[Sca-cooks] Creme Brulee

[Nicolas Steenhout]

At 11:04 AM 7/11/01 -0700, you wrote:
>Stefan li Rous wrote:
>>I have heard people exclaim on how wonderful this thing is, but what
>>is "Creme Brulee"?
>
>It's a rich custard made with eggs and cream, finished with a layer
>of sugar that has been caramelized to a solid state which is the
>"brulee"="burnt" part

'xactly... :-)

Not to be confused with creme caramel, which is also a custard (well,
technically "flan") based and caramel/burnt sugar part.

In Creme Brulee (fancy French word, yet locally adopted by most kitchens
serving it in the US, that I know of), you prepare the custard (or Creme
patissiere) ahead of time, cool it down.  This custard is thickened both
with eggs and starch (from flour and/or corn, usualy).  Once the whole
thing is cold, sugar (NOT brown sugar, as it doesn't caramelize quite the
same way) is added on top, then caramelized with either a blow torch (freak
folks out), or a hot iron.  Some folks like to use the fancy, hence
expensive little "toy" blow torch.  Myself, a good old hardware store blow
torch will do :-)

In Creme Caramel, you prepare a caramel (just sugar), pour it into
individual ramequins, usualy.  Then place the uncooked flan mixture over
it.  This flan mixture is usualy just milk and eggs, no startch added.

Textures are very, very different, and so is taste...



Nicolas
http://www.bmee.net
"You must deal with me as I think of myself" J. Hockenberry