Rachel Khoo

Back in the days of when I lived in Paris I worked at a small culinary book shop (imagine the bookshop in Notting Hill or the record store in High Fidelity). It was a dream job to be surrounded by cookbooks and every week we would host book launches.

I became obsessed with the French physical chemist, Hervé This, the godfather of molecular gastronomy which was all the rage in the noughties and early teens before the Vikings/Scandi culinary wave. I studied his books, highlighting the French phrases and looking up the words in my French dictionary. An excellent way of improving my French and my culinary savoir-faire.

In his book "Construisons un repas" he explores history, pleasure of eating, home-cooking and explains the science behind it. Probably his most famous experiment (merci Heston Blumenthal) is making chocolate mousse with only chocolate and water. He goes on to explain that this could also be done with butter, cheese, foie gras...any ingredient that sets at room temperature. I'll leave the science part to the experts but there's really nothing to it than whisking like crazy.

I've replaced some of the water with the delicious syrup from the maraschino cherries which gives it that Black Forest gâteau vibe. You could try it with other tinned cherries (the intensity of the cherry flavour will depend on the syrup) or use some cherry flavoured liqueur. Serving crème fraîche on the side (optional for vegans) makes this mousse very intense so less is more what it comes to portion sizes.