Creme Brûlée Recipe

Creme Brûlée, a true classic, is one of those very simple yet outstandingly good deserts, so it should be part of any good chefs repertoire. This is one of the first desserts that I ever learned how to prepare and it is still one of the most requested. So here is the basic recipe, which is also the base for creme anglaise, praline cake, and eggnog, among other uses.

Please feel free to play with the recipe and be creative. For example, you can add some of espresso and chocolate and have Mocha Creme Brûlées. You could add strawberry simple syrup and instead of the sugar crust, you could top it with a shortbread cookie for Strawberry Shortcake Creme Brûlées. You could flavor the custard with mango and top with macadamia brittle and have a Caribbean creme brûlée on a hot summer day. You could add a little cinnamon and nutmeg at christmas time to make Eggnog Creme Brûlées. You get the idea, the sky is the limit. Have fun creating and post what you made in a comment on this recipes, to inspire others.

Note: It is important to realize that these recipes are merely guidelines to follow. They'll taste great as they are, but I encourage you to play with them and make the recipes your own.

Note: It is good practice to read the entire recipe, while paying particular attention to the "Notes", before you try to make the dish, as there are often subtleties that can be easily overlooked, which sometimes, can make all the difference in the world for the outcome. 

Makes 4-8 servings, depending on cup size size.

Skill Level: Beginner

Prep time about 20 minutes.

Cook Time about 40-50 minutes.

Ingredients:

• 6 egg yolks
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 pint heavy whipping cream
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract (DO NOT USE IMITATION) or ½ vanilla bean.

Tools Needed:

• Large Stock Pot
• 1 medium bowl
• Whisk
• Creme brûlée dishes or coffee cups or any container that can go in the oven.
• Water pan
• Spoon or 1-2 ounce ladle
• 4-6 ounce ladle
• Medium plastic container
• 4-8 oven safe earthenware containers

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Separate eggs by cracking the egg shell into two haves and move the egg yolk between the two half shells. This method seems a bit difficult at first, but with practice, you'll soon see this is the most efficient method for egg separation.

Note: You can discard the egg whites or use them for another recipe. They'll last 3-4 days in the fridge. You can use them to make mayonnaise, egg white omelets, meringue, etc...

Add sugar and vanilla to the yolks.

Note: If you use a vanilla bean, cut the husk in ½ lengthwise, and scrape out the seeds (The seeds are minuscule, so they will resemble a black paste then scraped out). Toss the seeds in with the heavy cream as you bring it to a boil. Take the husks and put them in a container with some sugar (Also place the unused ½ of the vanilla bean in with the sugar). In a few weeks time, you will have 'vanilla sugar'. One whole bean husk will flavor about 3 cups if sugar.

Note: Whole, unused vanilla beans can be stored in your vanilla sugar for a few weeks prior to use. The beans will impart some of their essential oils into the sugar, imbuing it with more nature vanilla flavor. DO NOT store whole beans in the sugar long-term, as they will dry out and become unusable. If you bought whole vanilla beans, for long-term storage, place the unused beans in your refrigerator. 

Whisk eggs and sugar until creamy (near ribbon stage).

Bring the cream to a hard boil.

Note: Cream expands quite a bit when it comes to a boil, so using a large stock pot avoids boil over and messes.

Pour a little cream into the eggs while whisking. This tempers the eggs so they do not scramble when you add them to the cream.

After the eggs have been tempered, you can pour them into the cream, whisking the whole time.

Place in to a container to cool.

Use a spoon or a small 1-2 ounce ladle to skim off any remaining foam on the top of the custard.

Now, this is a real creme brûlée ramekin and you should use them if you have them, but if you don't have any, don't worry. Just about any oven safe earthenware container will work.

I used coffee cups. Now, we need to cook the creme brûlées in a water bath, called a bain-marie, so I chose a medium rondo pan. 

Use a ladle to portion out the creme brûlée, so they are all the same size and will therefore cook evenly. Moreover, you don't want air bubbles in the custard, so pouring out of a ladle gives you more control over the speed of the pour. The slower you pour, the less chance for air bubbles.

You want to fill the pan with water, until the level of the water is roughly equal to the level of the custard in their containers. 

Note: If the traditional ramekins are used, you'll want to set them on the water pans in the oven, with the rack pulled out. Fill the ramekins with the custard and carefully slide the rack back into the oven. Then fill the pan with water, in place. With these type of ramekins, if you have to move them after the water has been added, you run the risk of having water slosh into the custard, ruining it. Additionally, when the brûlées are done, turn the oven off, open the door and let the them cool in place. Once cool, you can carefully lift them out the water by hand.

Since the ladle and containers I chose made five creme brûlées, I put the fifth one in a small sauce pot. Because we used coffee cups and a rondo/sauce pot, we can easily fill everything ahead of time and pop them in the oven. Much easier that using the real ramekins. 

Creme Brûlées fresh out the oven.

You want to begin checking on them at about 30-35 minutes into the cooking process. Grab the edge of the pan and gently shake, as to not slosh the water, but enough to make the custard jiggle. When the brûlées have a firm jiggle, they are done. This is usually about 40-45 minutes total cook time.

