![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Crème brûlée is one of the standard desserts I like to make (the fact you do most of the work the day before is a particular plus, it's nothing to do with the fire); for Easter this year ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
atreic suggested that I try doing something a little different with it. We have some rhubarb in the garden, so this was my attempt at Rhubarb Crème brûlée.
Below are the quantities I used for my trial run (for 4 people); on Easter itself, I was too sick to cook, soatreic did a scaled-up version.
330g trimmed rhubarb [about 3 small stalks; see below for more discussion of quantities]
2.5 tbsp caster sugar
300ml / 1/2 pint double cream
1 vanilla pod (split) or 1.25 ml vanilla essence
2 large egg yolks
7.5ml / 1/2 tbsp caster sugar
caster sugar plus blowtorch for topping
4 ramekins
Pre-heat the oven to 180 centigrade (150 fan). Start with the rhubarb - trim off leaves, wash well, chop off the woody ends, then slice into slender bits (about 1cm). Mix well with the sugar, then spread onto a baking sheet. Put in the oven for 15-20 minutes, turning half-way, until the rhubarb is very soft. Make a layer of rhubarb in the bottom of each ramekin, then put them in the fridge. Surplus rhubarb can be eaten :) It's worth rinsing the baking sheet in hot water PDQ, otherwise you'll have a mess to deal with later.
Turn the oven down to 150 (135 fan), and start on the custards. Heat the vanilla and custard, bringing it slowly to the boil. Cover, and leave for 30 minutes to cool and infuse.
Beat the egg yolks and sugar in a large bowl. Pour in the vanilla cream, and mix well. Strain into a jug, and then pour into the ramekins (not right up to the brim - you want to leave a bit of space to make caramel on later).
Put the ramekins into a roasting tin, and fill that to about half-way up the ramekins with hand-hot water. These go into the oven for 30-35m - if they start to colour on top, then they're probably done! You don't want them too solid. Take them out of the hot water, and once cool put them into the fridge overnight.
Finally, make the caramel topping just before serving. There's a knack to this that is hard to describe in text, but I'll have a go. Basically, you make a layer of sugar on top of the custard (thick enough that it looks white rather than yellow), and then play the blowtorch over the surface, creating little molten balls of sugar. As you get more and more of these, they begin to run together, and you can use the flame to "fill in" the bits that haven't yet melted. Don't worry if you brown the sugar quite a bit (do worry if you burn the custard, though!), and you can tilt the ramekin a little to get the molten sugar to run into any holes. Don't touch the rim, it gets very hot! Once you've got a good layer, put the ramekin in the fridge to chill; you want to serve them chilled but not fridge-cold, otherwise the caramel layer is too hard to get through.
These quantities resulted in rather too much rhubarb, and just enough custard - so adjust depending on the size of your ramekins. The custard ingredients scale neatly with integer numbers of egg yolks; rhubarb-wise, go with 3 tbsp caster sugar per 400g of trimmed rhubarb.
atreic suggested that I try doing something a little different with it. We have some rhubarb in the garden, so this was my attempt at Rhubarb Crème brûlée.Below are the quantities I used for my trial run (for 4 people); on Easter itself, I was too sick to cook, so
atreic did a scaled-up version.330g trimmed rhubarb [about 3 small stalks; see below for more discussion of quantities]
2.5 tbsp caster sugar
300ml / 1/2 pint double cream
1 vanilla pod (split) or 1.25 ml vanilla essence
2 large egg yolks
7.5ml / 1/2 tbsp caster sugar
caster sugar plus blowtorch for topping
4 ramekins
Pre-heat the oven to 180 centigrade (150 fan). Start with the rhubarb - trim off leaves, wash well, chop off the woody ends, then slice into slender bits (about 1cm). Mix well with the sugar, then spread onto a baking sheet. Put in the oven for 15-20 minutes, turning half-way, until the rhubarb is very soft. Make a layer of rhubarb in the bottom of each ramekin, then put them in the fridge. Surplus rhubarb can be eaten :) It's worth rinsing the baking sheet in hot water PDQ, otherwise you'll have a mess to deal with later.
Turn the oven down to 150 (135 fan), and start on the custards. Heat the vanilla and custard, bringing it slowly to the boil. Cover, and leave for 30 minutes to cool and infuse.
Beat the egg yolks and sugar in a large bowl. Pour in the vanilla cream, and mix well. Strain into a jug, and then pour into the ramekins (not right up to the brim - you want to leave a bit of space to make caramel on later).
Put the ramekins into a roasting tin, and fill that to about half-way up the ramekins with hand-hot water. These go into the oven for 30-35m - if they start to colour on top, then they're probably done! You don't want them too solid. Take them out of the hot water, and once cool put them into the fridge overnight.
Finally, make the caramel topping just before serving. There's a knack to this that is hard to describe in text, but I'll have a go. Basically, you make a layer of sugar on top of the custard (thick enough that it looks white rather than yellow), and then play the blowtorch over the surface, creating little molten balls of sugar. As you get more and more of these, they begin to run together, and you can use the flame to "fill in" the bits that haven't yet melted. Don't worry if you brown the sugar quite a bit (do worry if you burn the custard, though!), and you can tilt the ramekin a little to get the molten sugar to run into any holes. Don't touch the rim, it gets very hot! Once you've got a good layer, put the ramekin in the fridge to chill; you want to serve them chilled but not fridge-cold, otherwise the caramel layer is too hard to get through.
These quantities resulted in rather too much rhubarb, and just enough custard - so adjust depending on the size of your ramekins. The custard ingredients scale neatly with integer numbers of egg yolks; rhubarb-wise, go with 3 tbsp caster sugar per 400g of trimmed rhubarb.
(no subject)
(no subject)