I can't imagine that I'm going to be feeling all that hungry after knocking back an 8oz sirloin steak, but if anything's likely to tempt me back to food it's a light and fluffy chocolate mousse
The operative words here are light and fluffy. There's a knack to getting mousse to the right consistency - and since I don’t possess it I'm once again going to be following Gordon Ramsay's advice. The latest video is full of useful information. I was pleased to learn that a bain marie is nothing more intimidating than a pan of boiling water with a bowl on top. I also liked his tip that us cooks hand over cream whipping duties to our guests. That's something I can manage. Simply watching the video made my arm feel tired.
The perfect cure for any fatigue will soon be on hand in the form of a delicious mousse. As the Mayans and Aztecs who first cultivated chocolate know well, the restorative qualities of cocoa beans are considerable. Cocoa gets your heart beating faster with a healthy dose of theobromine, they tickle your mind with a dab of serotonin and your pleasure receptors zing thanks to the rush of sugar and useful fats from the cocoa butter massaging your hypothalamus.
Small surprise that so many of us get chocolate cravings with this pharmacy-rivalling selection of health giving chemicals in each mouthful. In fact, recent tests have shown that so great is chocolate's allure that we get all revved up even before we've digested it. The pleasurable sensations relating to the fact that it melts in the mouth (a low melting point, by the way, which makes the bain marie so effective), get our hearts beating faster than a passionate kiss and stimulate more brain activity.
Knowing that cocoa contains all this good stuff, I'm also going to be following Gordon Ramsay's advice in hunting down a bar containing a high percentage of the magic beans. After tasting quality chocolate it's hard to go back to the sticky soft, pale brown bombs of fat and sugar that I used to regard as the real McCoy. The thought of bog-standard chocolate makes me feel vaguely nauseous, and judging by the radical overhaul of the chocolate shelves in our shops in the last ten years I'm guessing I'm not alone. Just as the humble spud can tell us all kinds of interesting things about the changing tastes of the UK public, so too does chocolate.
The change in our chocolate eating habits is for the good. The modern awareness of the importance of fair trade seems an unarguable improvement to me. I don't want to put you off your dinner, so a brief reminder of the involvement of slavery in much of the world's cocoa trade will suffice here. The Fair Trade label is the only guarantee you have that a child hasn't been forced into labour to make your dessert. A thought so sobering that I need a piece of chocolate to perk me up again.
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