Oh So Colson

Ah, I love desserts. I particularly like things like creme brulees, creme caramels, clafoutis, and custards in general.

Creme brulees and creme caramels:
It’s really quite interesting, perhaps surprising is that there’s a number of varieties worldwide. But perhaps I shouldn’t be so surprised since they require relatively few ingredients, are very easy to make, and there’s many variations given that the recipes are being adapted to local ingredients. I’m often amazed at the reactions of friends because they seem to believe that both creme caramels and creme brulees are hard to make. They’re really easy in reality but I suppose the problem is that people don’t know how to get a smooth texture….it’s really just achieved by using a bain marie to cook it in! I’m in the midst of a current project where I take a different type each time I attend a friend’s potluck or dinner party (where one takes something). I always opt for the dessert section. Why? Well, it means that I can do some experimenting. I don’t make desserts for myself that often since I get very bored if I make something and I have to eat it for three or four days running.

I do bake for myself and I’ll eat the resulting consequences for a number of sequential breakfasts. The last cake I made was a recipe which I saw in the blog “Chocolate and Zucchini”…..which is apparently a typical cake from France made with yogurt. It’s delicious and has just a hint of vanilla. I used the recipe provided by Clotilde Dusoulier in her book of the same title. (The book contains many of the recipes on her blog.) I like making cakes that just are simply flavoured. Indeed, I find that so many recipes today are full of tons of chocolate, fruit, nuts, or liquiors so much so that the flavours overwhelm each other. Its often the case there’s so much in the recipe that there’s no flavour at all. It seems that people think that gourmet cooking must be something where you just through lots of flavours together…without thinking as to the precise manner in which the flavours compliment each other.

Anyhow back to my current unofficial research project. I’m currently trying out various creme caramel and creme brulee recipes. It seems from reading my cookbooks and scanning my favourite food blogs that there are various different types. I’m currently working my way through the different recipes. I’m now getting a better idea which ones are successful vis-a-vis shape, colour, flavour, texture and above all enjoyed! My friends have unknowingly become my testers. I enjoy watching their faces as they test them out!

The French version of the dessert tends to be flavoured with cinnamon. The recipes from Spain tend to contain orange juice. I’d like to make one of these but the oranges that I’ve found at the moment just aren’t very flavourful. I suspect because its winter time here in Canada and the oranges are ripened artificially.

I made a Brazilian version of creme caramel for a friend’s dinner party where she had cooked two dishes from Senegal. The version of creme caramel from Brazil contains condensed milk and regular milk while the French and Spanish versions use milk or cream. The Spanish recipes often reduce the quantity of the milk but make up the difference in the volume of liquid required by using orange juice. The next version that I’d like to make is a Cuban style creme caramel which uses evaporated milk. I tried this when I was in Miami last year, with a good friend of mine, and it was delicious. It had the same consistency as the other varieties but the flavour was slightly different and it had a firmer texture. I think that I’d like to make the Brazilian one again but this time try substitute some of the milk with coconut milk.

A few weeks ago I experimented, for another friend’s dinner party, with a recipe that I’d found on the internet which used Earl Grey tea which contains oil of bergamont. I decided to try this recipe since I had a creme brulee, in Winnipeg, called “London Fog” which was essentially a creme brulee flavoured with Earl Grey tea. It was delicious. The bergamont oil contrasted well with the richness of the caramelized sugar on the top. I made it myself and it was a definite hit with everyone at the dinner party. What bugged me though was that I had to use a grill, rather than my blowtorch, to crystallize the sugar sprinkled on top and the end result wasn’t what I hoped. I’ve accumulated a collection of recipes whereby creme brulee contains various liquors and teas. So..now I have to just find occasions to try these ones out!