posted April 29, 2004 08:50 AM               

The recipes that I have seen for Crème Brûlée use granulated sugar. Here is one that I use. It's from Debby Puente "the Queen of Crème Brûlée".

Enjoy!!
Earl

Classic Crème Brûlée

A straightforward and unpretentious creation that is so simple, so rich, so praised!

8 egg yolks
1/3 cup granulated white sugar
2 cups heavy cream
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup granulated white sugar (for the caramelized tops)

Preheat oven to 300ºF. In a large bowl, whisk together egg yolks and sugar until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is thick and pale yellow. Add cream and vanilla, and continue to whisk until well blended. Strain into a large bowl, skimming off any foam or bubbles.
Divide mixture among 6 ramekins or custard cups. Place in a water bath and bake until set around the edges, but still loose in the center, about 50 to 60 minutes. Remove from oven and leave in the water bath until cooled. Remove cups from water bath and chill for at least 2 hours, or up to 2 days. When ready to serve, sprinkle about 2 teaspoons of sugar over each custard. For best results, use a small, hand-held torch to melt sugar. If you don't have a torch, place under the broiler until sugar melts. Re-chill custards for a few minutes before serving.

Serves 6

posted April 29, 2004 06:45 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Ira:
As Earl mentioned, almost every creme brule recipe uses plain old granulated sugar. It caramelizes very nicely when burnt with a torch. Some people who use broilers have a hard time getting it to caramelize evenly though, so they use brown sugar instead, as it caramelizes much more evenly.

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PEACE AND LOVE OF JESUS

posted June 07, 2004 09:21 AM               

CLASSIC CRÈME CARAMEL RECIPE
Serves 8
Caramel
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup water
2 tablespoons corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon juice from 1 lemon

Custard
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cups light cream
3 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
2/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Pinch salt

1. For the caramel: In a medium nonreactive saucepan and without stirring, bring sugar, water, corn syrup, and lemon juice to simmer over medium-high heat, wiping sides of pan with wet cloth to remove any sugar crystals that might cause syrup to turn grainy. Continue to cook until syrup turns from clear to golden, swirling pan gently to ensure even browning, about 8 minutes. TIP: USE A LIGHT COLORED PAN SO YOU CAN OBSERVE THE COLOR CHANGE. Continue to cook, swirling pan gently and constantly, until large, slow bubbles on mixture's surface turn honey-caramel in color, 4 to 5 minutes longer. Remove pan immediately from heat and, working quickly but carefully [the caramel will burn if it touches your skin], pour a portion of the caramel into each of 8 un-greased 5- or 6-ounce ovenproof ramekins. Allow caramel to cool and harden, about 15 minutes. [Can be covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated for up to 2 days; return to room temperature before adding custard].

2. For the custard: Adjust oven rack to center position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Heat milk and cream, stirring occasionally, in medium saucepan over medium heat until steam appears and/or an instant-read thermometer held in the liquid registers 160 degrees, 6 to 8 minutes; remove from heat. Meanwhile, gently whisk eggs, yolks, and sugar in large bowl until just combined. Off heat, gently whisk warm milk mixture, vanilla, and salt into egg mixture until just combined but not at all foamy. Strain mixture through fine-mesh sieve into large measuring cup or container with pouring spout; set aside.

3. Bring 2 quarts water to boil in kettle. Meanwhile, fold dish towel to fit bottom of large baking dish or roasting pan and position in pan. Divide reserved custard mixture among ramekins; place filled ramekins on towel in pan [making sure they do not touch] and set pan on oven rack. Fill pan with boiling water to reach halfway up ramekins; cover entire pan loosely with aluminum foil so steam can escape. Bake until a paring knife inserted halfway between center and edge of custards comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes.
Transfer custards to wire rack; cool to room temperature. [Can be covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated up to 2 days.]

4. To un-mold, slide a paring knife around outer edge of custard in mold, pressing knife against side of dish. Hold serving plate over top of ramekin and invert; set plate on work surface and shake ramekin gently to release custard. Serve immediately.

For one large creme caramel: Follow recipe for Classic Creme Caramel, pouring caramel and custard into 1 1/2-quart straight-sided soufflé dish rather than individual ramekins. Fill roasting pan with boiling water to reach halfway up sides of soufflé dish; increase baking time to 70 to 75 minutes, or until an instant-read thermometer inserted between the center and perimeter of the mold registers 175 degrees.

posted June 07, 2004 04:48 PM               

16 duck yolks or 20 (farm)chicken yolks
8 ounces vanilla sugar
.......mix
1 quart heavy cream
11/2 cups milk
1 vanilla bean scraped
8 ounces vanilla sugar
zest from 3 lemons
6 cinnamon sticks broken

Bring last 6 ingredients to a boil and temper yolk/sugar mixture and combine and DO NOT BOIL but cook a couple of minutes stiring constantly until mixture coats back of a spoon and keeps the track in tacked when a finger is draged through it. Strain through chiniose and pour into oval brulee dishes (or ramekins). Place in water bath and cover. Bake 1 hour in 300*F oven. Take out and uncover and allow to cool on a bench for about 1 hour, then remove from bath and refrigerate. After cool over fill with granulated sugar and dump out the excess. This will allow for the thinest possible hard crust. Torch with fire NOT touching sugar but almost. The nozel should be about 6 inches (or broiler). Serve so brulee is ice cold and sugar crust is glass hard.
I love you all,
Bob

[This message has been edited by Chef Bob (edited June 07, 2004).]

posted June 08, 2004 09:18 AM               

This is a standard cook off format: One half hour before the cook-off a cooks meeting is held to introduce the judges, teams, etc. and to go over the rules.

Usually two hours into the cook-off desserts are judged. An hour later the breads are judged and then the Main dish is judged an hour after that. Also part of your total score is from the Field Judges. These judges watch for things like prep. skills, Sanitation and Food handling, heat control, crowd interaction and enthusiasm. After all the judging is completed and clean-up is under way, the winners are announced. So this is easily a five or six hour event.

Leo-Prayers for support are greatly appreciated. Thanks