Louis Quinze, by Alain Ducasse

[J_elias86]

Louis Quinze, by Alain Ducasse

Serves 21 as Dessert.

(Makes 21 individual portions).

French Arrogance?

A Chocolate mouse. A Chocolate Ganache. A hazelnut dacquoise. An "appariel feullitine".

No, I'm not referring to a posh pastry store. I'm referring to one single dessert. The Louis XV or "louis quinze".

Affectionately served to the former king of France, this dessert, or pudding, was acclaimed the "best dessert in the world" by some hastily constructed British "authority" (three food critics), claiming to make such findings as part of their mini-series.

Is it is possible to make such a distinction. Probably not. Was this a good enough excuse to make the dessert myself. Yes.

Thus, with similar arrogance to the creators of the pudding, and one eighth the expertise, I set about conquering Louis.

Obviously only the best chocolate can be used in this choc-centric dessert. I used Felchin; Grand Cru 65% Cocoa for my dark, and Valrhona White Culinaire for my white (Which I brought back with me from France).

The base of the Louis is the dacqouise, then a layer of the feullitine. Put in a ring mould and then chilled in the fridge. That is topped with a layer of the mousse and once that has set, finish with the ganache.

The Recipe that I used is translated from French (at great pains), from the dessert encyclopedia by Alain Ducasse.

NOTE: THIS RECIPE IS FOR 21. I divided by three, to cater for seven. You will not end up using all the ingredients. There was a lot of dacquoise and feuillitine left over. Just use amounts sensibly.

Also Note that the paradise ganache must be prepared the night before.

Ingredients:

FOR The Hazelnut Dacquoise(meringue):

1 kilogram of hazelnut powder

1 kilogram of granulated sugar

800 grams of egg whites

400 grams icing sugar

FOR LÂ’Appariel Feuilletine:

300g white chocolate

1.2 kilogram(s) of praline (finely ground) (in blender or just chopped) NOTE: THE SUB RECIPE DOWN THE BOTTOM.

600 grams feuillitine. (crushed gaufrette, French wafer biscuits, (I used crunched up waffle ice cream cones)

FOR Chocolate Mousse:

800g Paradise Ganache

700 Mililitres of Whipping Cream

FOR Paradise Ganache (By itself it is the icing and when combined with cream it forms the mousse):

900 Millilitres whipping cream

1.2 kilograms of sugar

1.5 litres of water

1 Kilogram of chocolate

500 Millitres of double cream

500g cocoa powder

• For the hazelnut Dacqouise (meringue)
  
• of hazelnut powder
  
• of granulated sugar
  
• of egg whites
  
• icing sugar
  

METHOD:

The Paradise Ganache (the day before):

The paradise ganache is part of the frosting and the mousse. Stand-alone it is thefrostingg. Once you add whipped cream to it, it becomes the mousse. It must be prepared the night before.

Mixture 1:

Chop the chocolate very finely. Bring the whipping cream to the boil. Remove the cream from the heat and pour onto the chopped chocolate and mix well.

Mixture 2:

In aseparatee bowl bring the water, sugar, the cocoa and the double cream to the boil.

Mix 1 kg of the mixture 1 with 1 litre of mixture 2. Then leave this finished product in te fridge for 24 hours. This is the paradise ganache.

The Dacquoise:

Mix the hazelnut powder and the granulated sugar. Whip the whites with an electric whisk till stiff peaks and add the icing sugar a little at a time. Add the meringue mixture to the hazelnut and sugar mixture and mix very delicately. Grease a baking tray (40*60cm) and layer with baking paper and spread one layer of the mixture (As thin as possible). Cook in a fan forced oven at 190 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes. Then leave in the fridge to cool. When cool Cut out the dacquoise in discs of 10cm diameter with a cookie cutter.

The Feuilletine:

Chop the white chocolate and melt in a bain marie together with the finely ground praline. Once melted, take off the heat add the feuilletine. Mix everything together well.

Then, take the dacquoise disks and while surrounded by the circular mould, add a layer of the feuilletine. Then place back in the fridge to solidify.

The Mousse:

Whip the whipping cream. Fold it delicately into 800 grams (for 21 people) of the paradise ganache. Then layer the the mouse into the circle moulds. Put in the fridge to set.

Final Assembly:

Remove from the mould. heat up the paradise ganache, to liquid, but not hot (as it will melt the mousse). Place the louis on a wire rack and Ladle the liquid ganache over the louis. Leave to cool.

I was a bit to eager and did not give the mousse proper (any) time to set in its own right, so the ganache collapsed it a bit.

Usually in France it is served with gold leaf. As nice and pretentious as that sounds, I chose a strawberry.

(SUB RECIPE)

(Praline:

250 g toasted nuts

1 cup sugar

½ cup of water

spread nuts over a lightly oiled baking tray. Dissolve sugar with water and bring to 125-128 degrees Celsius. Pour over nuts and leave to harden.)

Pictures available at The day of the expanding man

Keywords: Dessert, Chocolate

( RG1751 )