Despite my loyalty to Nigel, during the course of my research I read in the New York Times that, according to an expert on American "heirloom baking", "Leavening is about as useful in brownies as it is in mashed potatoes". Abashed, I decide to give another, less rich recipe a try.
The brownies in Leiths Baking Bible contain 140g butter, 2 large eggs, and 1 large egg yolk, as well as 200g chocolate, 225g caster sugar, 85g flour, 2 tsp vanilla essence and a pinch of salt. They're much more to my taste: dense, yes, but also ever so slightly chewy, yet they're not quite as darkly chocolatey as Nigel's, which makes me ponder the role of cocoa powder in the recipe. I suspect it gives the mixture an intense flavour, without weighing it down with extra fat.