texture

in looking at the savory side of cooking, i have always relished the idea of "crusting" something. a tender piece of meat or fish gets crusted with nuts or bread or any other dry mixture imaginable. the textural difference is magical. with every bite comes a fight over crunchy and creamy. how do we give that affect in the sweet world. in making a mousse that i can simply cut or scoop and place on the plate, i wanted to crust it. combining a mixture of peanut butter, feuillatine, chocolate, and cocoa butter is good in itself. pulverizing that and adding a peanut nougatine to give glass-like shards along with cocoa nibs gave me a newer "streusel". one that didn't contain flour and that gave me a more delicate crunch. crusting the mousse a la minute is the key to maintaining crunch. a puree made of meyer lemon peels and a clean milk sherbet finish the dish.