Tangelo Crème Brûlée Food

THE BEST CREME BRULEE

Steps:

• Arrange a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 300 degrees F. Line a large heavy roasting pan (a turkey roasting pan works great) with a clean kitchen towel and place 4 six-ounce ramekins on top of the towel spaced a few inches apart.
• Heat the cream in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Using the back of a paring knife, scrape the vanilla seeds from both halves of the pod. Add the seeds and pod to the cream. Whisk in the salt and 3 tablespoons of the sugar and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat.
• Vigorously whisk the yolks and 3 more tablespoons of the sugar in a large bowl until pale yellow and very thick and creamy, about 2 minutes. Alternatively, you can use an electric mixer on high speed and beat until pale yellow and very thick and creamy, about 1 minute.
• Whisking the yolks constantly, add a couple of teaspoons at a time from 1 cup of the hot cream, then increase to a steady stream until the cream is fully incorporated. (Don't pour too much hot cream at once or you'll end up with scrambled eggs.) The yolks are now tempered. Whisk the tempered yolks back into the remaining hot cream until combined. Strain through a fine mesh sieve into a large measuring cup or medium pitcher for easier pouring; discard the vanilla pods.
• Skim the foam off the top of the custard by placing a clean paper towel on top and lightly pressing down so it touches the surface and absorbs some of the liquid. This will make for a completely smooth and silky custard. Fill the ramekins with the custard, about 3/4 cup per ramekin.
• Carefully pour boiling water into the roasting pan halfway up the sides of the ramekins without getting any water in the custard. Cover the pan tightly with foil and bake until the custard is set around the edges but still has a slight jiggle in the center, 35 to 45 minutes. Carefully remove the roasting pan from the oven and transfer the ramekins to a wire rack to cool for 30 minutes. Then refrigerate until very cold, about 3 hours.
• Just before serving, evenly spread 1 tablespoon of the sugar over the top of a custard. Hold a kitchen torch 2 inches above the surface. Starting in the center of the ramekin, move the flame in a circular motion and work your way out to the edges to caramelize the sugar. Repeat with the remaining sugar and custards.
• Alternatively, arrange a rack in the top position of the oven and heat the broiler on high. Place the ramekins on a rack set inside a baking sheet and broil until deep golden brown, 15 to 60 seconds, checking every 10 seconds.
• Freeze the custards for 5 minutes before serving (see Cook's Note).

CREME BRULEE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
• Place the cream, vanilla bean and its pulp into a medium saucepan set over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat, cover and allow to sit for 15 minutes. Remove the vanilla bean and reserve for another use.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup sugar and the egg yolks until well blended and it just starts to lighten in color. Add the cream a little at a time, stirring continually. Pour the liquid into 6 (7 to 8-ounce) ramekins. Place the ramekins into a large cake pan or roasting pan. Pour enough hot water into the pan to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake just until the creme brulee is set, but still trembling in the center, approximately 40 to 45 minutes.
• Remove the ramekins from the roasting pan and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 3 days. Remove the creme brulee from the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes prior to browning the sugar on top. Divide the remaining 1/2 cup vanilla sugar equally among the 6 dishes and spread evenly on top. Using a torch, melt the sugar and form a crispy top. Allow the creme brulee to sit for at least 5 minutes before serving.

CREME BRULEE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
• Beat egg yolks, 4 tablespoons white sugar and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl until thick and creamy.
• Pour cream into a saucepan and stir over low heat until it almost comes to boil. Remove the cream from heat immediately. Stir cream into the egg yolk mixture; beat until combined.
• Pour cream mixture into the top pan of a double boiler. Stir over simmering water until mixture lightly coats the back of a spoon, about 3 minutes. Remove mixture from heat immediately and pour into a shallow heat-proof dish.
• Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cool to room temperature. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight.
• Preheat oven to broil.
• In a small bowl combine remaining 2 tablespoons white sugar and brown sugar. Sift this mixture evenly over custard. Place dish under broiler until sugar melts, about 2 minutes. Watch carefully so as not to burn.
• Remove from heat and allow to cool. Refrigerate until custard is set again.

TANGELO CRèME BRûLéE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Finely grate enough zest from tangelos to measure 1 tablespoon. Squeeze enough juice from tangelos to measure 2 cups. In a large bowl gently whisk together whole eggs and egg white until combined well. Add zest, tangelo and lemon juices, and granulated sugar and whisk just until sugar is dissolved.
• Divide custard among six 1/2-cup ramekins. Put ramekins in a baking pan and add enough hot water to pan to reach halfway up sides of ramekins. Loosely cover pan with foil and bake custards in lower third of oven until just set but still trembling slightly, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove ramekins from pan and cool custards on a rack. Chill custards, loosely covered with plastic wrap, until firm, at least 2 hours, and up to 1 day. Set broiler rack so that tops of custards will be 2 to 3 inches from heat and preheat broiler (or have ready a blow torch).
• Just before serving, sprinkle 1 teaspoon turbinado sugar evenly over each custard and caramelize under broiler (or with blow torch, moving flame evenly back and forth just over sugar) until sugar is melted and deep golden.

CREME BRULEE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325°F.
• In a large bowl cream together egg yolks and 3/4 cup sugar with a whisk till pale yellow and thick.
• Pour creme into medium saucepan over low heat.
• Bring cream to a brief simmer, do not boil and add vanilla.
• Remove from heat and temper the egg mixture by adding 1/2 cup of cream at a time while continuously whisking to keep eggs from cooking.
• Keep whisking till all cream is added.
• divide into six 6-oz ramikins about 3/4 way full.
• Place ramekins in roasting pan and add water to pan till about 1/2 way up sides of ramikins.
• Bake till barely set around the edges, 40 minute.
• If starts to brown place a piece of foil on top.
• Remove from heat and let cool at room temperature.
• Transfer ramekins to fridge.
• Chill for about 2 hours.
• Sprinkle each w/ 1 tbsp sugar, hold a kitchen torch 2 inches over surface and use just long enough to brown the sugar.
• Garnish with fruit, raspberry sauce, cookies-- whatever--and serve immediately.

TANGERINE CREME BRULEE

Steps:

• Heat the cream and half n half just to the simmer.
• Remove the zest from the tangerine and place it in the cream.
• Let it steep for about 1/2 hour.
• Squeeze in about 1 tablespoon of the juice. Beat the egg yolks until light and pour the hot cream over them whisking the entire time. Add the vanilla and strain the mixture though a fine sieve. Fill ramekins with the mixture, place them in a large baking dish and fill the dish with hot water to a depth of 1 inch.
• Bake for about 40 minutes at 300 degrees or until the custards are set. They will continue cooking after you remove them, so they can still have a small amount of movement in the center.
• Chill completely.
• Sift the brown sugar and place a light coating over each ramekin.
• Either place under your broiler or, in my case, I use my propane torch until the sugar has melted.
• * I usually halve this recipe since we are two.
• If a make it any larger than this recipe (which really only serves 6 with my size ramekins) I will add an extra yolk.