Food Around the World - Crème Caramel
Complete your French feast with my mother's creme caramel recipe. Very popular during the 70's this dessert is very French and very rich. We grew up with store bought "Flambies" in chocolate or caramel, but this recipe is as close to one made in a French Farm kitchen as I have tasted.
I always use a large version of a ramekin style dish with a diameter of 22cm. You can use smaller dishes for individual portions, just bake the pudding for half the time.
The most important thing is to have all your baking dishes ready so that you can pour the caramel into the dish and slow down the cooking process. Making the dessert the day before serving allows all the flavours to infuse and produces a better custard to eat. Store in the baking dish in the fridge, return to room temperature, unmould and serve.
625ml sugar
1.5L milk
finely grated zest of 1/2 orange
8 eggs
1t vanilla extract
50ml Cointreau
pinch of salt
Melt 375ml of sugar in a heavy based large pan over low heat. Watch the sugar carefully and when is starts to melt and turn gold swirl the sugar around to cook it evenly, then remove it from the stove and pour the caramel into your greased baking dish. Swirl the caramel around the base of the dish to line it evenly.
Preheat the oven to 150C.
Scald the milk, together with the orange rind.
Beat the eggs, sugar, Cointreau, salt and vanilla together. Pour the warm milk onto the eggs and mix in. Strain the custard into the 22cm baking dish.
Place a folded dish towel in the middle of a baking tray with high sides. Place the baking dish with custard onto the towel.
Pour boiling water into a baking tray until it comes halfway up the sides of the baking dish.
Bake for 1 hour 30 minutes until the custard has set. It should still wobble slightly. Allow the custard to cool, it will firm up as it cools.
When ready to serve, run a palette knife around the edges of the baking dish to unmould the dessert, and invert it onto a serving plate.
I always use a large version of a ramekin style dish with a diameter of 22cm. You can use smaller dishes for individual portions, just bake the pudding for half the time.
The most important thing is to have all your baking dishes ready so that you can pour the caramel into the dish and slow down the cooking process. Making the dessert the day before serving allows all the flavours to infuse and produces a better custard to eat. Store in the baking dish in the fridge, return to room temperature, unmould and serve.
625ml sugar
1.5L milk
finely grated zest of 1/2 orange
8 eggs
1t vanilla extract
50ml Cointreau
pinch of salt
Melt 375ml of sugar in a heavy based large pan over low heat. Watch the sugar carefully and when is starts to melt and turn gold swirl the sugar around to cook it evenly, then remove it from the stove and pour the caramel into your greased baking dish. Swirl the caramel around the base of the dish to line it evenly.
Preheat the oven to 150C.
Scald the milk, together with the orange rind.
Beat the eggs, sugar, Cointreau, salt and vanilla together. Pour the warm milk onto the eggs and mix in. Strain the custard into the 22cm baking dish.
Place a folded dish towel in the middle of a baking tray with high sides. Place the baking dish with custard onto the towel.
Pour boiling water into a baking tray until it comes halfway up the sides of the baking dish.
Bake for 1 hour 30 minutes until the custard has set. It should still wobble slightly. Allow the custard to cool, it will firm up as it cools.
When ready to serve, run a palette knife around the edges of the baking dish to unmould the dessert, and invert it onto a serving plate.
Comments
Post a Comment