Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
I’m begging you, please: brulee my creme
I have to write a post about food tonight. Why? Because, thanks to one of my faithful readers opening my eyes to a novel non-culinary use for ginger, I might otherwise write something which would get me in trouble with my wife, my patients, my hospital, and most likely the law.
But . . . damn. Just when I thought I had heard of every kink known to man or beast, I learn something new.
Back to creamy yummy things that don’t burn when you shove them where the sun don’t shine: creme brulee.
This is the Cook’s Illustrated recipe for creme brulee. Julia Child’s recipe failed miserably in my hands — creme brulee soup, I’m afraid. Cook’s Illustrated’s recipe worked like a charm, with one exception. They recommend using turbinado sugar for “the perfect, crackly crust,” but that stuff won’t melt even under my industrial blow torch.
Here’s the full recipe (plagiarized word for word). I cut it down by half and made five small ramekins of dessert.
Mandatory plug for Cook’s Illustrated so they won’t get p.o.’d at me for reprinting their recipe: I’ve subscribed to Gourmet and Bon Appetit, and I’ve gained exactly one good recipe from the two together. Cook’s Illustrated is the only cooking magazine which routinely provides me with superb, no-fail recipes. This one is no exception.
4 cups chilled heavy cream
2/3 cup granulated sugar
pinch salt
1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise
12 large egg yolks
8-12 teaspoons turbinado or Demerara sugarYou’ll need a blow torch, too.
1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees.
2. Combine 2 cups cream, sugar, and salt in medium saucepan; with paring knife, scrape seeds from vanilla bean into pan, submerge pod in cream, and bring mixture to boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally to ensure that the sugar dissolves. Take pan off heat and let steep 15 minutes to infuse flavors.
3. Place kitchen towel in bottom of large baking dish (I used a pyrex casserole dish) or roasting pan and arrange eight 4- to 5- ounce ramekins on towel. Bring kettle or large saucepan of water to boil over high heat.
(Walnut’s Note: You’re going to be pouring this boiling water into the baking dish to create a hot bath — see step 5, below. I knew I wouldn’t have a chance in hell of pouring boiling water into the casserole dish without splashing water onto my ramekins, so I microwaved water to boiling in a 4-cup pyrex measuring cup — nice spout for pouring. I had to do this two or three times, so of course the water wasn’t terribly hot by the time I’d finished. My cooking time may have been longer because of this variation.)
4. After cream has steeped, stir in remaining 2 cups cream. Whisk yolks in large bowl and then whisk 1 cup cream mixture together with the yolks until combined. Repeat with another 1 cup cream mixture, then the last of the cream mixture. Mix until thoroughly combined. Strain through fine-mesh strainer into a 2-quart measuring cup or pitcher. Ladle mixture into ramekins, dividing it evenly among them.
5. Carefully place baking dish with ramekins on oven rack. Pour boiling water into dish, taking care not to splash water into ramekins, until water reaches two-thirds height of ramekins. Bake until centers of custards are just barely set and are no longer sloshy. (Instant read thermometer = 170 to 175 F).
(Walnut again: Cook’s Illustrated sez to bake 25 to 30 min; mine took much longer to come up to the required temperature. As I’ve noted above, that may be because my hot bath wasn’t so hot.)
6. Transfer ramekins to a wire rack. Cool to room temperature, about two hours. Set ramekins on rimmed baking sheet, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until cold, at least 4 hours or up to 4 days.
(Walnut: Honestly. Who is going to wait 4 hours to eat their creme brulee? No one in my family, that’s for sure. You can eat the cold stuff tomorrow — that’s why you’ve made extras. For now, chill for a half hour, or not at all. It’s your call.)
7. Uncover ramekins; if condensation has collected on custards, place paper towel on surface to soak up moisture. . . .
(Walnut: Here’s where Cook’s Illustrated explains how they used turbinado sugar to make the crust. Please trust me on this: white granulated sugar works just fine. Sprinkle a teaspoon of sugar over the blotted custards, then shake off any excess. Or not. Use a big ass blow torch to melt the sugar — yes, this is essential. Try caramelizing it under a broiler, I dare you. Some recipes instruct you to make a caramel sauce and pour it over the custard. I’ve never tried this, but I suspect you’ll have trouble making the crust as thin as it should be.)
I wish I could say that put the ginger out of my mind.
D.
I love ginger.
But not in that way.
Next to anything chocolate, creme brulee is my most favorite of favorite desserts. I’ve never tried to make it and am still not sure that I will. Given my uncertain history with mechanical tools, I don’t think I should risk firing up a blow torch.
homemade ginger ale:
ginger syrup, cooled (sugar, water, chopped ginger put in saucepan and boiled until syrupy. I save the ginger bits, roll them in sugar and dry them and pretend they’re crystalized ginger in some recipes–I’m very cheap. Syrup is also good in hot water/black tea for ginger tea.)
limes–one lil key lime per glass works well
seltzer water (or any kind of carbonated thingy)
pour over ice, drink, yum. If you have mint growing somewhere, you might try that too.
