I had high hopes for this weeks selection of “Four Star” Chocolate Bread Pudding (brought to us by Lauren of Upper East Side Chronicle) but alas, my hopes were dashed along soggy rocks of toooo stale brioche.  

One thing to note, this is a ridiculously easy recipe to make so if at first you don’t succeed try, try again. That said, this first attempt didn’t really work for me, but yet again I think the inedible result was due to user error rather than recipe architect. My brioche was too stale. Yes, you too can make brioche at home WITHOUT a standing mixer. One of these years I’ll have to post some advice about that enterprise among other things. My bread was at least a week old *gasp* and not kept very well so it really tasted stale. The stale taste didn’t go away after baking. So, I ended up with something that tasted like stale brioche that had been doused in chocolate milk and allowed to solidify…seriously unappetizing…at least for my tastes.

Some signposts for those of you who are thinking about trying this one…I’d go with fresh bread that was stale-ized in the oven for 10 minutes at 350, as Dorie suggests, if perfectly stale bread isn’t to be had. I think I may have used a wee too much bread as well. It’s not like I added a huge amount extra, but my suggestion is to just follow the recipe. Also go with a nice strong dark chocolate, probably at least 70% cocoa. Being the sugar freak I am, I decided to mix bittersweet with a bit of milk and it just didn’t end up with a good chocolate flavor. I used a round pan which was fine. After being in the fridge it was solid enough for me to actual make cutouts which is how I was able to do the plating you see in the picture above. I’m not sure if it’s meant to get that solid, but mine did! Here it is ready to go in the oven:

I should have really titled this, “Everything you ever wanted to know about creme anglaise but were afraid to ask.” This week’s challenge was selected by Shari of Whisk: a food blog. Floating islands. I remember coming across a recipe for these a while ago and wanting to make them but of course I never did. Thanks to TWD I finally got to do it.

What the heck is a floating island? No, this isn’t some time-jaunting funhouse of disturbia, or part of the 50th state in the union. We’re talking about a little cloud of sweet meringue floating in a pool of creme anglaise.  

The verdict: I’d say a winner. It isn’t a dessert, at least as written, to write home about. However, when you’re looking for something light and fairly easy to make this certainly fits the bill.

Reading the comments that TWDers left helped when it came time for me to attempt this. For example Steph from a whisk and a spoon suggested poaching the meringues before making the creme anglaise. If you do it this way, you don’t have to waste the milk from the poached meringues. I strained the milk after poaching (due to small bits of meringue sometimes breaking for it when I try to fish them out, and also some skin that developed on the milk) and just added some more to bring it up to the two full cups I needed for the creme anglaise recipe.

I’ve made both creme anglaise and creme patisserie (pastry cream) before. Thankfully I didn’t run into the problems that some TWDers had when making the creme anglaise. I think part of the reason for this is because I wasn’t trying to reach a particular temperature, but rather a particular consistency. I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s start at the beginning of how I approached this.

I think custards of any type can be tricky but according to this article titled, “Custards Last Stand” at ChefTalk, creme anglaise is one of the trickiest. Not only creme anglaise, but also creme patisserie (known also as pastry cream) and creme brulee are all discussed in detail. According to the article, the tricky thing about creme anglaise is thickening the creme without curdling. Unlike creme anglaise, pastry cream contains cornstarch. The cornstarch’s roll is to thicken and protect against curdling, enabling the pastry cream to be boiled. Without this cornstarch, creme anglaise must be slowly cooked on a low heat until it reaches the proper consistency. (If you’re interested in a recipe for pastry cream as well as a photo essay of the technique check out Joe Pastry and his How to Make Pastry Cream posts.)

I’m stating this as, “the proper consistency” since I’ve read conflicting reports regarding an exact temperature to look for when cooking this custard. According to our fearless leader, Dorie, her recipe calls for the mixture to reach 180°F. The article at ChefTalk says to look for a temperature between 170-175°F, with 180°F being the temperature at which the creme curdles. Taking into account the trouble many of the TWDers who had trouble reaching the 180°F mark without curdling I’d have to say to ignore the temperature and just look for the consistency. If you work as a pastry chef maybe you look for the exact temp when working your magic, but I think those of us at home can just look for the consistency. (If any pastry chefs happen to read this (yeah, like you need to be reading my little blog), I would love to hear how the professionals approach creme anglaise.)

“What’s all this consistency crap she keeps harping about?” you ask. I’m talking about getting a feel and an eye for the creme itself while you’re cooking it. What you’re looking for is a thickening in consistency while you’re stirring. In the end, you’re looking for a consistency that coats a spoon and holds a line well. What do I mean by that? Check out this awesome video from Epicurious:

Remember this is creme anglaise, not pastry cream. It’s supposed to be more of a sauce, something you pour over rather than stuff pastry. Be prepared to take your time because cooking this properly takes a while. If you try to rush it along it will curdle. I ran into just a touch of curdling because I tend towards the impatient kind and kicked the heat up a notch. If you do have some curdling just make sure you run the creme through a sieve, but then again you should do that no matter what.

One thing I do highly recommend is using a real vanilla bean whenever making a custard that calls for vanilla. It really makes a big difference. There’s not too much of an excuse in not using them since there are online suppliers that sell them so cheap that Spice Islands should be in jail for the price they charge in the grocery store. I personally buy mine from Vanilla, Saffron Imports. They have the best price per bean I’ve been able to find. (If someone has a cheaper place let me know.) In all disclosure they aren’t particularly good at answering emails, as I asked a question before ordering that was never answered. I decided to order anyway. I can’t complain because I got a crazy amount of beans for less than thirty dollars. They ship quick and with a great price per bean. You can’t ask for much more than that.

