Mosa Cream Whipper – Warm Nyangbo Chocolate & Smoked Cinnamon Mousse Recipe

Warm Nyangbo Chocolate & Smoked Cinnamon Mousse Recipe

Modernist Cuisine at Home recently named the whipping siphon as a Top 5 culinary tool for the home. It was such a coincidence because I just got mine a couple weeks ago. I got the Mosa Cream Whipper from Call the Kettle Black. The whipping siphon is different than the Mosa Cream Whipper though, this one is used for sweet and savoury mousses, foams, and flavoured whipped creams. It’s ideal for the home cook who’s ready for a little culinary challenge.

At first I was a bit intimidated because I’ve never used one before. It came with N2O cartridges which looked like bullets, and while it came with directions, I decided to call for some culinary guidance. I called on my friend Kira Desmond who is the talented pastry chef at the rather new restaurant Secret Location in Gastown, downtown Vancouver. She showed me how to make a warm Nyangbo Chocolate mousse (one of the components to a dessert on her menu) and it ended up being far from any old “chocolate mousse”.

Since then I’ve been playing around with the cream whipper at home and it’s no longer intimidating. As long as I can get everything to a smooth puree, I’ll never have to hand whip anything again! Okay, that didn’t come out right… but honestly this was quick, convenient and almost mess-free. I can also keep the canister in my fridge for the whole week (or until the ingredients expire) and it’s ready when I am.

Warm Nyangbo Mousse Recipe

Recipes from: Pastry Chef Kira Desmond at Secret Location

Ingredients:

• 285 g Whole Milk
• 160 g Valrhona Nyangbo Chocolate
• 2 g Agar
• 20 g Sugar
• **40 g Smoked Cinnamon Caramel Powder (see recipe below)

Directions:

1. Melt the chocolate in the microwave slowly on low heat, stirring quite often.

2. Combine the sugar, caramel powder, and agar. Stir into the cold milk and then bring the mixture to a boil.

3. Gradually pour 1/3 of the milk over the chocolate while stirring with a rubber spatula in circular motions to create an emulsion.

4. Add the remaining milk in 2 parts while continuing to stir with the spatula.

5. Use a hand blender to complete the emulsion of the chocolate/milk mixture.

6. Pour the hot mixture into a [Mosa Cream Whipper] and charge with 2 cartridges. Keep the siphon at 116 ° F in a bain-marie.

7. Shake the [Mosa Cream Whipper] well. Turn upside down and press lever to dispense the mousse. Serve immediately.

**NOTE: You can omit the smoked cinnamon caramel powder and replace it with 30 grams of sugar.

Smoked Cinnamon Caramel Powder Recipe

For the Smoked Cinnamon…

Ingredients:

• 5 Large Cinnamon Sticks
• 1 Cup Apple Wood Chips

1. Place apple wood in a flash pan and scorch it with a blow torch until it starts to smoke and burn slightly.

2. While the wood is still smoking cover the pan with foil and allow the smoke to infuse into the cinnamon.

3. Once the wood chips stop smoking torch them again to reignite the smoking. Repeat this process one more time. Keep the wood chips covered during the period in which they are smoking.

*Note: The Cinnamon Sticks can also be smoked in a pan with the wood chips on a stove top on low heat, while kept covered.

The cinnamon sticks can be grated on a microplane or ground in a spice grinder.

For the Caramel Powder…

Ingredients:

• 100 g Sugar
• 2 g Smoked Cinnamon Powder
• 15 g Butter
• Pinch of fine sea salt

1. Make a dry caramel with the sugar in a heavy saucepan. Cook the sugar to a medium/dark caramel colour (just until it starts to smoke).

2. Remove the caramel from heat and add the smoked cinnamon powder.

3. Pour caramel/cinnamon mixture onto a silpat. Once the caramel has hardened, pulverize it in a Robot Coupe or food processor, grinding to a fine powder. The powder should be stored in an airtight container with a few smoked cinnamon sticks (unground).

The Presentation:

Smoked cinnamon Mountain Rose Apple confit, Candy Cap Mushroom ice cream, warm Nyangbo mousse, crunchy chocolate pearls, almond streusel, Mountain Rose Apple confit and edible pansie.

Kira was winging this final dessert and it tasted fantastic! It’s not even on her menu, but with all components made ahead of time it was easy to assemble. To be honest, you could probably make a version of this at home and easily impress your guests for the holidays. You can “cheat” by buying the ice cream, but if you have a  Cuisinart Ice Cream and Gelato Maker then go put that to some use!

You can find Kira’s Mountain Rose Apple confit on her Pecan Buttermilk Pancakes at brunch, the Candy Cap gelato on her next menu, the warm Nyangbo mousse on her Brown Butter Chestnut Crepes, her crunchy pearls in many desserts, and the almond streusel in her Cheesecake Mosaic. If you like pistachio and nutty flavours and textures then her cheesecake will make you swoon (shown below).

Cheesecake Mosaic – Sweetened Shortcrust, Almond Sponge, Pistachio Cake, Pistachio Cheesecake, Poached Cherries, Cream Cheese Mousse, Almond Streusel, Kirsch Reduction, Sour Cherry Sorbet $12 at Secret Location.

Follow Me Foodie to the Mousses by Mosa Cookbook Giveaway!

“This book uncovers the secrets of an innovating form of cooking using cream whippers — the essential tool for making savoury, sweet, hot, or cold creams which are all the rage with the most fashionable caterers and restaurants. Step behind the scenes with chef Jean-Claude Fascine who serves up the technique along with 28 recipes for appetizers, starters, vegetables, sauces, and desserts so that you too can become an accomplished artist. You’ll soon be making airy foams, creamy mousses with fruit, vegetables, seafood, meat, cream, chocolate, caramel, and more. You will also learn how to create coloured layers in glass dishes, contrasts in textures, wonderful blends of delicate flavours — presentations worthy of the very best restaurants. Let your creativity run wild and impress your guests with the secrets unveiled in the book.” Amazon.com

How to enter:

1. RT to enter! Win Mousses by Mosa cook book from @CTKBVancouver & @FollowMeFoodie! Recipes for sweet/savoury whipped creams & mousses!

OR

2. Comment on this post with your favourite mousse.

 Contest closes Monday, December 3, 2012. 2 winners will be chosen (1 Tiwtter & 1 Commenter).