Crème Caramel and The Pursuit of Perfection

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As I've explored the delicious world of cooking, I've struggled with setbacks from under-spiced curries to over-spiced hot chocolate, raw chicken to burned water*. One of the greatest has been a matter of personal taste, specifically, my partner's personal taste. She loves packet custard (particularly while camping), but has no great fondness for traditional baked egg custards. This wouldn't worry me in the slightest, save that crème caramel gets grouped with all the other baked custards.

From memories of eating store-bought tubs on childhood skiing trips to the results of one of my first successful forays into cooking, crème caramel has long been a personal favourite. Faced with a partner who found them uninteresting and not worth the preparation effort, I was determined to devise a recipe she would enjoy. Early attempts tried to bring out the strength of the vanilla bean. They didn't receive negative feedback, but had they been worth the preparation and sitting time?

A few months ago, trying to combine specific ingredients into a desert, I took an unorthodox approach to my old favourite that actually paid off. Almost by mistake, I had worked out a recipe for a smooth crème caramel with intense flavours that didn't overwhelm the delicate dish. It was one of the few recipes I had written down in full as I went, making it unusually reproducible. Better yet, my partner enjoyed it.

It was the best crème caramel I had ever made, but I wasn't happy with it. Had someone asked me whether I'd been satisfied with my previous best effort, I would have stood by the dish I'd prepared. But after showing myself that I could best that, I had set myself a new standard that had to be achieved. I tweaked the ingredients, changed the proportions and tried to compensate for my unpredictable oven. Perfection seemed within my reach, and I was determined to find it.

Then something strange happened. Possibly for the first time in my cooking life, I just followed my previous recipe without making any intentional alterations. The question of whether I can bring myself to follow exactly the same recipe a third time remains to be seen. For now at least, I find myself strangely bereft of desire to make any improvements. Perhaps that is perfection, or as near as I need go.

Honey and Espresso Crème Caramel.

* Anyone claiming that you can't burn water simply lacks adequate imagination. All you have to do is try melting snow over a camping stove without packing it down. Patches of the metal, with no snow touching them, get far too hot and impart an undeniably burnt taste onto the water.

Honey and Espresso Crème Caramel

A soft, delicate crème caramel laced with honey and a hint of chocolaty coffee. The honey adds greater depth of flavour to the dish, while the coffee balances the sweetness to add some complexity.

Choose a good honey with a bit of character that isn't overly strong. Orange blossom honey met that requirement nicely, but use whichever honey suits your tastes best.

While I enjoy drinking lightly flavoured coffee roasts with hints of berries and stone-fruit, a darker roast with some heavy chocolate and malt notes goes well in this dish.

Pour whole shots to get the full flavour of the coffee, but don't over-extract and don't add too much coffee to the caramel or it won't set without excessive boiling. This was for 8 ramekins, needing an inconvenient amount somewhere between two and four shots. I only had to throw away a few teaspoons of coffee.

Uncooked, the caramel already approaches the colour of burnt toffee. Don't panic if it starts looking dark.

Try to put about the same amount of caramel in each ramekin, but don't get obsessive about it; if one has slightly more or less, it won't affect the end result much.

Whisk the egg yolks and honey together until reasonably well combined. Don't overdo it; unlike sugar, honey combines easily with egg.

The tops should be golden when they're done. The middle will still wobble slightly when they're moved and might look uncooked, but this sets fully as they cool. Let the crème caramels sit in the fridge for at least 24 hours after they come out of the oven. If you rush, you may find that all the caramel is still solid in the bottom of the ramekin.

Be careful with the knife when cutting the crème caramels free. The appearance of the served dish depends heavily on whether you break up its surface with the knife.

You'll hear the crème caramel coming free from the ramekin and caramel will start leaking out onto the plate. If it doesn't come free immediately, leave it while serving the others, or hold the plate and ramekin together and tap them against the table. Don't shake them, as this will break up the crème caramel.

When the crème caramel has come free, lift off the ramekin. Pour any liquid caramel still in the ramekin onto the dish. If there is still hard toffee at the bottom, don't bother trying to scrape it out; just pour in some hot water and leave it to soak clean.

Voila! Enjoy your honey and espresso crème caramels and use them to impress your friends. Just don't tell them how easy they are to make.

