Fail: Chocolate Pot de Creme The Balthazar Cookbook

I love Balthazar Restaurant in New York, every time I have been I inevitably run into some working there who I worked with in the 1990s in San Francisco.  So they treat me nice, I like the space and while the food is not mind blowing it is typically consistently good.  So several years ago I bought their cookbook when it came out and it has sat on my shelves collecting dust ever since.

Yesterday I had a lunch for some friends so I decided to make Chocolate Pot de Creme, who doesn't love this dish?  It also happens that I found these really cute ramekin/pots over the weekend and wanted to use them.


One of the nice things about Pot de Creme is that it usually needs to be made the day before so it can set up / cool in the fridge.  This gave me the opportunity to test it out before I served it, and am I glad I did.


As I get further into this blog what I am finding is that someone has written and critiqued just about every recipe out there. I am often tempted to read comments, suggestions, tips, etc, but more than often don't so I am not swayed to correct any problems in advance.


I went to the market and bought the products to make these little guys.  I was very careful to follow all of the instructions closely, as a kid my sister worked in a small chocolate shop so I knew how tempering was such an issue. I was very VERY careful to slowly introduce the hot chocolate creme to the egg yolks so they would not cook.

I filled the pots carefully and then I put them into my version of a bain marie which was nothing more than a roasting pot filled with water covered with aluminium foil.  Now, what does this mean?  Well it means that you cannot look at them without taking the foil off, which means that the cooking process suddenly ends and restarting can be a bummer.  So I made sure the oven was at 250F with both the oven control and a separate thermometer.  I also had two timers set so it would cook the exact prescribed time, 1 hour 15 minutes.

At the exact time I took them out of the oven, removed the foil and alas they were wet and runny like water.  Not what they should have looked like according to the recipe.  So I had seen somewhere that when you take them out they are not set, that they have to cool so I let them come down to room temperature and then placed them in the fridge, 4 hours later I had cold chocolate creamy water!


So, I stated all over, but after reading other peoples comments on line, and looking at many different recipes, I decided to crank up the oven to 350F and added an extra 1/2 hour of cooking time.  And voila, this time they were perfect.

Everyone enjoyed them and they set up perfectly.  On both occasions I got to lick the spatula after I was done filling the pots and the taste and texture reminded me of fabulous chocolate pudding from my childhood.  So all in all the ingredients worked for this recipe but the cooking time and temperature are suspect.


INGREDIENTS for 6

1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
8 ounces Valrhona semisweet chocolate, coursely chopped (I used 1/2 Valrhona and 1/2 Sharffen Berger 70% chocolate)
6 large egg yolks

METHOD
Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.

In a medium saucepan, combine the cream, milk, sugar and vanilla.  Whisk to combine and bring to a boil over a medium heat.  Add the chopped chocolate and whisk until melted.  Remove from heat.

In a medium bowl, lightly beat the eggs yolks.  In a slow steady stream, add the chocolate-cream mixture, whisking until smooth.  Divide the mixture among 6 ramekins, small custard bowls, or espresso cups (about 6 ounces each) and place them in a large casserole or high-sided baking dish.

Make a bain-marie (or water bath), by pouring cold water into the casserole so that it comes halfway up the sides of the ramekins or custard bowls.  Cover tightly with foil and bake on the center rack for 1 hour and 15 minutes.  The custards shouls jiggle slightly in the center when finished.

Let cool to room temperature then place in the regrigerator.  Serve cool.

FAILURE!

Fail: Meyer Lemon Sorbet Elise at Simply Recipes dot com

I am an avid reader of David Lebovitz for those of you who do not know him, check him out.  He has a fun blog and a great writing style, not to mention he is a great pastry chef.  He recently wrote about Meyer Lemons and although I had heard part of the story I must admit I did not know all of it.  I was told that they were a hybrid between an orange and a lemon, but not all the rest.  For the rest of the story and a wonderful recipe for Lemon Curd click here, Link to DL Curd 


We have three dwarf Meyer Lemon trees at the house in California and neighbors with lots more.  So I am always either picking them from our trees or having them left on more door in hopes of returned treats.  I have made other things but I LOVE MEYER LEMON SORBET!  So I make it when I can.  

Basically you make lemonade and then freeze it.  I have a KitchenAid mixer with the ice cream attachment, which could not make ice cream and sorbet marking easier.  