I think the vanilla bean was the only real change in ingredients for me. I used to make creme anglaise with a mixture of milk and heavy cream, but this time I followed Dorie’s recipe and used all milk. This is by far the best creme anglaise I’ve ever made. It was perfect really. I’m not sure if it was due to using milk, or the brand of milk. I try to only use organic milk in general. I buy whatever is on sale or whatever I have a coupon for, in this case it was Stonyfield Farm. Maybe brand makes a difference too because this creme anglaise was really amazing. (Also, I let the milk and the vanilla bean simmer on low heat for about 10 minutes. Don’t forget to fish out the vanilla bean, but don’t throw it away. Leave it to dry for a week or so, then use it to make vanilla sugar. Or make your own vanilla extract.)

The rest of the recipe came out fine although I did have some trouble making nice drips of caramel across the islands. I ended up with a nest on top of one of them as you can see from some of the pictures. If you’re curious about the difficulty of making shapes, it’s super easy. I used a cookie cutter to cut the shape out of the poached meringue. Then I cut some squares with a knife. It couldn’t be simpler.

In the future I’d like to try and flavor the meringue a bit. I came across some pictures in an internet search of hazelnut and chocolate islands. I think a little creativity in the flavor of the meringue will probably put this dessert over the top of just good to wonderful.

Here’s some pictures of my process:

This week is brought to us by Donna of Spatulas, Corkscrews & Suitcases. I hate to state this so bluntly, but I’m afraid this was a big loser for me. I could not eat this…period. My Mom loved it though, so I guess it’s a wash. I still ended up spending $5 on a munchkin-sized bottle of scotch just so I could make this recipe. I think the foundation of the recipe was fine (if you were making a custard and not a pudding but more on that in a bit) but the liquor I chose was abysmal. I had no idea what to pick. I have a feeling that this probably would have tasted fine with a different liquor, but I was limited to the selection of tiny bottles up at the front of the counter that my local liquor store had in stock. If it wasn’t in a little bottle, well, tough luck. I’m not spending $20+ on a bottle of liquor for a recipe that I’m not sure I’ll ever make again. I got the cheapest “scotch” that was available and it was a blend – they were all blends, so I figured I’d go cheap. Despite the gah! factor, I’m glad I only spent five bucks on the booze.  

Seeing as I STILL do NOT own a food processor, I used my trusted friend, the blender. There was a lot of discussion as to the food processor method on the TWD site and I think I’ll be doing things by hand in the future…at least until I get a food processor. I agree with Margot of Effort to Deliciousness, that the food processor/blender method seems a bit cumbersome. Madam Chow said that this method is supposed to produce a silkier texture but I didn’t end up with those kind of results unfortunately. Regardless of the crap flavor I got from my scotch selection, this still didn’t hit me as a pudding. It came out more as a custard for me, and a heavy one at that. While a custard like this can be rather tasty, it just didn’t seem right, if ya know what I mean.

Something did seem right for my Mom though because she gobbled it all up (hence the empty pudding cup pic)! Yet again, maybe it’s just me and my taste buds with the problem

Last edited on January 24, 2009

You know how I promised that I would be on time with the challenge this week, well…some unexpected circumstances prevented me from keeping my promise. I don’t know how many of you have seen Grindhouse, but in the Quentin Tarantino “Death Proof” portion of the double feature I find myself completely understanding Zoë Bell’s logic that when she promised to never play Ship’s Mast again, if she had realized she was going to get the opportunity to play it with a Vanishing Point Challenger she would have added a “however”. It’s a slightly convoluted story, but if you’ve seen the movie you’ll know what I’m talking about. Basically, I didn’t realize I was going to be knocked on my tush by what I think is a cold, I don’t think it’s the flu but it’s not far off. By the way, if you like B-movies and the like you’ll love Grindhouse. If you can’t handle lots of swearing, some hilarious, gratuitous gore, and a heaping spoonful of violence then this flick isn’t for you. That’s right, steer the kids away from this one. If you are into camp horror films then this will probably be right up your alley. I’m not usually a horror/B-movie buff, but I do love Quentin Tarantino films, but really I’m all over the place. I still think my favorite film is Amélie though. That or The Big Lebowski. I never get tired of that film, but I digress.

Despite getting a cold I did make the TWD challenge this week. I managed to take a picture of it too before I dropped my camera on the floor (a hair-raising tale for another time, but the short version is that I fixed it, whew!). Arborio Rice Pudding – that’s right rice pudding. Never a favorite of mine, but another happy surprise. This was brought to us by Isabelle from Les gourmandises d’Isa. I decided to do the gelatin and mold version using a couple of different sized pudding cups I had hanging around. I had some trouble getting the pudding out of the cups in one piece. A knife slid along the side came in handy, but it was still difficult to tap the pudding out. Both sugared and non-sugared pomegranate seeds added a splash of color and a sweet/tart kick.  

The chocolate was definitely a favorite. Although I think the cooking spray I used to coat the cups left a bit of an aftertaste that was still present with the Vanilla and not the Chocolate. Not sure why because I never noticed a problem with  the spray before. I’m not sure how often I’ll make this only because my Mom can’t stand rice pudding of any kind. It’s something about the texture. Since I can only eat so much of any one thing no matter how good it is, we’ll see when I’ll get around to making this again. I did like it quite a bit though, so if you’re partial to rice pudding give this one a try!

PS: This is actually being posted in December because of a lot of reasons that I hope will be forthcoming. Please don’t hate me.