Chocolate Cremeux

Mercury says the cremeux can be used for pretty much anything sweet. He recommends topping it with freshly whipped cream and berries or spreading a little on a piece of toast, topped with a few more grains of sea salt.

Makes 6 ½-cup servings

     1 cup heavy cream

     ½ cup whole milk

     1/3  cup sugar

     3 egg yolk  

     8 ounces chocolate, preferably Taza chocolate

     1 pinch of sea salt

Heat cream, milk, and sugar in a saucepan to dissolve the sugar.

Start the process of tempering your egg yolks when you see steam coming off of your liquid as it begins to simmer, or scald. (The idea is to bring the eggs to a closer temperature to the cream so that when you add them, they do not curdle.) To do this, slowly add a little of the hot mixture to your egg yolks, whisking the liquid into the yolks to gradually warm them. Once the yolks are warmed, bring the cream mixture up to a rolling boil and add yolks to the hot mixture and cook while stirring to thicken the mixture for 10-20 seconds.

Immediately strain the mixture over your chocolate, allowing the chocolate to melt. (Any type of strainer will work, you just want to make sure that you strain out any residual bits of egg chunks from the cooking process in your final product.) Blend all the ingredients with a wire wisk until smooth. Cool in refrigerator to set before using.