow the chocolate to melt quickly, with minimum heat, it should be broken into pieces before being placed into the dish to melt.
The egg white needs to be beaten into a froth, as it is the air bubbles trapped in the froth which provides this recipe its distinctive light and airy taste. However, care should be taken not to beat the egg whites to the point that they become stiff. If they are stiff, it becomes difficult to mix them evenly into the chocolate.
Once the chocolate is melted, the other ingredients are added. As the other ingredients are often cool (e.g. if cream is used and it has just been taken out of the fridge), they will cool the chocolate and it may start to go hard. If this happens, it is impossible to mix the chocolate with the other ingredients. To solve this problem, simply reheat (gently!!!) the chocolate with whatever ingredients have already been added, until the chocolate becomes liquid again. To avoid the problem, either melt the chocolate in a heavy dish (which will hold the heat and keep the chocolate liquid) or once the chocolate is melted, leave it in the double boiler (or casserole dish) with the stove on minimum heat, using the boiler (or casserole dish) to mix all the ingredients in.
The sugar needs to be well dissolved. For this purpose icing sugar (known as Confectioners' Sugar in the USA, or Sucre Glace in France) is best as it dissolves quickly. However, ordinary sugar works well provided it is well stirred in.
The beaten egg white needs to be added to the chocolate, but it should be "folded" in rather than stirred in. "Folding" is a cooking term. It consists of sliding the instrument (e.g. plastic spatula or wooden spoon) along the bottom of the container and then lifting it up the side (keeping the spoon horizontal). This motion is used to mix the ingredients without losing the air bubbles trapped in the whipped egg. A normal stirring motion would remove the air bubbles, resulting in the moose being flat.
After the chocolate mousse is prepared, it should be put into the fridge to cool for at least an hour prior to serving. As it contains raw egg, I would advise that it is eaten the same day as it is prepared, rather than keeping it for multiple days.

The exact date of the first chocolate mousse recipe is unknown. However, it is believed to be from the second half of the 1800s. In 1977, in New York City, chef Michel Fitoussi created a white chocolate mousse, which for a period of time was extremely popular (up until then chocolate mousse always used dark chocolate). Now one can find both types of chocolate mousse, but in France it is almost always based on dark chocolate.