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Reception Cocoa
3 tablespoons cocoa A few grains salt 1/4 cup sugar 4 cups milk 3/4 cup boiling water Scald milk. Mix cocoa, sugar, and salt, adding enough boiling water to make a smooth past; add remaining water and boil five minutes; pour into scalded milk. Beat two minutes, using egg-beater.
A straightforward hot cocoa built the old way: the cocoa is cooked in water first, then married to scalded milk. The five-minute boil is the part that matters, and it is the part most modern cooks skip.
- Use unsweetened natural cocoa"Cocoa" here means plain unsweetened powder, not a sweetened drinking mix. Natural (non-alkalized) cocoa is closest to what the book intended; Dutch-process will work but tastes rounder and less bright.
- Why boil the pasteBoiling the cocoa, sugar and water for five minutes was the standard reason given for cooking the starch in the powder and dispersing the particles, which was held to keep the finished drink from settling gritty at the bottom of the cup. Stir it and watch it; once the remaining water is in it is a thin liquid and will reduce over five minutes.
- Scalding the milkScalded means heated to about 180F, when a rim of bubbles forms at the edge and steam rises, not a rolling boil. Boiled milk gives a skin and a cooked flavor.
- The salt"A few grains" is a very small amount, somewhere between a sixteenth and an eighth of a teaspoon. At this dose it works on the chocolate flavour rather than reading as seasoning.
- The beatingTwo minutes with a rotary egg-beater raises a light foam. A whisk or an immersion blender does the same job in less time.
- YieldAbout four and a half cups, or six to eight small cups. Holding it hot over low heat is fine; beat it again just before pouring.