recipe march/april 2005
Crème brûlée
An all-time favourite from the seventeenth
century in two variations Dutch
version of this recipe
Crème brûlée is one of the most popular
desserts. That probably has to do with the titillating contrast between the
cold, creamy custard and the hard, hot layer of burned sugar. This dish should
be prepared with care, because it can easily turn out wrong. So please read
the notes with the recipe!
The very first recipes for crème brûlée date
from the seventeenth century. Whether its origins are French, English (see
bibliography) or Spanish (yes, the Crema Catalana!) is unclear. Sabban and Serventi
(edition) are inclined to seek the origins in Spain.
However, I liked this French recipe, because you get "two for the price of
one" (you notice I'm Dutch?): a beautiful soft yellow coloured custard with
orange, and a pastel green coloured custard with lime.
The recipe is taken from a
French cookbook that was written by Massialot at the end of the seventeenth
century.
François Massialot was born in Limoges in 1660 and died in Paris
in 1733. Barbara Ketcham Wheaton (edition) suspects he was not in service, but an
undependent cook who was hired for special occasions. He has prepared meals for
Monsieur (Philippe,
duke of Orleans, brother of Louis the fourteenth), Madame (princess Liselotte,
wife of Monsieur), the Dauphin, and several dukes and marquesses. So it would be
safe to say he was quite successful.
Massialot has produced two cookbooks: Le Cuisinier
royal et bourgeois [...], first printed anonymously in 1691, which has seen
many (extended) reprints up to the middle of the eighteenth century (from 1712
onwards as Le nouveau cuisinier royal et bourgeois [...]), and
the Nouvelle
instruction pour les confitures, les liquers et les fruits[...] from
1692, also reprinted several times in the eighteenth century. The picture above
of the table with sweets is from this book.
Le cuisinier royal et bourgeois consists of two parts: in the first part
there is a description of menu's for a whole year. Many of these menu's have
been prepared at court (dates and hosts are mentioned). The second part is the
actual cookbook. This is the first cookbook in which the recipes are
alphabetically ordered to the chief ingredient, often with variations for flesh-
and fishdays. Another first in this book is two recipes in which chocolate is an
ingredient: in a sauce for wigeon or scoter, and in a sweet custard. Until then
chocolate was consumed solely as a drink.
The original text of the recipe, taken from Massialot, Le cuisinier royal et bourgeois, Paris,
1691, as it appeared in La gastronomie au Grand Siècle. 100 recettes de France et
d'Italie,
F. Sabban and S. Serventi, Éd. Stock (1998), p.270/271.
(Crème brûlée)
Il faut prendre quatre ou cinq jaunes d'oeufs, selon la grandeur de votre plat
ou assiette. Vous les délayerez bien dans une casserole, avec bonne pincée de
farine; & peu à peu vous y verserez du lait, environ une chopine. Il y faut
mettre un peu de canelle en bâton, & de l'ecorce de citron vert
haché, & d'autre confit. On y peut aussi hacher de l'ecorce d'orange comme
celle de citron; & alors on l'apelle Crème brûlée à l'orange. Pour
la faire plus délicate, on y peut mêler des pistaches pilées, ou des amandes,
avec une goutte d'eau de fleur d'orange. Il faut aller sur le fourneau allumé,
& la toujours remuer, prenant garde que votre crème ne s'attache pas au
fond. Quand elle sera bien cuite, mettez un plat ou une assiette sur un fourneau
allumé; & ayant versé la crème dedans, faites-la cuire encore, jusqu'`a
ce que vous voyez qu'elle s'attache au bord du plat. Alors il la faut tirer en
arrière, & la bien sucrer par-dessus, outre le sucre que l'on y met dedans:
on prend la pelle du feu, bien rouge; & du même temps on en brûle la
crème, afin qu'elle prenne une belle couleur d'or.
