Episode 21: Vanilla Crème Brûtäl

Because more accents over letters means more awesome. 'Specially if they're umlauts.

Notes:

Guest baker! I've known Charlotte for a few years now, but have only in the last year discovered her tumblr of lovely recipes (which infuriates me because Tumblr won't let you comment) and when I said that sometime over the Easter Weekend she and Gonzi (who used to be in my team at work) should come over and we'd "cook stuff". They brought pork rillettes, I made VeganTamer Soup (future episode, watch this space), and Charlotte whipped up this delicious concoction, in spite of our temperamental oven.

See? This is her here:

Observe my wacky camera setup behind her.

The actual torchifying of the brulees went well, but the filming of same did not. The big camera was at an angle that couldn't see the melting, and my attempt at hand-held with my FlipCamera lead to varying white balance & focus. So only the prettiest shot stays in the video (hence the shift from torching the first one, then suddenly there are others. Cinema magic! See?
 

Special thanks also to Gonzi, whose artistic prowess I bow down before. He was just hanging out on my couch as Charlotte turned into a tornado in the kitchen, and I pressed him into serviceto draw the record this episode. We brainstormed a bit before deciding that Easter was about guys rising from the dead and rabbits with chocolate. So naturally the answer appeared to us: zombie bunnies. Gonzi knocked it out of the park, and I present the design in its full glory:

You can follow Gonzi & Charlotte on Instagram too, she's @FancyDancyMagicPrancy and he's @Tobasco_Slinger.

This is also my entry for the June AlphaBakes challenge, hosted by Ros of More Than Occasional Baker & Caroline of Caroline Makes. What's that you say? Wasn't the last entry an AlphaBakes one? Well, yes, it was, but I'd like to get on the board earlier in the month this time, and V is a hard letter.

Music Notes:

Mates of State - "Son Et Lumiere" "Long Way Home", from "Crushes: The Covers Mixtape", 2010
Nouvelle Vague - "Ca Plane Pour Moi", from "3", 2009

So after I'd cleaned up the kitchen, I sent Charlotte a message asking what music she'd prefer. Seeing as she's French and all (and proper French, not 3rd-hand French Canadian like me), I suggested Nouvelle Vague, whose first two albums I have. She agreed (specifically pointing out two covers of theirs I didn't know, like "Come On Eileen" and "Ca Plane Pour Moi" (!)), but also suggested Mates of State and their Covers mixtape. I filed all this away for later.

So now it's later and I've discovered Spotify (despite some early confusion and worried about my mobile's data cap). Through looking for the Nouvelle Vague "Ca Plane Pour Moi" cover, I found that both Holly Golightly (who collaborated with the White Stripes on "It's True That We Love One Another") & the Presidents of the United States of America have also covered the song. Then I go looking for the Holly Golightly cover on iTunes, and can't find it, which is because, as I later discover, Holly Golightly originally recorded it when she was part of Thee Headcoatees (a garage rock outfit created by Billy Childish as a backing band for his group Thee Headcoats). So see? You learn things through music.

Anyhow, Nouvelle Vague (French for New Wave, which is translated into Portueguese as bossa nova. See what they did there?) is a cover band, specifically making 60s bossa nova covers of punk, new wave and post-punk songs). They use a rotating roster of singers, secifically choosing those who have not heard the original track, to give each cover a unique feel. Their take on the wild and wacky Plastic Bertrand favourite is a good one. Also, go look up the legal battles around that song. It's interesting.

And Mates of State's Crushes Mixtape? Despite their website being baffling & occasionally non-functional, I did manage to get ahold of this album. It's pretty good, you guys. At first I felt their cover of Tom Waits' Long Way Home was too poppy, but it's grown on me. Their spooky intro of the Mars Volta song "Son et Lumiere" provided the perfect accompaniment for the zombie bunnies attacking the populace.

Recipe:

Vanilla Crème Brûtäl

ingredients:

• 300 mL double cream
• 200 mL milk
• 100 g caster sugar
• 8 egg yolks
• 2 tsp vanilla bean paste or the seeds of 2 vanilla beans
• 4 tbsp of demarera sugar

1. Preheat oven to 100 degrees.
2. Separate your eggs (maybe keep the whites for an enormous meringue?) and add them to a pot along with the milk, cream and caster sugar.
3. Set the pot on medium heat, and stir gently & continuously with a wooden spoon (don't use a whisk! It'll make bubbles and we HATE bubbles).
4. Once the mixture is dissolved together and beginning to thicken, turn off the heat & take the pot off the burner.
5. Get a big oven-proof dish or tray & double-up a tea-towel in the bottom. Fit 4 ramekins inside.
6. Divide your custard equally between the ramekins, then pour boiling water into the big dish, so it comes halfway up the sides of the ramekins.
7. Into the oven for about 35 minutes, or until just set but still wobbly in the middle. (our oven was a jerk and it took nearly 50 minutes).
8. When set, put the whole tray in the fridge for 30 minutes.
9. Sprinkle a tablespoon or so of demarera sugar evenly on top of the custard. Use a spoon to super gently level it if you need to.
10. Using a blowtorch (if you're awesome) or a preheated grill (if you're less so) to carmelize the sugar evenly into a crackly glazey layer. 
11. Seize, crack in with a spoon, and consume!

Hey you! Yes, you!

 Are you an awesome cook?

Do you live in the Sydney area?

Do you have a blog to plug?

You too can be a guest cook on CoverVersions.TV!

 *Ahem*
I'll run the cameras, do the editing, the whole shebang.
Just drop me an email at Show@CoverVersions.TV with when you're free and what you want to do.
As some of you may have seen, I've got the next just-shy-of-two-weeks off, so happy to arrange something. 

Comments

[Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella]

Your videos look like so much fun! I want to do one now! :D Love the bunnies that you drew too! :)

[Lucas]

We totally could! Though I imagine that with your schedule, I'd have to book in sometime next year.

[bakingaddict]

Thanks for entering this to AlphaBakes! I love creme brulee but have never made my own. I can't seem to work a blow torch! Charlotte - you did a great job! Sadly I don't live in Australia. Would love to see a collaboration with NQN :)

[muppy]

mmmmmmm creme brulee is my favourite!!!!! i bet you got in in that blow torch action :) i would be way to shy for videos!