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For the love of vanilla...

My heart truly breaks for those lovers of the culinary arts who have never experienced REAL vanilla beans, fresh from Madagascar.




Lucky for me, I have a "source"!  The well-read, well-traveled, humanitarian Laura Sweet was kind enough to bestow upon me a few of these wonders of the culinary world.












 Wasting no time at all, I scraped the beans, scalded the cream and immediately made Creme Brulee.




                                                      






                                                        Wouldn't you?




Now of course, not to be a horrific food snob, you can always use liquid vanilla but make sure it's PURE VANILLA, not the "artificial Vanilla extract"... trust me, you'll be amazed at the difference once you experiment with both.  Here's a recipe (both ways):


  • 1 extra-large egg
  • 4 extra-large egg yolks
  • 1/2 cup sugar, plus 1 tablespoon for each serving
  • 3 cups heavy cream
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 tablespoon orange liqueur (recommended: Grand Marnier)

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the egg, egg yolks, and 1/2 cup of the sugar together on low speed until just combined. Meanwhile, scald the cream in a small saucepan until it's very hot to the touch but not boiled. If it boils, toss it out and start again.  Trust me, it will be WAY better!  With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the cream to the eggs. Add the vanilla and orange liqueur and pour into 6 to 8-ounce ramekins until almost full.
Place the ramekins in a baking pan and carefully pour boiling water into the pan to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until the custards are set when gently shaken. Remove the custards from the water bath, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate until firm.
To serve, spread 1 tablespoon of sugar evenly on the top of each ramekin and heat with a kitchen blowtorch until the sugar carmelizes evenly. (Or if you are a crazy person and love every possible kitchen gadget... you know who you are... you don't settle for a WOLF or VIKING range, NOOOOOOOO you insisted on a GARLAND, well that means you have a Salamander... GOOD FOR YOU!  You can caramelize the sugar in that!  Lucky you!!!  NOTE: Allow to sit at room temperature for a minute until the caramelized sugar hardens.

                                          *******************


So, there you go... deeeeeeeelish!  You can always add some fresh berries to it!  I've had all different kinds of Creme Brulee... lavender, lime, ginger, chocolate... yep, chocolate Creme Brulee, um... isn't that pudding?  The absolute best is the tried and true original... kinda the same philosophy for most things in life eh?

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