You pick the lemons, then lots of zesting and then lots of juicing, which I do by hand first with a zester then with a reamer and a strainer.  

It is a messy job so I would suggest doing this over a sink with lots of towels nearby for spilling.  Wear gloves if you are making a lot, as the lemon juice will burn after a while.  I have enough here to make about 6 pint sized containers of sorbet, about 2 liters of juice.
So after about an hour and probably close to about 40 small to midsized lemons I had a mess, some juice (about 2 liters) and some zest.  

But the house smelled great and they do make pretty pictures.


Now I had more than I needed but with a vision.  I first made the recipe as written knowing that it would be too sweet for my taste.  The nice thing about making this recipe is you actually can taste it before the freezing, so you know what you are gonna get.  Most of the recipes I have seen for this call for 1 to 1 ratio of Simple Syrup to Lemon Juice.  I think that is WAY TO SWEET!  I like my lemon sorbet with a bit of lemon tartness.  So the first batch I made 1 to 1 and gave it to neighbors, who loved it.  The second batch I made 1 liter of lemon juice to 3/4 liter of Simple Syrup.  In both cases I added the accurate called for amount of lemon zest, which I think adds a nice punch to it.  

So really this recipe as written could be a success for some, if you like your lemonade sweet.  If you are like me and enjoy bitter things (let the comments fly) then I would say this recipe is a kind of fail with a slight correction for taste.  

Using 2 liters of juice and 1.5 liters of simple syrup will create 6 pints of sorbet.  The mixer's freezing bowl needs to freeze between batches so you make enough for 3 pints (1 liter juice to 3/4 liter syrup and zest) and then make the second later after the bowl freezes again.  After the mixer is done (the exterior condensation ice line will melt to the top of where the sorbet begins) you will need to put the pints of sorbet in your freezer to finish it off as they will be slushy not frozen all the way. I put a layer of plastic wrap touching the sorbet in each pint before I put the lid on it and place it in the freezer.  

Meyer Lemon Sorbet Recipe

INGREDIENTS

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

1 cup freshly squeezed juice from meyer lemons (about 3-4 lemons)

2 teaspoons fine lemon zest

METHOD

1 In a small saucepan on medium high heat, make a simple syrup by heating sugar and water until the sugar has completely dissolved. Remove from heat and let cool. Mix in the lemon juice and zest. Chill, either in the refrigerator, or by placing in a metal bowl over an ice bath.

2 Once the mixture has thoroughly chilled, freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. If you don't have an ice cream maker, you can pour the mixture into a shallow pan and freeze in your freezer until semi-solid. Then take a fork and fluff it up, returning it the the freezer to freeze firm. Then put in a food-processor or blender to process until smooth.

Place sorbet in an airtight container and freeze until ready to serve.

3 Scoop out preferably with a melon-baller. Garnish with mint. Makes 2 1/2 cups.

FAILURE! 

Failure: Crispy and Creamy New Potato Pie by Tyler Florence

After my earlier success I was so excited to try something of Tyler's again.  I watched him make a New Potato Pie on TV that looked so good I decided to make it for our lunch today.

Here is the link to the video: http://www.foodnetwork.com/videos/crispy-and-creamy-new-potato-pie/45104.html

And here is the written recipe from the Food TV Webpage


Ingredients

• 2 pounds potatoes, washed and halved
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tablespoon freshly grated horseradish (or prepared)
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup chives, chopped
• Kosher saltand freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Wash and boil potatoes in salty water with bay leaf until fork tender. Drain potatoes and mash along with horseradish, sour cream, and chives. Season with salt and pepper.

Put mixture into a 10-inch skillet with 1 tablespoon olive oil and bake until golden and crispy. To serve, invert onto a plate and cut into pieces.

I followed the written instructions to the T and the result was a total failure....

The pie's crispy top stuck solidly to the pan and the potatoes were dry and limp.  I even tried scrapping the bottom of the pan but as we speak it is soaking in the sink... 


In the video he clearly puts the pan on the fire and presses down firm.  I am not sure if that was the step, which they obviously left off the written or if it was something else they left out.  The potatoes themselves were very dry all the way around.  He also didn't specify how much time in the over other than golden and crispy... If the bottom is what he means, well you can not see it until you take it out of the pan.  needless to say, no potato pie for lunch today :(

FAILURE!