I drink this all summer long. I don’t think of the other gingery uses–or I hadn’t.
What, Pat, you don’t believe in trying anything once? 😉
Mary Stella: chocolate creme brulee . . . now there’s a thought. I’ll work on it!
Hi Kate. I love crystallized ginger (and ginger ale), so I’ll have to try that.
I’ve not heard of using ginger in that capacity. I have tried chewing a wee bit and then giving/getting oral. That was nice, but evidently the wussies way of sexing up with food.
also it leaves one with fresh gingery breath.
Dude. Ginger?
So not a piece of news.
You need to hang around horses a little more.
There is a well-known practice in (some) horse showing called ::drumroll:: “gingering.”
Every gaited horse show specifically lists “gingering” as one of the things prohibited in shows. (check out rule 5.11) Which A) shows that some people will still try to do it, and B) that enough people do it so that they have to write a rule against it.
Still very few rules against blowing fire extinguishers under the horse’s rear legs to get him “animated” before he enters the ring. And it depends on the breed, but some don’t rule against “nicking” a tendon in the tail so that it is paralyzed and can be unnaturally bent at an extreme angle–forcing the horse to wear it in a harness (“tail-set”)for the rest of his days.
And I’ll close by saying that Saddlebreds and other gaited horses are simply the kindest animals anywhere. They have chains on their feet, long shanked bits, ginger up their butts (or nowadays, capsacin ointment applied to the perineum), fire extinguishers blasted at them, and sometimes are trained in bitting rigs, yet still they are calm, predictable, sweet, and kind. A testament to their temperament all the way around.
Maybe this is TMI, but I found a discussion about gingering on a fairly well respected Saddlebred forum. Here
What’s intriguing to me are the posters who comment that once you’ve “nicked” the tail so that it’s perpetually in a tail-set, then OF COURSE you need to ginger the horse as well. Obvious, ain’t it? Interesting to see a slippery slope in action.
OK, that was all dramatically off topic, I apologize. (But really, gingering has a long and storied history.)
ON topic (at least for crem brulee), I’ll second Doug’s commentary about plain old white sugar. (But you can sprinkle a little demarara on top of your crunchy crust for extra je ne sais qua.)
What, Pat, you don’t believe in trying anything once?
Well, I used to…
Cook’s Illustrated mentions demerara, too, but I don’t remember ever seeing this stuff in the store. What is it?
Thanks for the gingering FAQ, Suisan. We can always count on you 😉 Now, let’s get this conversation back on topic. See Lyvvie’s comment above.
Ah, it gives me such a warm fuzzy feeling to have contributed 😉 I’m also a big ginger lover, but have not tried the figging. I like Lyvvie’s adaptation, have to put that on my “to try” list. And kudos to Kate – I’ve been meaning to look up a good ginger ale recipe.
turbinado is heavier, bigger, browner crystals than demerara sugar. I can’t imagine trying to melt the stuff–it’s too big.
Although, I think demerera may be hard to find outside of restaurant supply places. Have you looked at the King Arthur catalogue?
But really, sugar melted and burned, is REALLY just sugar melted and burned. Once it’s carmelized, I don’t think it matters what it started out as.
In terms of On Topic discussions, I hear Altoids are fun too. (Not up the backside though.)
Apparently Mentos beat Altoids. At least for certain things.
Oh, we’re talking about that? *blush* Crême de Menthe. So I hear.
And pearl sugar, too, Suisan. Is that what they mean by a pearl necklace?
Pat, I expect you and the wife to do a Mentos/Altoids/Creme de Menthe taste test (and how did you get that carat over the e, anyway?) and report back to us 😉
The e-circumflex is because I’m a wizard.
Here’s the secret: Hold down the ALT key on your computer and type 136 on the numeric keypad.
Cool, eh?
Hmm. e
guess it only works for wizards . . . or, perhaps my laptop’s lack of a numeric pad is the prob.
Oh, you poor, sugar-deprived Yanks. Rogers, the biggest sugar supplier in (at least) western Canada, stocks all our local grocers with white, golden, brown and demerara. Demerara is a little darker and a little moister than regular brown sugar. I don’t buy plain old brown anymore – demerara’s much yummier.
Oh, and Dean has one good recipe from Gourmet, too.
Hi Doug, on the sugar for creme brulee front, I vaguely remember seeing an article in a food magazine (likely to be Cook’s Illustrated) many moons ago, which suggested this for pre-drying the sugar…
preheat oven to 200-250 degrees, take the sugar and scatter it across a non-stick cookie sheet and heat until the color just begins to change, check and shake often. Let it cool, then run through a coffee grinder, sprinkle it over the cremes it melts like a charm. You can actually put it under the broiler without toughening the custard, since it melts in seconds.
[…] Let me know how you like it! I can’t emphasize enough how easy this dessert is. Not quite as “special” as creme brulee, but it’s a good deal simpler to prepare. And since panna cotta is egg-free, I suspect its refrigerator shelf life is much longer than that of creme brulee. […]