Cooking a Good Everything Else
05-20-2014
, 08:51 PM
05-20-2014
, 09:15 PM
05-21-2014
, 03:23 AM
05-21-2014
, 12:58 PM
Easy Creme Brulee
I struggled through a lot of different recipes and methods to make Creme Brulee before I found this method. It's super simple (compared to most) and turns out really well. The last restaurant Creme I had was at the Capital Grille in Minneapolis this past February. Imo, and in the opinion of my fellow diners that night, this recipe makes a better dish than we had that night.
What you need to make 6 ramekin sized servings
6 egg yolks
2.5 cups heavy whipping cream
4 Tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Turn your oven on to 375, and put a rack on the top or second from the top slot.
Put the cream into a small saucepan and place over medium heat. You need to stir frequently to keep from scorching it as you bring it up to 190 degrees.
At the same time, whisk the egg yolk, sugar, and vanilla together into a smooth mixture. I do this in a heavy glass mixing bowl so that in a later step I can whisk the hell out it without the bowl going crazy.
Take a deep baking pan/cake pan that can hold your 6 ramekins and put your ramekins into it and fill half way up the side of the cups with Hot water. As hot as it will come out of your tap, or like I do, heated in a tea kettle.
While you're waiting for the cream to get up to temperature, you'll notice your yolk mixture turning a lighter color. IDK if it's necessary but I whisk it back to it's darker yellow self.
Once your cream gets up to 190, you slowly pour it into the yolk mixture while whisking like crazy.
When it's fully combined, you'll have a nice custard colored mixture with a very frothy top. Removing this froth is why I use a slotted spoon to stir the cream while it's heating up, I now use it to scoop off some of the froth. You don't need to remove all of it, but try to get rid of as much as you can.
Now just pour into the ramekins and put it in the preheated oven. Set a timer for 25 minutes.
Now comes the only part of this that relies on "feel" or experience. They are ready to come out of the oven when they have only a little bit of jiggle left in
them. I take a fork and nudge at a ramekin to shake it and see how much jiggle there is. You want a jello like movement, not a liquid like rippling. The 25 minute timer is just to get your attention to watch them for the last bit of cooking. I've only had them ready at 25 minutes one time out of many.
When they're appropriately jiggly, take them out of the oven, and allow them to cool for 15-30 minutes in their water bath.
When they're cool enough to grasp bare handed, dry them off and put them in the fridge for at least an hour, I do overnight. The first time, the wife demanded an immediate serving so I put one in the freezer for a little while, it wasn't as good as the rest the next day.
10-20 minutes before serving take them out of the fridge and let them sit for a bit. It helps with the sugar melting step to have the surface be warmer than the center.
Poor some sugar, white or brown, on top of the creme, and shake it around to get an even coating, then dump the excess onto the next one and repeat down the line.
Torch the sugar. This part is fun and worth the ~30 bucks to get a decent butane torch. If you don't want to get one, it is possible, but not as good imo, to take them straight from the fridge, spread on the sugar, then put them into an already broiling oven for a minute.
and then eat
I struggled through a lot of different recipes and methods to make Creme Brulee before I found this method. It's super simple (compared to most) and turns out really well. The last restaurant Creme I had was at the Capital Grille in Minneapolis this past February. Imo, and in the opinion of my fellow diners that night, this recipe makes a better dish than we had that night.
What you need to make 6 ramekin sized servings
6 egg yolks
2.5 cups heavy whipping cream
4 Tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Turn your oven on to 375, and put a rack on the top or second from the top slot.
Put the cream into a small saucepan and place over medium heat. You need to stir frequently to keep from scorching it as you bring it up to 190 degrees.
At the same time, whisk the egg yolk, sugar, and vanilla together into a smooth mixture. I do this in a heavy glass mixing bowl so that in a later step I can whisk the hell out it without the bowl going crazy.
Take a deep baking pan/cake pan that can hold your 6 ramekins and put your ramekins into it and fill half way up the side of the cups with Hot water. As hot as it will come out of your tap, or like I do, heated in a tea kettle.
While you're waiting for the cream to get up to temperature, you'll notice your yolk mixture turning a lighter color. IDK if it's necessary but I whisk it back to it's darker yellow self.
Once your cream gets up to 190, you slowly pour it into the yolk mixture while whisking like crazy.
When it's fully combined, you'll have a nice custard colored mixture with a very frothy top. Removing this froth is why I use a slotted spoon to stir the cream while it's heating up, I now use it to scoop off some of the froth. You don't need to remove all of it, but try to get rid of as much as you can.
Now just pour into the ramekins and put it in the preheated oven. Set a timer for 25 minutes.
Now comes the only part of this that relies on "feel" or experience. They are ready to come out of the oven when they have only a little bit of jiggle left in
them. I take a fork and nudge at a ramekin to shake it and see how much jiggle there is. You want a jello like movement, not a liquid like rippling. The 25 minute timer is just to get your attention to watch them for the last bit of cooking. I've only had them ready at 25 minutes one time out of many.
When they're appropriately jiggly, take them out of the oven, and allow them to cool for 15-30 minutes in their water bath.
When they're cool enough to grasp bare handed, dry them off and put them in the fridge for at least an hour, I do overnight. The first time, the wife demanded an immediate serving so I put one in the freezer for a little while, it wasn't as good as the rest the next day.
10-20 minutes before serving take them out of the fridge and let them sit for a bit. It helps with the sugar melting step to have the surface be warmer than the center.
Poor some sugar, white or brown, on top of the creme, and shake it around to get an even coating, then dump the excess onto the next one and repeat down the line.
Torch the sugar. This part is fun and worth the ~30 bucks to get a decent butane torch. If you don't want to get one, it is possible, but not as good imo, to take them straight from the fridge, spread on the sugar, then put them into an already broiling oven for a minute.
and then eat
06-02-2014
, 03:54 PM
Quote:
here's a couple pics of my awesome peanut buttercup cheesecake I made. I'm new to plating sauces, but it turned out ok I think. I used a caramel and a fudge sauce.
I obviously didn't cut that piece very well, but the other piece I took a pic of already had a bite out of it.
I obviously didn't cut that piece very well, but the other piece I took a pic of already had a bite out of it.
06-06-2014
, 07:16 AM
I posted a little while ago about some goose eggs I got, and I just found a blurry pic I took. In the end I simply fried them both, and had them with asparagus and a spicy potato/bean/bacon hash.
They were really good, and absolutely huge. Luckily I didn't break the yolks opening them as they're way way harder to crack than normal eggs.
They were really good, and absolutely huge. Luckily I didn't break the yolks opening them as they're way way harder to crack than normal eggs.
06-14-2014
, 03:07 PM
06-14-2014
, 09:16 PM
