If we asked you right now, "Would you like a bowl of chocolate mousse?", we're pretty positive you'd say yes. Who doesn't like chocolate mousse? It's creamy, dreamy, and fulfills our deepest, darkest chocolate fantasies. To learn how to make mousse like they do at classic French bistros, we spoke with Chef Ludo Lefebvre, the owner of Petit Trois, one of our Best New Restaurants 2015. Here are Lefebvre's tips.
The best chocolate mousse is deep and rich-tasting—you don't get that from sugary milk chocolate. Lefebvre likes to use chocolate with 70% cacao content.
It's not dessert without a little sugar, but you'll want to avoid granular bits in your mousse. To make sure that the sugar is completely dissolved and incorporated into the mousse, add it to the eggs and beat them well with an electric mixer. You're working to create an emulsion in which the sugar is broken down and suspended in the egg yolks, making it voluminous and thick.
Older egg whites are much better for whipping, says Lefebvre. They trap air and stay inflated better, making them ideal for fluffy mousse—and soufflés.
Forget what you know about timidly folding in egg whites. Lefebvre likes to incorporate a small portion of the beaten egg whites to his pudding batter by whisking it in with a hand-held whisk. It ensures that they're well-distributed, and gives the pudding bulk. Then, he folds in the rest of the beaten whites the traditional way, with a rubber spatula. Because the pudding base is pre-thickened with a bit of egg white, it won't run the risk of falling flat and deflating the fluffy whites.
Once your mousse mix is finished, ladle it into ramekins and let it chill for at least 4 hours. It may seem like an impossibly long time to wait, but it allows the pudding to thicken and set up. You'll be rewarded with an airy and light texture.