Every now and then it happens that even great chefs crave simplicity. Such is the case with Guy Savoy, who cannot resist the temptation of a crème brûlée whenever he makes his egg-white macaroons.
Guy Savoy’s crème brûlée
The dish
"When I bake my macaron shells in batches, I obviously use a lot of egg whites. I'm left with yolks to recycle for dessert. So I go through my cookbooks to find out how to use them, and I keep coming back to this delicious crème brûlée recipe," says Guy Savoy, the world's top chef according to La Liste.
There is nothing extravagant about the recipe: it follows well-codified steps, the same ones that have been carried out in French homes for centuries. In fact, the first written record of the dessert dates to 1691, when the book Le Cuisinier Royal et Bourgeois by François Massialot was published; but some say its origins are rather to be found in British burnt cream, the recipe for which was developed at Trinity College, Cambridge. First prepared with an iron that reproduced the school's coat of arms to identify the dessert, under the name "Trinity cream" is still on the cafeteria menu today.
@Alison Conklin
Its origins can perhaps also be linked to the dense, rich creams that have always been prepared in the English countryside during the milking season, when milk was rather plentiful, and the hard work of farmers demanded a caloric surplus at home. Certainly, the recipe can be found from one country to another; it was perhaps brought and made popular in the United States thanks to Julia Child, who, however, prepared it as an English custard.
@Laurence Mouton
The following wine pairing has been done by Adele Granieri, regional coordinator of the Slow Wine guide for Campania: "The more delicate versions are very well matched with a Picolit, from dried and possibly botrytized grapes; it is a sweet wine with a marked freshness, which balances well the fatness of the cream. If the smokiness of the caramelized sugar crust is more pronounced, one can dare with oxidative wines that do not high in alcohol, such as in the case of Podere Pradarolo's Il Canto del Ciò."
GUY SAVOY’S CRÈME BRÛLÉE RECIPE
@Melina Hammer
Ingredients for 4 servings
9 yolks
100 g caster sugar
750 g cream
1 vanilla pod
10 g brown sugar
Method
Preheat the oven to 90 °C. In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the caster sugar. Pour the cream with the split vanilla pod into a saucepan and bring to a boil.
Strain the vanilla cream directly over the whipped yolks, stirring with a whisk. Now pour the mixture into small porcelain ramekins and bake for 50 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature.
Sprinkle a light layer of brown sugar on the cool surface and caramelize with a blowtorch.