Honey and Espresso Crème Caramels
Yield: 6 x 1 cup ramekins

Ingredients

Caramel

110 g Honey
60 ml Espresso

Crème

600 ml Pure cream
400 ml Whole milk
2 tsp Vanilla Extract*
8 Egg yolks
120g Honey

Directions

Caramel

1. Combine the fresh espresso and 110 g of honey in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a vigorous boil. Keep at a boil for 5 minutes or until hard ball is reached.
2. Pour into six 1 cup ramekins and allow to set.

Crème

1. Preheat oven to 150 °C (140 °C fan forced).
2. Combine milk, cream and vanilla in a pot and heat over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Heat to 60°C.
3. Whisk egg yolks and honey in a bowl. Whisking constantly, slowly pour the milk mixture into the eggs.
4. Pour into the ramekins. Place ramekins in a baking tray and fill tray with water up to halfway up the side of the ramekins.
5. Place in oven and cook for 40 minutes or until only just set. The centre will be a similar consistency to set jelly. Remove from oven and allow to sit in the hot water for a few minutes. This finishes cooking the crème caramels without the risk of an unreliable oven overcooking them.
6. Cover ramekins and place in a fridge for 24 hours before serving. To serve, run a knife around the edge of the ramekin, cover with a plate and invert. Caramel will start to seep out from under the ramekin when the crème caramel has come free.

* Most crème caramel recipes call for whole vanilla beans, because vanilla is central to their flavour. The vanilla is barely detectable in this dish, and it would be an unnecessary waste of good vanilla beans to use them here.

Bent Beers in Braddon

Bentspoke Brewery is the latest addition to Canberra’s micro-brewing scene. Set just off Lonsdale Street, excellent beers and a great vibe have already made it a popular evening destination. The bar opened on the 6th of June, and has been bustling ever since. Indeed, their first weekend saw so many beers poured that they were in danger of running out during opening week.

Fortunately, the brewery isn’t far away. The brewing starts in the mashers upstairs, with only a glass wall to separate the process from the bar patrons. When Richard and Tracy have worked their wizardry, the beer is piped through the stair’s handrails into a line of 2500L fermenters. Once matured and ready for consumption, it’s served directly out of stainless steel tanks behind the bar without being bottled or stored in kegs. This approach, unique in Australia, is one Richard and Tracy hope will deliver their beers at their very best.

Fermenters line the bar's back wall.

Photo courtesy of Jessica from
Words and Wilds.

While sipping the latest brew, patrons are invited to consider how it was produced. The brewery on show is explained by a wall-sized mural representing the ingredients and each stage of the brewing process. Even the kitchen plays its part, the by-products from the brewery working their way into the food on offer. Spent grain appears in both their chicken wings and burgers.

“They’re all a bit bent.”

The beers themselves are already living up to the high expectations set by Richard’s seventeen years as the head brewer of the Wig and Pen. Five beers and a cider were served up for the opening of the bar, all of distinctly different styles. The beers don’t fit neatly into traditional categories, brewed to showcase the ingredients rather than to meet specific expectations. “They’re all a bit bent” was Richard’s description when asked what types of beer he intended to serve. The cider, too, presents a complex flavour profile, one that might be unfamiliar for Australians accustomed to either over-sweet or completely dry ciders. Although they might be unusual, Bentspoke’s offerings are certainly proving popular. Two beer tanks and one of cider have already been emptied, and the brewery is running non-stop to replenish supplies and prepare new offerings.

Ultimately, there will be eighteen beers and ciders on tap, with a few particularly unusual concoctions in planning. Richard and Tracy have been experimenting with everything from gluten free beer to barrel ageing and even a truffle infused beer for Canberra’s truffle festival. Takeaway 2L insulated flasks also allow patrons to enjoy freshly brewed Bentspoke beers further afield.

But the Bentspoke bar isn’t just about the beer. Unlike most micro-brewery-bars, Bentspoke has gone that little bit further to make the decorations and atmosphere stand out. From the recycled bike part chandeliers and wall-garden to the keg seats and hoppinator lights, they’ve gone out of their way to make the bar stand out as a unique and interesting experience. Half beer-hall, half restaurant, the upstairs bar also provides an unusual view across Braddon and Civic, making an excellent backdrop for the other decorations.

The bar’s popularity has undoubtedly been boosted by the great setting, but ultimately it is Bentspoke’s beer that has made them an instant success. Canberrans have already voted with their wallets and the results are clear. There’s nothing wrong with delivering beers a little bit bent.