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creme brulee help

post #1 of 10
6/15/09 at 2:14pm
Thread Starter 
i put a creme brulee with passionfruit cognac on the menu( topped with chambord marinated raspberries). my questions are, how long will they last and the recipe i have says to chill, then carmelize the sugar, then rechill...will this work? won't the sugar get runny? can i recarmelize it then if that happens? can i freeze these? or do i even have to?what recipe do you use?...i am hardly a pastry chef, but i do like sherry yards recipes in general, and i know they work....i am now thinking of replacing the passionfruit cognac with a ginger cognac..if you have never had it, it is soo wonderful...how much should i add, and is this an addition or a substitution for some of the cream? thanks all. i have a seasonal restaurant on a high mountain lake in s.w colorado. we are only open 4 nights a week, so i like to be careful with my selections, to maintain quality...thanks all
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post #2 of 10
6/15/09 at 2:56pm
Carmelize to order or you will have a disgusting mess. My creme brulee last for a week . I make my brulee on the stove top, so there is no baking so mine might last longer than oven baked ones
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post #3 of 10
6/15/09 at 9:30pm
Once you brulee a custard you'll be lucky to get it to stay crunchy for more than two or three hours, and bruleeing a custard that's already turned into a runny mess will only be problematic... so I too suggest torching it to order.

As for shelf life of the dessert you can store them safely for at least a week, though it generally sells much faster than that.

As for the alcohol, you'll be able to directly substitute the cream for the alcohol (or simply add to the eisting amount of liquid) without really affecting the texture. I haven't made one infused in such a way in some time, but it's safe to say that a tablespoon per cup of cream should be enough to infuse the flavour.

By the way, how are you adding the raspberries to the dish? On top of the bruleed sugar? To the custard itself?
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post #4 of 10
6/16/09 at 5:13am
Nice! Someday I'll have one of those too. :)

Just torch them to order. Takes a minute but the results are so much better.
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post #5 of 10
6/16/09 at 7:01am
There are some good suggestions on this page. Just be careful with the addition of alcohol to your custard. If you reduce it by half you can use less to flavor it and it won't throw off your cream to egg ratio.
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post #6 of 10
6/16/09 at 9:10am
Thread Starter 

creme brulee

blueicus,
i top the brulee with the marinated raspberries...thanks for the input..will definately torch them to order...i guess i was just getting lazy..i got a 'culinary' torch, which is nothing more than a big lighter...pain in the butt and takes at leasts 5 minutes to carmelize...think it was made for them orange county wives! or for women that match...hey, how's it going for you in toronto? or was it montreal? where are you working? just getting our season started here..it will be interesting to see what happens with the economy being what it is...we definately live in a tourist town...ouch! have a great day
joey
also, rivver, if you make your creme brulee stovetop without baking it, doesn't that make it creme anglaise? how does it set up without being baked? and then how do you brulee it? or do you?
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post #7 of 10
6/16/09 at 9:38am
Creme Catalana is a dessert that is similar to brulee but using a stove-cooked custard (thicker than a brulee custard), poured and served with a burnt sugar top melted with a hot iron or torch. Perhaps that's what Rivver is talking about.

As for the torch you can certainly get a more powerful model from any hardware store (though they certainly wouldn't be advertised as a brulee torch) for cheap (less than 20 dollars for the whole kit and kaboodle).

I'm in Ottawa now, where it's high tourist season here too. Great weather, lots of festivals, and late spring produce is coming. Local strawberries!
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post #8 of 10
6/16/09 at 10:48am
I heat cream in a double boiler, with vanilla beans, then add gel strips after they have bloomed. beat in a egg yolk and sugar mixture and slowly cook till 165 degree or so. Then place in an ice bath until about 40 degree. I pour mixture into brulee dishes, I also have an ounce or so of chocolate ganache in the dish. Let them cool and set for about 5 hours. When I get an order carmelize as normal. They are so good! Actually won a couple of local awards

Im no pastry chef, even though that was my title for 2 years, funny story. I have only tempered chocolate once! However I can make 10 very solid desserts and thats more than enough for a chef to know=)

But the stove top creme brulee is so good and so very easy to make. Take that torch that you have and throw it away. Go to home depot or any do it yourself store and buy a standard blow torch. Buy one with a long nozzle and you will be carmelizing in less than 30 secs, perfect everytime. Now I understand why you asked about carmelizing in advance. Blow torch should cost you about 15 bucks and will last forever
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post #9 of 10
6/16/09 at 11:16am
"I heat cream in a double boiler, with vanilla beans, then add gel strips after they have bloomed. beat in a egg yolk and sugar mixture and slowly cook till 165 degree or so."

Hm, you use gelatin in your Créme Brûlé?
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post #10 of 10
6/16/09 at 12:00pm
Thread Starter 

more creme brulee

rivver,
yeah, i have an old blow type torch, but the control knob is a turn knob, not a clicker type...husband is at the town hardware store as we speak getting me a new nozzle...your recipe sounds cool..could you pass along a recipe please?...i am always looking for new 'twists' on things, and my customers expect the unexpected...thanks all for taking the time. blueicus, sounds like you are in for a fun summer, not like the isolated place you were in before...enjoy... know its a bit early, and maybe canada is different, but how is your tourist season shaping up? do you notice any different eating behaviors such as people eating smaller meals, less expensive items,more appetizers, tapas plates, drinking less expensive wines etc. think i just read something about how canada is actually becoming more of a travel destination
joey
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