Serves 10 to 12

Begin 1 day in advance

Active Work: 1 hour (plus 15 minutes for Crème Anglaise)

1.1 DAY IN ADVANCE, place mold or molds in freezer (see Note 1).

2. EARLY THE FOLLOWING DAY, place milk and 1/2 cup of the granulated sugar in a small saucepan. Heat to boiling, stirring to dissolve sugar. Remove from heat.

3. Beat egg yolks and remaining 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar until thick and very pale in color; mixture should form a dissolving ribbon when whisk is raised.

4. Gradually stir milk mixture into beaten yolks; blend well. Transfer to clean saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture reaches 189 degrees F. on a candy thermometer, about 10 to 15 minutes. Mixture should be thick enough to coat a spoon.

5. Transfer custard mixture to large bowl of heavy-duty electric mixer. Beat at medium speed 5 minutes, then decrease mixer speed to low and beat until thick and foamy, about 15 minutes longer (see Note 2). The mixture should be cool. Gently fold in mint syrup. You should have about 5 to 6 cups beaten custard mixture.

6. Beat cream in chilled bowl with chilled beater until very soft peaks form. Do not overbeat (this would create crystals in the parfait).

7. Custard mixture and cream must be the same temperature before combining. Carefully fold one fourth of whipped cream into custard mixture to lighten. Gradually and gently fold remaining whipped cream into custard until thoroughly blended.

8. Carefully spoon parfait mixture into molds, filling about seven eighths full; set on tray and return to freezer. To allow parfait molds to be filled with a total of 2 cups chocolate mousse mixture later, create an indentation in each parfait by using smaller-size molds or containers (see Note 3). When parfait mixture is very cold and thick, place smaller container in center of parfait, pressing down until parfait mixture rises up around smaller mold but does not overflow into it. Leave smaller container in place. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for at least 6 hours or overnight.

9. Make Crème Anglaise.

10. To prepare chocolate mousse mixture, melt semisweet chocolate and butter in a small, heavy saucepan. Stir in cocoa and salt. Mix until smooth and well blended; transfer to medium bowl. Rinse a clean bowl with hot water to warm it; dry with paper towels. Add egg whites and beat with large whisk until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in superfine sugar until whites are stiff and shiny.

11. Fold one fourth of chocolate mixture into whites until completely blended. Gently fold egg white mixture into remaining chocolate until completely incorpo-rated. Cover mousse mixture and refrigerate until ready to use.

12 .JUST BEFORE SERVING, pour a small amount of very hot water into small mold pressed into each parfait, and quickly and carefully lift mold out. Spoon chocolate mousse into indentation, leveling off surface. Place warm towel around outside of mold for a few seconds and immediately unmold onto chilled serving plate. If unmolding small molds, place unmolded parfaits in freezer while unmolding remaining parfaits (see Note 4).

13. To serve individual parfaits, ladle a small amount of Crème Anglaise on serving plate surrounding base of parfait. To serve large parfait, ladle Crème Anglaise onto individual serving plates and place slice of parfait in center of each. Garnish with fresh mint sprigs, if desired.

Notes to the Cook:

1. Choose one of the following for parfaits: one 10-cup mold, two 5-cup molds, or ten 10-ounce individual molds. If you do not have individual molds, substitute glass custard cups, porcelain soufflé dishes, or foil baking cups. For the large or medium--sized molds, substitute stainless steel bowls; these are excellent because the metal reacts to temperature change readily and makes the unmolding easier.

2. Custard mixture should be beaten very, very slowly (heavy-duty electric mixer will give best results for this). If preferred, mixture may be beaten by hand with a balloon whisk; this will take about 25 minutes of very slow beating. If custard is overbeaten, it will begin to deflate. (If this happens, the custard can still be used but the parfait will not be quite as smooth and creamy.)

3. A 2-cup container can be used to make an indentation in a 10-cup parfait; a 1-cup container in a 5-cup parfait; and a 3-ounce foil candy cup in each 10-ounce parfait.

4. The parfait molds can be unmolded and stored in freezer, but only for a short time before serving, as chocolate mousse should not be allowed to freeze.