Wednesday 21 March 2012

10th Anniversary Dinner: Crème Brulee

I love this dessert, and since I got a kitchen blowtorch for Xmas, I've been looking forward to making it for some time! I followed this recipe, swapping the vanilla bean for vanilla extract, but found that it didn't set. Still delicious, and the crispy brown sugar worked wonderfully with the cold custard, but it was just not jelly-like enough. From Molecular Gastronomy, I know that egg yolks harden when they reach 57 C. So whether it's my oven, or the latent heat of the dish I used for the bain marie, or the cream not being hot enough, I know that the reason they didn't set was that the custard did not reach and stay at 57 C. That seems quite incredible given that the oven was at 120 C, and the water I put in the bain marie was boiling, and that the cream was beginning to bubble in the pan before I added it to the eggs... but it must have been the case! When I get this recipe right, I'll post again with how I did it! Maybe I should hint that I'd like a kitchen thermometer as an anniversary present ;)

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