Tap, Tap, Tap. Crack. Delicious!

Who knew something so divine could be created out of a simple combination of cream, eggs, sugar, vanilla, and fire?! We finished our crème brulée today and all I can say is that it was utterly to die for. Before torching our crème brulée, we made two recipes to help master the techniques necessary for perfect custards—crème caramel and pot de crème. The former, is your traditional flan, only French style (fewer eggs than your typical South American). This recipe involved caramelizing sugar and pouring the custard concoction overtop before placing it all in a bain-marie. We also made a chocolate pot de crème which is essentially a glorified version of chocolate pudding! You can imagine that I, the chocolate boy, was quite ecstatic about this recipe. This too, was cooked in a bain-marie. We had to save our crème caramel and pot de crème overnight so we could plate them and present them to chef tomorrow; however, chef’s pot de crème was finished and sufficiently cooled so were partook and were much pleased! Ha. It was incredible—velvety chocolate goodness.

During the latter part of lab, we finished our crème brulée. I coated the surface of my crème brulée with granulated sugar and waited for my turn with the torch. I watched as students burned their crème brulée tops. By the time I had the torch in hand, I learned that I need to be patient and take my time brulée-ing. Ha. It turned out rather nicely. Chef prefers two coats of sugar and demonstrated that way, so I followed suit. As I tried it (my first time ever having crème brulée surprisingly), I marveled at the taste of such a simple combination of familiar kitchen ingredients! It was delicious. The hard crystal-like sugar crush juxtaposed with the smooth creamy custard beneath was amazing. The only problem is that I could almost immediately feel cavities starting to form on my molars. Not really, but it was high enough in sugar that I felt compelled to thoroughly brush my teeth immediately upon my arrival at the Bellevue home.

Creme Brulee

My Spoon Full of Sugar (a.k.a. Creme Brulee)

I needed a shot of me eating it!  Mmm...

Hunter’s dad and step-mother were in town and brought with them four Dungeness crab and five Maryland crab (mini-blue ones) along with pounds of fresh shrimp and rib eye stake. Needless to say, we had a feast that night. I think the food put me out, because I don’t remember anything else that happened that evening.