The Best Chocolate Mousse You’ve Ever Had

“Julia Child wasn’t always Julia Child.”

I was revisiting the movie Julie and Julia as I was writing this piece for inspiration and one of the characters spoke these words. Julia Child changed everything for us, especially women.

Julia Child was an American chef, author, and television personality who is often credited with bringing French cuisine into American culture. “For the servantless American cook" is a phrase commonly associated with Julia Child, referring to her dream to create cookbooks and cooking shows that were approachable to the everyday American home cook.

Julia faced incredible adversity during her culinary journey because that world at the time was predominantly male. Many professional chefs and culinary experts were cynical of her skills, often mocking her for being a female in a male-dominated industry. Her appearance, her quirky voice, and her ambitious outlook were sometimes subjects of ridicule. Authorities would often view her as a joke, and she faced an enormous amount of disdain from some of her colleagues.

“…no one is born a great cook, one learns by doing.” - Julia Child

It was my sister’s birthday, and my parents took us to a fancy French restaurant in DC. I remember this well because I was around 8 years old. I ate escargot and chocolate mousse for the first time that day.

This meal most likely was the meal that set the tone for my developed palate and future venture into the restaurant business for 29 years. My Mother was in awe of the chocolate mousse and she asked our server if the chef would share the recipe. The chef agreed. My mother went home and made it but it didn’t taste right, and she swore that he tampered with the recipe so she wouldn’t be able to properly duplicate it. Oh, the nerve!

Frustrated, yet determined, my mother went on a quest to find another recipe. Lo and behold on March 20,1983 in the parade magazine section in the Washington Post there was a recipe for Chocolate Mousse by Julia Child. My mother still to this day has it in a binder at home and it’s the one I’m sharing here.

My mother started making it for special occasions and somehow it turned into a Christmas Eve/Christmas tradition in our home. We all looked forward to the fancy mousse each year around the Holidays. This mousse felt luxurious and extravagant to me and each year I anticipated enjoying it as the days creeped closer to Christmas. It was decadent; light but dense at the same time. Intense yet comforting all at once. This dessert, so special, went on to touch so many people’s lives.

As the years went by, and we all grew up and moved to different parts of the Country the chocolate mousse came with us. My sister and I continued to make it and share it during Christmas time. Sometimes we’d make a huge batch and just serve it out of a bowl or sometimes we changed it a bit serving it in individual dark chocolate cups. One year my sister went to 14 different stores to find the cups! Sometimes we’d top it with raspberries; a family favorite. Always topped with whipped cream. Sometimes my Mom would use flavored coffee instead of regular coffee in the recipe. Her favorite amaretto flavored. One year we had to make a second batch on Christmas Day because I got carried away late-night eating the one we made on Christmas Eve while everyone was sleeping and by morning there was not much left.

I can’t remember the first time that I made it but there has been a plethora of people that have gotten to share our unique family tradition around the Holidays. One year when I lived in Hawaii I had a very social Holiday planned. I brought it to a friend’s house (a chef) for dessert for Christmas Eve. It was a total hit and I was very honored seeing that a chef approved. The next morning Christmas Morning I was invited to a party at another chef’s house who also was an owner of the restaurant. He didn’t know me that well and the invitation actually came through one of his friends that I was much closer to. He came up to me at the party and told me after eating the chocolate mousse that I was now in his inner circle. I got a kick out of that.

Later that day I brought a third batch to another party I was attending for one of my friend’s whose birthday is on Christmas. It was so hilarious to show up to this pool party in Hawaii where we were all drinking and DJs were spinning and we were all eating my family’s traditional chocolate mousse. That mousse touched the lives of a lot of people that Christmas and it led to many people asking the following year “are you going to bring that scrumptious mousse again?” I shared the recipe with so many friends out in Hawaii.

“Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon, or not at all.” - Julia Child

Each time I made the mousse through the years and every time it was shared, it was like sharing a piece of love with others. Sharing a family tradition that started because my mother went searching for a recipe to recreate that magic she experienced.

Meanwhile my sister was in Dallas and was sharing it in the same way. She would make it for special occasions, people’s birthdays, and always on Christmas. One year she brought it to the Frisco Pride Christmas party. This was a collective of gay men who had outrageous over the top Christmas parties. I got to go to one year and the thing I remember most was this room with a beautiful vintage train set up going through a winter wonderland scene. Everyone knew about our family’s traditional chocolate mousse at this party. It had become legendary.

“This is my invariable advice to people: Learn how to cook- try new recipes, learn from your mistakes, be fearless, and above all have fun!.” Julia Child

After I moved to Miami, I started working at a restaurant owned by a James Beard award winning chef. One year we were open on Christmas and I made the mousse to bring to work and portioned it into those dark chocolate mousse cups for the staff who couldn’t be with their families. Everyone was so thankful and it brought so much joy to people that I started doing this on future Christmas eves and Christmases at other restaurants I worked at for the staff. I made it for staff in MD, and in New England when I did a season up there.

The year that I brought it to work in Florida our chef took a bite and was like, “This is the best chocolate mousse I’ve ever had.” That meant a lot coming from a James Beard award winning chef.

I said, “I mean it’s Julia Child’s recipe not mine.“

“Still,” he said, “you made it.”

Now mind you, I was never a chef. I mostly designed beverage programs and cocktail menus. But he took one bite and said, “This is the best chocolate mousse I’ve ever had.”

A couple of months later, a couple who used to dine at the restaurant was planning an extravagant dinner for her 50th birthday. It was just her and her husband, but they were sitting with the chef and mapping out this special menu with items he’d have to order from various parts of the world. They wanted chocolate mousse for dessert.

He told me that night I was going to make the mousse for their upcoming dinner. “No way!” I exclaimed.

To which he replied, “Yes you are. Yours is better than mine.“

“Not possible.” I responded.

He wouldn’t take no for an answer. I made the chocolate mousse. They said it was the best they ever had.

And so now, every time I eat this mousse, I think about how far this recipe has traveled. I think about all the people whose lives it’s touched in different corners of the world. I think about not only the various friends, families and coworkers I’ve shared it with but my social media friends whom I’ve never met that I’ve shared it with by telling stories about it. I think about Julia Child and her dream to become an American woman chef who pioneered and wanted to bring French cooking to the everyday woman in America through her cookbook. I think about how when she was in France trying to learn she was laughed at, and I think about what would happen if she would’ve given up? How many people whose lives would be affected that have been inspired by her story (think of the movie Julie and Julia)? I think about all the times during Christmas how dinners and get togethers I’ve shared her recipe at would’ve been null and void of something so magnificent.

I think about the role she played in breaking down gender barriers in the kitchen. The impact she had in inviting many of us who are just regular people into making exquisite recipes that we might never attempt to create had it not been for her bravery and passion in following her culinary dreams.

And of course, I think about how once upon a time a James Beard award winning chef told me that my chocolate mousse was better than his. And who knows if it’s the truth. But it’s a truly remarkable and life changing dish. A dessert so incredible we’ve been making it for over 40 years.