(Crème brûlée)
Take four or five egg yolks, depending on the size of your plate or dish. Stir
them well in a casserole with some flour. Pour the milk in it a little at a
time, about 4,5 decilitres. Add a stick of cinnamon, and the chopped peel of
limes, and other candied fruits. You can also use chopped peel of orange instead
of lime. Then it is called "Crème
brûlée à l'orange". To make it even more delicate one can add peeled
ppistachio nuts, or almonds, with a drop of orange blossom
water. Put it on the
lit burner and stir continually, always looking that your crème does not stick
to the bottom. When the crème is done, put a plate or dish on a lit burner ,
pour the crème in it, and let it simmer until you see that it sticks to the
plate or dish. Pull [the dish] to the back (where the heat is lower), and
sprinkle liberally sugar on top, apart from the sugar that is [already] in it.
Take the fire shovel, red-hot, and burn the crème with it at once, so that it
will acquire a nice golden colour.
The modern adaptation of the recipe.
There are two recipes here, one for crème brûlée au citron vert,
the other for crème brulé à
l'orange. I have tried both recipes.
Before
you start, some very IMPORTANT remarks. For people with limited
experience in cooking there might arise some difficulties in preparing these
dishes. The thickening of sauces with raw egg yolks is one of them, the other is
the burning of sugar. Please read this first:
See the notes for how
to thicken a sauce with egg yolks.
You can caramelize the sugar layer in several different ways: under the
built-in grill of an electric oven, with a searing iron you get when buying a
set of dishes for "crema catalana", or with a gas jet (blow torch).
I tried all three methods, the last one was most to my liking.
When you burn the sugar under a grill, the custard heats up too. I like it best
when the custard is still at room temperature or cold.
Using a searing iron is laborious, especially when you need to burn several
dishes.
I prefer using a blow torch. The sugar caramelizes quickly, and you can prepare
as many dishes as you want to (until you run out of gas). See the
notes on how to use a blow torch in the kitchen.
You get the best result when you let the custard cool without covering it up, in
order to let the surface dry. Do not sprinkle with sugar until just before you
want caramelize.
Ingredients
Crème brûlée with limes:
1/2 litre (2 cups/1 pint) milk
5 egg yolks
75 gram (1/3 cup) ground pistachio nuts of prime quality
60 gram (1/4 cup) sugar
15 gram (2 Tbsp.) flour
1 cinnamon stick
the peel of 3 limes
1/2 tsp. orange blossom water
enough (icing) sugar to cover the crème
Ingredients
Crème brûlée with orange:
1/2 litre (2 cups/1 pint) milk
5 egg yolks
70 gram (1/3 cup) ground almonds
60 gram (1/4 cup) sugar
15 gram (2 Tbsp.) flour
1 cinnamon stick
the peel of 2 oranges
1 tsp. orange blossom water
enough (icing) sugar to cover the crème
Preparation in advance:
Mix the egg yolks with flour and sugar, orange blossom water, and either ground
almonds or ground pistachio nuts.
Bring the milk to the boil with the stick of cinnamon. When the milk starts to
boil, temper the heat and remove the cinnamon stick.
Now pay attention: to thicken a hot liquid with raw egg yolks can be tricky if
you do not have any experience with it. Here you can read detailed
instructions.
When you have added the egg-mixture to the milk in the pan (or in the bowl if
you prefer the "au bain marie" method) you can also add the peel of
limes or oranges. Now keep stirring until the mixture has thickened to the
consistency of custard. If you stop now, that is exactly what you have prepared:
custard!
Pour the mixture at once into a large shallow dish, or in individual small
shallow dishes, and let the custard cool without any covering to room
temperature. If you do this several hours in advance to serving, place the
dish(es) in the refrigerator when they have cooled. The top-layer must be
slightly dried to obtain a nice crisp layer of caramelized sugar.
Preparation:
Preheat the built-in grill in the oven, heat your fire-shovel, or pick up your
gas jet (blow torch) . Sprinkle the as yet "unburned" crème with a
thin layer of sugar. Take care that the whoile surface is covered, because the
crème itself will burn where there is no sugar. Place the dishes under the
grill, apply your fire-shovel, or use the blow torch (see the picture on the
right).
