Crme Caramel

08Jun08

Crme caramel to the French, flan to the those in the Spanish speaking countries. Whatever you want to call it, until tonight, ha! never taste! this ol!"school !essert #efore. $y only e%perience with them has #een salivating over them in foo!ie maga&ines, recipe #ooks or on television cooking shows. 'ou !on(t often see them #eing offere! in restaurants these !ays either, so the poor crme caramel an! have never ha! the pleasure to meet.

)o me, it always looke! like one of those !esserts that were too tricky an! fi!!ly to make. (ve always won!ere! how they were #ake! for so long without turning har! an! chewy. was also curious as to how the caramel !i!n(t stick to the moul!s an! how they manage! to keep their shape after you poppe! them out. *fter flicking through +eil ,erry(s -)he Foo! .ove(, foun! a recipe for this !essert an! with my first attempt this afternoon, manage! to make si% perfectly wo##ly crme caramels in time to en/oy after !inner. )o my surprise, #oth the caramel an! custar! were !ea! easy to make. was also e%tremely nervous when it came to removing them from their moul!s, #ut after a mini hot water #ath, they easily inverte! onto the serving plates to swim happily in a pool of sticky caramel syrup.

So how woul! !escri#e my first taste of the crme caramel0 Well, it was won!erful. )he tiny hint of #itterness in the sweet caramel matche! won!erfully with the su#tle flavour of the #ake! vanilla custar!. *n! the te%ture of it all is something else altogether. t(s !efinitely a !essert to make again1 Crme Caramel 2ecipe #y +eil ,erry in -)he Foo! .ove(. 3 litre 45 cups6 full"cream milk 337g 48 cup6 caster sugar 3 vanilla #ean, split with see!s scrape! out 9 egg yolks 9 eggs Caramel ::7g 43 cup6 caster sugar 3:7ml 48 cup6 water 3. Com#ine the milk, sugar an! vanilla #ean an! see!s in a saucepan an! #ring to the #oil. 2emove the pan from the heat an! allow to stan! for 57 minutes. :. For the caramel, #ring the sugar an! water to a gentle simmer, stirring #riefly to !issolve the sugar. ;o not stir once it(s simmering. Watch the sugar an! water

carefully, an! simmer only until it starts turning a !eep caramel colour. mme!iately remove the pan from the heat an! carefully pour e<ual amounts of the caramel into si% :70ml capacity moul!s. =ol! the moul!s at the top of the rim an! swirl to coat the moul!s halfway up their si!es with the caramel. Set asi!e. >. ,reheat the oven to 3?0@C. .ightly mi% the eggs an! yolks in a #owl. Strain the coole! milk mi%ture into the egg mi%ture, slowly whisking. Strain again an! pour into the prepare! moul!s. .ay a tea"towel on the #ottom of a roasting tin. ,lace the moul!s insi!e the tin an! fill the tin with hot water until it reaches halfway up the si!es of the moul!s. Cover the tin with foil an! place in the centre of the oven to cook for >0"57 minutes, or until set 4the time will vary accor!ing to the oven6. *llow to cool, then store in the refrigerator. for at least 5 hours or overnight. 5. )o serve, pour some #oiling water in a #owl an! place a moul! in the water for a#out :0 secon!s. Carefully run a knife aroun! the insi!e of the moul! an! /iggle the moul! to loosen the custar!. ,lace the serving plate on top an! <uickly upturn the crme caramel an! slowly remove the moul!, allowing the caramel to gently spill !own the e!ges of the !essert. $akes 9.