Desserts
Crème Brûlée
My first attempts to produce this great dessert was to follow Julia Child's directions in her famous tome " Mastering the Art of French Cooking (2 Volume Set") . It takes a number of pots and a lot of time. Through the years I've found much easier, less cumbersome recipes that produce just as tasty a product and are a little simpler to make
Directions
- In a bowl place the egg yolks and sugar and whisk until fully combined and a pale yellow.
- In a saucepan heat the cream with the vanilla and rum to 140° - 160º or until it begins to gently bubble, remove from heat and let cool slightly.
- Using a ladle slowly add about 2 ounces of the cream to the egg yolks in a gentle stream whisking constantly to temper eggs.
- Once you have combined add another ladle and continue to whisk gently.
- The eggs should be tempered by the second addition so you can pour the rest of the cream in and gently stir to combine.
- Using a fine mesh strainer, strain the mixture into another bowl.
- At this point you need to remove all the air bubbles from the custard by either straining the surface with a spoon or using your blow torch burn the bubbles off the surface lightly.
- Ladle the custard into ramekins and place in a pan large enough to accommodate all the ramekins with a water bath coming up about half way on the ramekins.
- Bake at 325° for about 35 minutes, until the custards are set and only slightly wiggly in the centers.
- Remove from pan let cool for a few moments and then place into the refrigerator for a few hours to finish setting.
- Remove from the refrigerator about ½ an hour before you are going to serve.
- Sprinkle about 2 Tbs of Demerara sugar over the top and shake to evenly spread over the top of the custard.
- Using a torch melt the sugar, wait a few seconds and melt a second time to burn a few spots of the sugar to give it the slightly bitter flavor of burnt sugar.