Note: Do not over cook. If you shake the pan and the brûlées are completely stiff, they are ruined. If the brûlées have browned on top, they are ruined. In either case, the eggs in the custard will have scrambled. But, if you think you'd like creme brûlée flavored scrambled eggs, then by all means eat the ruined ones :)

Note: Wait until they have cooled to room temperature before wrapping individually.

Now comes the hard part: you must refrigerate them for 5-7 hours, or over night, before they are ready for the sugar crust.

Note: You must let them cool down to room temperature before placing them in the refrigerator. They will keep for about 4-6 days.

After the creme brûlées have chilled, sprinkle about a teaspoon and a half of brown sugar over the top.

Note: for this diameter, one packet of Sugar in the Raw, or even white sugar, will do nicely. For larger diameter, traditional ramekins, use 2 packets. 






Use a spoon to smooth out and evenly spread the sugar.

Now you need a torch, a basic propane torch from the hardware store will do. I am using a butane torch made for creme brûlées.









Use the torch to melt the sugar. Move the torch around in small circles, never staying in one spot for very long. The sugar should be completely liquified, but hot burned.

Once the sugar is caramelized, serve immediately.

Here is a Creme Brûlée I made in the correct ramekin, garnished with some raspberries and mint.

Enjoy

Personal Thoughts

Been "George Lucsas'ing" several of the recipes on this blog, adding new notes and technique advice. So, if you go to prepare a recipe, which you have read previously, make sure to check it again, for changes, before you go to the grocery store.

Also, coming soon are comprehensive guides for all the major cuts of meat, what they are, what they should look like, and most importantly, in which type of dishes they are used most commonly. 

Then later, fish, fruits, and vegetables 

To all those who are following Golden Isles Cooks, THANK YOU for your support.

Chicken Stock & Consommé Recipe

Stock is one of the fundamental building blocks of cooking, so it is important you know how to make it and how to use it. Whether it be animal or foul, seafood or vegetable, stocks enhance the flavor of just about any dish you are creating. Stocks are all made in similar fashion, so this recipe will give you the base knowledge to make all the others. Depending on what stock you are preparing, vegetables, cook times, and certain steps may change, but these are all just "variations on a theme" set in the following recipe. In other words, master this recipe and you get the rest almost for free.

Additionally, I have decided that this recipe is going to kickoff a series of recipes that use the leftover of the previous dish as its base. The recipe that directly follows from this post, is Chicken and Dumplings, found here:

Coming Soon

Note: There will be instructions in the successive recipe for use of either stock or consommé. Keep in mind that consommé is nearly fat free, but  fat = flavor, so when deciding between the two, note this trade off.

Note: It is important to realize that these recipes are merely guidelines to follow. They'll taste great as they are, but I encourage you to play with them and make the recipes your own.

Note: It is good practice to read the entire recipe, while paying particular attention to the "Notes", before you try to make the dish, as there are often subtleties that can be easily overlooked, which sometimes, can make all the difference in the world for the outcome. 

Makes about 2 quarts of chicken stock and about 1 ½ quarts of consommé 

Skill Level: Intermediate

Prep time about 25 minutes.

Cook Time about 3 ½ hours 2 ½ hours for the stock and 1 additional hour to make consommé.

Ingredients: 

• 1 Whole chicken
• 4 Carrots (2 not pictured)
• 4 Ribs of celery (2 not pictured)
• 1 ½ Yellow onion (½ not pictured)
• 7-10 Cloves of garlic
• 6 egg whites (Eggs not pictured)
• 4 Bay leaves
• Kosher salt
• 24 Peppercorns

Tools Needed:

• 2 Stock pots
• Immersion blender or food processor
• Wooden Spatula
• Chef's Knife
• Petty or Paring Knife
• Mesh Strainer
• Medium Bowl
• 3 Linen napkins

No need to peel or prep any of the vegetables, other than to chop them up. Save 2 carrots, 2 ribs of celery, and ½ onion for later and throw the rest in a stock pot.

Note: A stalk of celery is the whole bunch or head, each individual branch is called a rib. 

Remove and the giblets from the chicken's chest cavity, then rinse well, inside and out.

Note: If you are using a polyboard cutting board, take a wash cloth, or two, dampen them, and place them under the cutting board. This will prevent the cutting board from sliding around on your countertop.





Using your chef's knife, stretch the wing out and cut off at the joint. Toss the wings in the stock pot with the chopped vegetables.

Using the tip of your chef's knife, split the skin between the body and the thigh, so you can get a better look at what you are about to do next.

With the tip of your knife following the rib cage, carefully separate the thigh from the body, until you hit the thigh bone at the hip joint.

When you hit the thigh bone, put your knife down and grab the body with one hand and the thigh with the other and bend back the thigh from the carcass until the joint separates.

Your knife should now easily slide though the joint, allowing you to remove the thigh from the carcass. Repeat the process for the other thigh.

