As a part of the MSci project on Cooking a Steak, we would like to communicate the physics and those physical processes that take place during cooking to the general public. Karim Bahsoon and Jason Chang are the two fourth year undergraduate students working on this project.
The dessert course of the menu will be a chocolate mousse by Tom Aikens. Tom is a Visiting Researcher at the Physics Department and he has been advising us on the menu. In addition to his help Tom actually cooked all the courses for us so that we know how the original versions taste.
So this Monday I was at the Tom Aikens restaurant where Tom showed me the secrets to his amazing chocolate mousse. The main ingredients are italian meringue, a milk chocolate creme anglaise and whipped cream. The easiest way to make the creme anglaise is in the Thermomix which provides a well controlled cooking environment with exact temperatures that can be set. Too many spoilt custards even in professional kitchens justify the use of this wonderful machine. In this picture Tom is using his Thermomix for making creme anglaise:
These were the main steps in cooking the dessert:
1) Carefully measure out all ingredients
2) Make the Italian meringue
3) Ingredients for the creme anglaise in the Thermomix bowl
4) Milk chocolate creme anglaise ready
5) Mix in the whipped cream
6) The finished product
Nice pictures but why publish this without the details of the recipes – about a much use as a chocolate teapot.
Here is the recipe (thanks Tom)
ITALIAN MERINGUE
500g egg white
700g caster sugar
200g water
Cook the sugar to 124-126c and then pour over the lightly beaten egg white then turn on to a medium speed and then beat till luke warm.
CHOCOLATE MOUSSE Makes 3 Ltr =100g per serve
380g milk
90g yolk
60g sugar
450g milk chocolate melted
200g Italian meringue recipe above
400g cream semi whipped
3g Leaves of gelatine leaf
Make an anglaise with the sugar, yolks and milk, add the soaked gelatine and the melted chocolate pass into a bowl and set over ice to chill, once semi set add the meringue then whipped cream by slowly folding it in, making sure there are no lumps at all.
I’m going to have to give this one a go, but seeing as I can’t even make chocolate brownies without burning them I don’t hold out much hope.
And thanks for adding the recipe.
found your post whilst looking for information about melting and reforming chocolate. Good post