Well, not moose, but mousse. Chocolate mousse!

A friend mentioned mousse the other day, and I couldn’t get it out of my head, so I picked up some lovely dark chocolate and some cream and made mousse this morning.

While I was making it, I remembered why I don’t make mousse very often. Though it’s not necessarily difficult, it dirties an inordinate number of mixing bowls, and involves a lot of whisking!

Still, I enjoy making mousse, just for the chance to play with foams. There are three separate foams in the mousse recipe I use.

First is a cooked egg yolk foam. This robust foam is the first to be mixed into the melted chocolate. Next is a stabilised egg white foam, gently folded in. Then finally comes the delicate cream foam (mixed in, and dolloped on top for serving!).

The result is a divinely fluffy and rich mousse.

A foam is simply a film of proteins surrounding pockets of air. Foams are important in food—the structure of a foam changes the flavour and feel of food, and has a profound impact on how we experience it. Ice cream, fruit smoothies, cakes, soufflés, whipped cream, beer, and fancy coffees rely on foam to make them what they are.

So go ahead and enjoy some foam today, in whatever form you like it!