Sous Vide Triple Ginger Crème Brûlée

Ginger is one of my favorite spices, so naturally this recipe is one that I use often. Follow the recipe below, and read these notes for the perfect finished product: It's important to use fresh finger while heating the cream. Whisk ground ginger into the egg yolks and sugar, then stir the crystallized product into each individual crème brûlée as the final step before cooking. The trick with any crème brûlée is to keep the yolks from scrambling. After heating the milk, let it cool slightly. When you are ready to whisk the milk into the yolks, temper the yolks by drizzling about ¼ cup of the milk into yolks, raising the temperature just a bit so the warm milk is not such a shock. Slowly add the cream to the yolks in a steady drizzle, all the while, whisking, never stopping. Whisk a final minute or so after all the cream is incorporated. Strain the custard (that is what you now have: yolks and cream and sugar are custard) through a fine mesh sieve, then pour the custard into the waiting ramekins or jam jars. Be sure to keep an eye on the jars and don’t let any water get into the cooking custards. Now that these notes are out of the way - follow the recipe and enjoy!

Author

Barbara Freda

I grew up in a cooking family and after getting a degree in Spanish and Anthropology, realized what I really wanted to do was to go to culinary school. After working in a NYC bank for a few years, I managed to get to culinary school and got my first jobs in NYC kitchens, including a long stint at Union Square Cafe in its earliest years. After (sadly) leaving NYC, I realized I needed to step away from the 80-hour work weeks, so I left the heat of the kitchen for the cool of the computer keyboard: I started writing about food, the business of food, and technology in the food industry, as well as teaching cooking classes. Recipe development remains one of my top loves, and the opportunity to develop recipes for Anova has been fun every step of the way.

Prep Time: 00:25

Recipe Time: 00:45

Temperature : 179.6F / 82C

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups heavy cream
• ½ cup whole milk
• 1 ½ inches fresh ginger, peeled and sliced into thin rounds
• 5 large egg yolks, at room temperature
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger
• 4 teaspoons finely chopped crystallized ginger
• 2 tablespoons turbindado (raw) sugar, for serving

Directions

1. Set the Anova Sous Vide Precision Cooker to 179ºF (82ºC).
2. Place a rack in the water bath. Make sure the rack can hold 4 ramekins or jam jars.
3. Place the cream, milk, and fresh ginger in a medium saucepan over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat and let steep for 15 minutes.
4. While the cream steeps, whisk together the yolks, sugar, vanilla, and ground ginger until light yellow and thick.
5. Strain the warm cream mixture through a fine-mesh strainer, discarding the fresh ginger. While whisking constantly, slowly drizzle 1/4 cup cream mixture into the yolks. Once warm cream is fully incorporated, continue to whisk in cream mixture.
6. Strain egg yolk and cream mixture through the fine-mesh strainer into a large bowl or measuring cup to remove any lumps. Divide the custard evenly between 4 ramekins or jam jars. Stir 1 teaspoon crystallized ginger into each filled ramekin.
7. Wrap each ramekin tightly with plastic wrap or seal each jar with a lid. Carefully place the jars onto the rack in the water bath. The water should reach at least halfway up each jar, but not so high that the jars are in danger of floating.
8. Set the timer for 45 minutes. If the custards do not look set after 45 minutes, continue to cook for an additional 15 minutes.
9. Carefully remove the ramekins from the cooking liquid and cool for 20 minutes at room temperature. Transfer to the refrigerator and let chill overnight.

Finishing Steps

1. To finish, remove the plastic wrap or lids and sprinkle ½ tablespoon turbinado sugar over each custard. Brown the sugar with a kitchen blowtorch or under the broiler until the sugar is dark golden brown and bubbling. Let set for 5 minutes, and serve. (Note: A blowtorch works much better that the broiler, especially if you cook your custards in deep jam jars as I did.)