flipCrème renversée au caramel
Crème renversée au caramel
Why this dish? A composer with refined taste and a lover of the pleasures of the table, Debussy lived in a Parisian bourgeoisie where crème renversée was the quintessential familiar entremets, found both at formal dinners and ordinary meals.
An egg custard baked in its caramelized mold, unmolded so that the amber caramel coats the trembling sweetness. The simplest and most beloved entremets of French tables.
There are things one does not discuss, and crème renversée is one: trembling, golden with its caramel, it has the sweetness of meal endings when one no longer feels like talking loudly. It was made at home without fuss, eggs, milk, a little burned sugar at the bottom of the mold. The secret, mind you: never rush it in the oven, gentle heat, almost a bath — otherwise it gets pitted with little holes, and a pitted custard is like a wrong note, it shows immediately.
- •Fresh eggs — a few (binding and structure)
- •Milk — a good bowlful (body of the custard)
- •Sugar — for the custard and caramel (sweetness and caramel)
- •Vanilla pod — one (flavor)
Crème renversée au caramel
An egg custard baked in its caramelized mold, unmolded so that the amber caramel coats the trembling sweetness. The simplest and most beloved entremets of French tables.
Why this dish? A composer with refined taste and a lover of the pleasures of the table, Debussy lived in a Parisian bourgeoisie where crème renversée was the quintessential familiar entremets, found both at formal dinners and ordinary meals.
There are things one does not discuss, and crème renversée is one: trembling, golden with its caramel, it has the sweetness of meal endings when one no longer feels like talking loudly. It was made at home without fuss, eggs, milk, a little burned sugar at the bottom of the mold. The secret, mind you: never rush it in the oven, gentle heat, almost a bath — otherwise it gets pitted with little holes, and a pitted custard is like a wrong note, it shows immediately.
Ingredients (period version)
- Fresh eggs — a few (binding and structure)
- Milk — a good bowlful (body of the custard)
- Sugar — for the custard and caramel (sweetness and caramel)
- Vanilla pod — one (flavor)
Ingredients
- Whole eggs — 4 (custard structure)
- Whole milk — 50 cl (base)
- Sugar (custard) — 80 g (sweetness)
- Sugar (caramel) — 80 g (bottom caramel)
- Vanilla pod — 1 (flavor)
Method
- Prepare a dry caramel (or with a splash of water), pour into the bottom of ramekins or a mold.
- Heat the milk with the split vanilla pod, let infuse.
- Beat the eggs with the sugar without making foam, pour the hot milk over them in a stream.
- Strain through a sieve, pour over the set caramel.
- Bake in a bain-marie at 150°C for about 40 minutes: the custard should be set but still trembling.
- Cool for several hours in the fridge, then unmold upside down onto a plate.
How it was made : Crème renversée (or crème au caramel) is a classic entremets of 19th-century bourgeois cuisine, baked in a bain-marie for a smooth texture. It was served cold, unmolded, the caramel forming a golden glaze — a dessert for everyday as well as formal dinners.
The contemporary twist : Unmold onto a black plate and let the caramel flow in irregular streams, like a musical staff from which the notes have escaped.
Claude Debussy · Charactorium