Dud

Every now and then, no matter how much care I put into making something, the result turned out to be a dud. Now I know that I can easily blame the recipe but this time, seeing that it comes from the mighty Mr Hermé, one of ses coups de coeur no less, I think I must have done something wrong. Recipe attempted : passionfruit crème brulée.

Crème brulée aux fruits de la passion
(Larousse des desserts p.443)
7 egg yolks
125 gr caster sugar
8 passionfruits
380ml crème fraîche liquide

Preheat oven to 90°C.
Whisk egg yolks with the sugar, incorporate the passionfruit pulp and add the cream.
Divide into individual ramekins, and bake for 1 hour. (the recipe didn't specify for a bain marie so I just baked them like that)

I've made this once and liked it though I made a mental note that it was too runny, and thus must either add another yolk or use less cream. But I was hesitant to muck around with the recipe and decided to give this recipe another go as is, fatal mistake. After an hour, the top wobbled all right... I crossed my fingers hoping that they would set overnight in the fridge. Long story short, they didn't and A said it was like soup. No offense taken.

Crafty little me, made some other milky passionfruity concoction last night and mixed it with the remainder of the duddy PCB and churned the bloody thing in the ice cream maker. Dud transformed into a quite a delight.



Note:
1. I added 3 more passionfruits, about cup and a half of milk, juice of 1 and a half of lemon plus sugar to taste.

Delivery

Finally! YAY!

But GOSH! The armchair was already a tight fit but the sofa was a struggle to get in through the entry door, lift, another door and finally my door. There was only one guy delivering and so, I had to act as the second delivery man. I still have sore biceps from all the manoeuvering and lifting.

Anyway... took this picture yesterday. Figgy already claimed the sofa as his. Please come by visit me and Figaro, now that you wouldn't have to stand around... waiting for me to offer you water. Sorry T and C! Next time, there might be a treat.

So exciting that now I have a fridge with a freezer! I made some ice cream last week. It lasted a week. Well the magazine did say the texture might deteriorate and it's best to be consumed within one week of being made.

Vanilla bean ice-cream
makes 1 litre
(Delicious magazine, Nov'03 p.134)

Step 1
6 egg yolks
125 gr caster sugar
400 ml milk
1 vanilla bean, split
300 ml thick cream (48% fat content)

Step 2
Place the egg yolks and sugar in a large mixing bowl and beat with electric hand beater until thick and pale. Place the milk in a saucepan, scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean and add to the milk with the pod, then heat over medium heat until scalding point. Remove from heat and set aside to infuse for 10 minutes. Discard pod and reheat milk to scalding point, then strain over the egg mixture and beat until just combined. Return the mixture to a clean saucepan and place over low heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until the custard thickens enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon - don't allow it to boil (this can take up to 20 minutes).

Step 3
Pour the custard into a bowl and sit over a bowl of ice, stirring until cool. Cover the surface of the custard with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming and place in the fridge to chill completely. Whisk the cream into the cold custard until well combined, then pour into a shallow plastic container, cover and freeze until frozen at the edges (this can take up to 1 1/2 - 2 hours).

Step 4
Remove the ice-cream from the freezer, beat with an electric hand beater until smooth, then return to the freezer. Repeat this step 2 or 3 more times (beating the ice-cream prevents the formation of ice crystals). Alternatively, churn the mixture in an ice-cream machine to manufacturer's instructions.

Note :
1. I added a packet of oreo biscuits (sans the white cream filling) towards the end of the churning.
2. I must say that I felt mighty fat the following week.
3. Have sneaked a peek at this month's daring bakers challenge, and it's a good one, I'm in!