With the thighs removed, it is time to do the breasts. Using the tip of your knife, score straight down the middle. Your knife will naturally fall on one side or the other of the breast bone.

With the tip of the knife, and follwing the ribcage, cut deeper and deeper, making careful strokes, as not to cut into the meat of the breast.

You will eventually have the breast removed, except for where it attaches at the shoulder joint. 

You can handle this one of two ways. 

1. You can cut through the joint, leaving the drumette attached to the breast. This is called an "Airline Breast" of Chicken.

Note: The second way is more suited to this application.

2. You cut around the drumette, for a boneless chicken breast.

You can see the boneless chicken breast on the left and the airline breast on the right.

Remove the skin from the breasts and thighs.

Chicken separated into its main components

Now to debone the thighs.

Using your petty knife, or a paring knife, score down the thigh bone.

From behind the thigh bone, cut away the meat.

Do the same for the shin bone.

Again, cutting the meat away from the knuckle with the knife behind the bone.

Pull the thigh and shin bones back away from the meat.

Using your petty knife, carefully remove the meat from around the joint.

Now that you have deboned the whole chicken, clean the meat of all fat and gristle.

Toss all bones, skin, fat, and gristle into the stock pot with the vegetables.

Chicken, deboned and cleaned.

Take a one gallon freezer bag and make several rows of inline one inch cuts. Cut through both sides of the bag.

Your holes should look roughly like this.

Put the cleaned chicken meat in the bag.

Place the bag of chicken meat in the stock pot with the vegetables and bones and fill with cold water.

Note: If you have the Ice, packing the bottom of the stock pot with ice before adding the ingredients, then cold water and more ice. We do this because, the slower the chicken stock warms up, the clearer it will be.

Start the pot on a very low setting. let sit for 20-30 minutes to allow the water to warm slightly.

Bump the temperature up when the stock begins to feel warm to the touch.

Note: You will have to play with your stovetop to get the right temperature settings. 

When the stock starts to simmer, you'll see foam begin to form on the surface.

Note: DO NOT LET THE STOCK COME TO A BOIL, as this will make make your stock cloudy.

Use a ladle to skim the surface, removing as much scum and fat as possible.

After simmering for 25-30 minutes, the chicken meat will be fully cooked, Remove the bag, allowing to drain over the stock pot as mush as possible, then place in a container to cool and continue to drain.

Note: Whatever drains off the chicken meat, pour back into the stock.

Note: Place cooked chicken meat aside, let cool. Store in your refrigerator or freezer for use in various recipes, like chicken salad, chicken noodle soup, chicken tacos, chicken and dumplings, etc.... 

Salt the stock with a couple teaspoons of salt. Simmer for 2 more hours.

After the stock has cooked, pour though a mesh strainer. 

If all you want to make is chicken stock, YOU ARE DONE. Let cool to room temperature and refrigerate or freeze.

If you want to make consommé, then read on.

Take the chicken stock and place back on the stove and return to a simmer.

Separate your eggs.

You can discard the yolks or use them in other recipes, like Creme Brûlée, mayonnaise, hollandaise, sauce carbonara, etc...

Note: The egg yolks will keep in the fridge for 3-5 days. Whites will last approximately the same amount of town.

Place the egg whites in a bowl.

Take the remaining chopped up vegetables and add them to the egg whites.

Take your immersion blender and emulsify the eggs and vegetables.

Note: You can just as easily throw all the ingredients in a food processor to achieve the same effect. You can even go old school and use a chef's knife to brunoise all the vegetables, then mix with the egg whites using a hard wire whisk. 

This egg and vegetable concoction is called a 'Raft' and we are going to use it to clean our stock of all impurities. The reason it is called a raft will soon be apparent.

Note: The combination of carrots, celery, and onions is called mirepox (mir-pwah).

Note: You can use a raft to clarify any stock.

Pour the raft into the simmering chicken stock. It will sink to to bottom and then float back to the top. It sits on top, gathering all the impurities, hence the name, raft.

All the fat will be riding on top of the raft, so you can, gently, push a ladle down until the edges just breaks the surface and collect all the fat you can.

Note: You may want to reserve some of the chicken fat, so that it may be added, in precisely controlled amounts, to future recipes. This is so you can enhance flavor of a dish, without making it unhealthy.

While the consommé is cooking, you can, gently, pull the raft aside and see how clear your stock is becoming.

After about 45 minutes to an hour, your consommé should be ready.

Place a mesh strainer in a stock pot, large enough where the bottom of the strainer will be above the stock when strained.

Place 3 linen napkins over the mesh strainer to act like a filter.

Note: One linen napkin is sufficient to catch any remaining debris in the stock. The reason I use 3 linen napkins, is that they will absorb any remaining chicken fat, leaving the consommé nearly 100% fat free. Otherwise, after you let the stock come to room temperature, refrigerate. The next day, the stock will be thick and gelatinous and the fat congealed on top. At this point the fat can easily be scraped off with a spoon and discarded.

Using your wooden spatula, hold the raft back as you pour the consommé out from underneath it.

Your Consommé should be crystal clear when done.

Enjoy!