Créme Caramel

By Leslie Kedash

Remember Junket? Unless you are of a certain age, you may not, but it was a custard like concoction which was often fed to children when they were ill (or wanted a sweet dessert that wasn’t overly unhealthy).

Think of this dish as Junket made incredible. The texture, taste and mouth feel is just too amazing to not try it a few times.

I used to only order this dish in restaurants, figuring it would be just too tedious to make at home. Wrong.

I admit to having a bit of a cookbook addiction. I love the pictures, design and the thought of really good food

prepared at home. While work and life sometimes get in the way, nothing seems as satisfying as mastering a new recipe (sometimes it takes a few tries) and then consuming the fruits of your labor.

Recently, I was paging through a book which we use for the family’s favorite recipe for Shepherd’s Pie and I came across this little gem.

This time, the planets were aligned: the hens had done their work, I already had all the ingredients and the time to make it happen.

Turns out, the recipe is quite simple to make. The only place where you might mess up is in the beating of the eggs and sugar. Don’t overbeat or you will end up with way too much custard and its consistency will not be at all what you are looking for (dreamily smooth and rich). The rest of the prep is easy, the hardest part waiting for the custard to cool and set up before you can devour it.

Créme Caramel

Paris Bistro Cooking by Linda Dannenberg

The long slow cooking of this classic dessert produces a perfectly smooth and silky custard.

1 Quart Milk

2 Vanilla Beans, Split Lengthwise, or 3 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract

(Vanilla beans are EXPENSIVE but they “make” the dish. You can buy them at Acme for seventeen bucks or at Giant for twelve, you know where we got ours)

2 Cups Sugar (divided)

3 Tablespoons Water

1 Drop Vinegar or lemon Juice

8 Large Eggs

Yolks of 4 Large Eggs

Small Pinch Salt

In a larger saucepan over low  heat, scald the milk with the vanilla beans. Remove from the heat, cover, and steep for 30 minutes. Then remove the vanilla beans and discard.

Caramelize an 8-cup mold; Place 1/2 cup of the sugar, the water, and vinegar or lemon juice in a small saucepan and cook over high heat until golden. Carefully pour into the mold and tilt the mold to coat the bottom with caramel. let the caramel harden.

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.

Place the eggs, yolks, the 1 1/2 cups of sugar, and salt in a bowl; whisk together until the mixture thickens and is pale yellow. Strain the milk into the egg mixture and stir it to blend. Pour the custard mixture very carefully into the previously caramelized mold.

Place the mold in a larger pan, place the pan on the oven rack, and fill the pan with hot water to come halfway up the mold. Bake 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until the custard is set when a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool, then refrigerate. to serve, run a knife around the edge of the mold. Invert the mold onto a deep serving dish. the caramel will run out and fill the dish.