French Chocolate Mousse

She didn’t speak English. I didn’t speak French. But she taught me how to make this luscious, classic dessert in only 15 minutes.

We both had wild curly hair held back with scarves while we stood in her hot kitchen deep in the Provence countryside. Her green eyes locked with mine over the large copper pot.

“You must whip zee whites. Zees high.”

Giselle held her hand about 4 inches from the egg whites I had just finished separating.

I nodded my head enthusiastically. “Oui! Oui!”

Where was I? My husband and I were taking a private cooking lesson with a local cook in a small village in Provence.

I could tell she admired his onion chopping skills, but she was less than impressed with the soufflé I’d screwed up the hour before. When she saw I had a smear of yellow egg yolk mixed in the foamy egg whites for the soufflé, her eyebrows went up and she shook her finger at me.

“Zee white can go in zee yellow. But zee yellow never in zee white. Zees is very im-por-TANT.”

She was right. My poor little soufflé didn’t rise at all and came out more like a heavy banana loaf. She took it out of the oven and showed me with raised eyebrows that said, “I told you.”

Merde.

But now she was graciously giving me another chance with egg whites. I was all set to make the delicious chocolate mousse France is famous for.

Perfectly chopped onions, be damned. Out of the corner of my eye I saw my husband chuckling to himself. I shook my head at him and laughed. I’d never live it down if my mousse au chocolat bombed.

But thankfully, with Giselle’s help — it didn’t and I’ve been making this classic French dessert successfully ever since.

You might be thinking, “Chocolate pudding. What’s the big deal?” Well, this isn’t chocolate pudding for one. And secondly, mousse au chocolat is a very big deal in France.

Although this old-fashioned dessert is creamy and silky — it is from the whipped raw egg whites from fresh eggs and not from whipped cream. (If you’re afraid of raw egg white — then you can try the pasteurized ones but make sure it says you can whip them.)

You find this classic in any good bistro in Paris and throughout France. The first time I tasted mousse au chocolat I was in my late 20s and a new traveler to Paris. I sat in a small café and ordered the plat du jour (plate of the day.) After I’d finished my omelet, the server brought a massive pottery bowl to my table filled with creamy chocolate.

He brandished a large, silver spoon and said,

“Mademoiselle? Mousse au chocolat?”

I swear — I thought he was leaving the whole thing with me. He could tell by my wide eyes that I didn’t know what to do, and so he placed a glass dish in front of me and piled it high with this creamy, fluffy, chocolate mousse.

He stayed for a moment while I tasted it and swooned. And while the waiters don’t tend to smile much in Paris, he gave me a big grin. I was an instant fan — of the waiter and the mousse.

So years later, when my husband and I planned a trip to Provence and discovered we could take cooking classes from a local? We were all in. Especially me — when I saw that I could finally learn how to make the mousse au chocolat I’ve always enjoyed in France but never at home.

During my Provence cooking lesson, I learned it is easier to separate the egg white from the egg yolk when they are cold. And then to let the separated egg whites come to room temperature (about 30 minutes) before whipping.

As Giselle showed me, the fat from the egg yolk slows down the process of whipping the egg white and doesn’t allow the egg whites to foam. And the egg white foam is the secret to this light, airy dessert.

Trust me. I didn’t make the same mistake and mix egg whites and yolk together when I whipped the whites for the mousse. Giselle would have had my head.

My feisty but kind French instructor and I hugged each other at the end of the day. I sang O Canada for her and she sang La Marseillaise, the French national anthem for me.

Giselle would want you to try making mousse au chocolat.

Just please don’t mix zee egg yolk into zee whites.

French Mousse Au Chocolat

Serves 6. Please note there are raw egg whites in this recipe.

250 grams (approx. 2 cups) dark chocolate (70%), roughly chopped

65 grams (approx. 1/3 cup) unsalted butter

6 eggs, separated

Pinch of salt

Optional — Maldon salt for sprinkling on mousse before serving

1. Set a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of barely simmering water and make sure the bowl doesn’t touch the surface of the water.
2. Add the chocolate and butter to the heatproof bowl and melt.
3. Once the chocolate and butter is melted, remove from the heat and then beat in the egg yolks with a whisk. Set to the side.
4. In a large, clean and dry bowl, whisk the room temperature egg whites and pinch of salt to stiff peaks. I use an electric beater for this job.
5. Fold a large spoonful of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture to loosen it, then gently fold in the whipped egg whites with a spatula until you don’t have any white streaks in the mixture.
6. Pour the mixture into a serving dish (or individual dishes), cover with clingfilm and chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours. If desired — sprinkle a small amount of Maldon salt onto the mousse before serving.

Note: If you’d like to make this a grown-up version, add a tablespoon of orange liqueur, amaretto liqueur or cognac to the cooked chocolate mixture before adding in the whipped egg whites.

Thanks for reading! I have loads of food essays (delicious recipes too) and thoughtful and quirky simpler living essays waiting for you. (Well over 100 of them!) And this story caught the attention of NBC News In New York!