To serve:
You have to serve the crème brûlée as quickly as possible, because the the
hard layer of caramelized sugar will turn soft again when it absorbs moisture
from the crème underneath. And what is the most appealing of this recipe is the
contrast between the crisp, hard layer of sugar and the soft creamy
custard.
My tasters were divided as to which crème was the favourite. The majority voted
for the orange crème, but the lime crème was not without admirers.
Notes
Burner:
The stove as we know it (running on electricity or gas) was not in use in the
seventeenth century.
In the Middle Ages meals were prepared on open heat sources. The cook could
place pots, pans, grids and roasting-spits nearer the heat source, or further
away. At the end of the Middle Ages the hearth was raised to knee- or
table-height, with enough room for several heat sources from soaring heat to a
low simmer. The raised block was also used to place dishes on (see picture on
the far left).
In the seventeenth century the stove build with bricks comes into being: these
were especially handy for simmering on a low fire. A stove could have one or
more burning holes. The Dutch cookbook De verstandige kock (1667) gives
instructions on how to build your own stove. In the block there are one ore more
conic-shaped holes in which the fire burns. Near the bottom there is a grate for
the fire, at the top where the hole is at its widest there are iron knobs
on which the pots or pans are placed. In he side of the stove there are
vent-holes that also provide access to remove the ashes (see picture on the
right). Cast-iron stoves date from the nineteenth century.
How to thicken a sauce or custard with raw egg yolks: Just
follow the rules: Rule 1: The liquid that has to be thickened by the yolks must not cook.
When that does happen, the egg yolks will form unattractive flakes instead of
emulsifying with the sauce. So: keep the heat low, or prepare the sauce "au
bain marie" (just place a bowl of heat-conducive material in a wider pan
filled with water that is kept almost boiling. This prevents the contents of the
bowl to ever reach the boiling point). Rule 2: Do NOT pour the egg yolks into the hot liquid. They would clot
immediately. The yolks must gently get used to the higher temperature, by
adding one tablespoon of the warm liquid to the yolks, whilst stirring well. Add
some more, keep stirring, and continue adding the liquid in small amounts until
the egg yolks have reached almost the temperature of the liquid in the pan. Now
you can pour the heated yolks to the liquid in the pan (or the bowl if you
continue "au bain marie"). Whilst pouring you have to keep stirring in
the pan, to be sure that the yolks and the liquid blend without clotting. Rule 3: If you cook an egg, it takes a while for it to be ready. It is
the same with the thickening of sauces with egg yolks: it needs time. So you
have to be patient and keep stirring. This can take up to fifteen minutes or
more. You must stir well, scrape across the bottom and the sides of the pan/bowl
to prevent clotting of the custard. Use a wooden spoon or a whisk with an
isolated grip, or you will burn your hands. You can also use an electric mixer.
If you do that, the heat can be turned up a little, because the sauce will be
stirred vigorously, and will be ready all the sooner. But keep scraping the
bottom and sides of the pan/bowl.
When the sauce or custard is thickened to your liking, remove it immediately
from the heatsource, and pour it in a serving dish or individual dishes, because
once you stop stirring, the contents of the pan will stick to the bottom and
sides because the pan is still hot. How
to use a blow torch: It's great fun,
using a blow torch in the kitchen, you can feel really tough! You can buy
elegant blow torches that are made especially for use in the kitchen, but a lot of those are
not powerful enough. They are filled from a can with gas for cigarette lighters.
Just go to a hardware store and buy a real blow torch.
Always be careful when working with fire, even if it's a small burner. Take care
that there is nothing inflammable in the vicinity of where you want to
caramelize your custards. And don't do it on your antique wooden table! Keep
children away, a blow torch is not a toy. When you lit the burner, take care
that the flame is directed at free space, just in case the first flame is
strong. When you are done, check and double-check that you have closed off the
gas. Store the blow torch somewhere children can't reach. Orange
blossom water or orange flower water: This is made with the
flowers of the bigarade or Seville oranges. It originates in the Middle East
where it was used to flavour syrups and dishes. In Europe it was first used to
perfume bed linen, but by the seventeenth century it was also popular as food
flavouring.
(2001)