March 2024:
RECIPE OF THE WEEK FROM HIGHFIELD HALL & GARDENS STAFF, GAIL BLAKELY
Our new Culinary Director, Kate Davis, started off the new year with a fabulous class featuring Tristan Feufeu of Bleu restaurant in Mashpee Commons. His father, Fred, has been a long time contributor to our Meet the Chef series—in fact, he was the first one to present back in 2009 when I started the (now hugely popular) set of classes.
Unfortunately I was on vacation and unable to attend, but our Culinary Volunteer Coordinator, Vicki Harris, sent me the accompanying photo. It’s one of the restaurant’s classic offerings, and it never fails to disappoint!
Crème Brûlée
Ingredients
- 1 qt heavy cream
- 1 vanilla bean
- 10 egg yolks
- ½ cup sugar
- Additional sugar for caramelizing
Instructions
- Prepare the station by having a container large enough to hold mixture and having all ingredients at the ready. In a medium size bowl add in sugar and egg yolks and hand whisk this together until fully combined. Now, in a small pot add heavy cream as well as a vanilla bean that has been cut in half and scraped clean. On medium to high heat bring this mixture to a boil. While the cream is heating up, make sure that the mixing bowl and cooling container are close by. Once at a boil, pour half of the cream into the egg and whisk right away to prevent eggs from cooking. Once combined, add the remainder of cream and stir once again before transferring into the cooling container. When cool, spoon out into small serving dishes and chill.
- Your completed custards should have chilled for at least four hours, but overnight is best. About 20 minutes before you want to caramelize them, take them out of the refrigerator and let them sit at room temperature. If any moisture condensation has formed on the top, gently dab it away with a paper towel, being careful not to dent the custard. Sprinkle with granulated white sugar. Be generous—you'll pour off the excess in a moment. Cover the whole surface and swirl the ramekins to distribute the sugar evenly. After coating the top of the custard with sugar, pour off the excess. If you're making more than one crème brulee, dump excess sugar into the next custard and repeat. Add new sugar with a spoon as needed until all the crème brûlées are coated but there are no loose granules remaining.
- Follow the instructions for lighting your torch carefully and adjust the length of the flame to medium. Hold the torch a good distance away from the crème brûlée and slowly move it closer while rotating the flame. Keep the flame constantly in motion to keep from burning one area. Once it gets close enough, you'll see the sugar start to liquefy and form little droplets on the surface. As you continue cooking the sugar, you'll see little wisps of smoke puff up as the sugar begins to turn caramel-colored. You'll also smell the delicious aroma of cooked sugar, kind of like cotton candy. Keep the flame moving so that it isn't focused on any one spot for too long. Pull the torch away if the sugar smokes excessively. Be sure to get the sugar along the edges of the ramekin as well as in the middle.
- You'll be seeing a nice, caramel-colored glaze form on top of the crème brûlée. It's a bit tricky knowing exactly when to stop, but it's better to stop too soon than too late. If necessary, you can always fill in any underdone spots in a minute, once the sugar cools down a bit. When you're finished you'll have a hard, glass-like glaze of caramelized sugar on top. Pop the crème brûlées back into the refrigerator for 10 minutes or so before serving them, just to re-chill the custard after it's been heated by the torch. You can serve the crème brûlées just as they are and they'll be absolutely delicious, but a few fresh berries and a dusting of powdered sugar is also a nice, elegant touch.