Earl Grey tea and bergamot crème brûlée
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RECETTES DE BORD
Earl Grey and bergamot crème brûlée
A smooth and silky cream, flavored with black tea and bergamot, topped with a thin layer of caramelized sugar.
Crème brûlée is particularly well suited to tea infusion.
The hot cream gently extracts the notes of black tea and bergamot, while the egg yolks provide the dense, melt-in-the-mouth texture characteristic of this dessert.
The challenge is mainly to find the right balance: enough tea so that it remains noticeable after cooking, without steeping it so long that it becomes too astringent.
Recipe at a glance
Serves 4 — Preparation: 20 min — Cooking: about 35 to 45 min — Chilling: minimum 4 h
Ingredients
- 50 cl whole milk cream
- 5 egg yolks
- 70 g caster sugar
- 6 to 8 g Earl Grey tea
- 1 small pinch of salt
- 4 to 6 teaspoons of brown sugar for caramelizing
For a more pronounced bergamot flavor, it is better to increase the amount of tea very slightly rather than significantly prolong the steeping time.
1. Infuse the Earl Grey in the cream
Pour the cream into a saucepan and heat gently until it just begins to simmer.
Remove from the heat immediately.
Add the Earl Grey tea, cover, and let steep for about 5 minutes.
Taste a small amount of the cream. The flavor should be clearly noticeable, but the cream should not become bitter.
Strain carefully.
do not press the leaves too hard against the sieve. A stronger extraction will not necessarily bring out more aromatic finesse.
2. Prepare the mixture
Preheat the oven to 150 °C.
In a bowl, mix the egg yolks with the sugar and pinch of salt.
There is no need to whisk vigorously: simply obtain a smooth mixture without incorporating too much air.
Gradually pour the still-warm Earl Grey cream over the yolks while mixing gently.
If a significant layer of foam appears on the surface, remove it with a spoon.
3. Cook gently in a water bath
Divide the mixture into four ramekins.
Place them in an ovenproof dish and then pour hot water around the ramekins up to about halfway.
Bake for 35 to 45 minutes.
The center should still be slightly wobbly when you gently shake the ramekin.
The cream will finish setting as it cools.
4. Let rest
Remove the ramekins from the water bath.
Let them return to room temperature, then place them in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.
You can perfectly well prepare the creams the day before.
5. Caramelize at the last moment
Just before serving, sprinkle each cream with a thin, even layer of brown sugar.
Caramelize with a culinary torch until the surface is golden and brittle.
Wait a minute before serving so that the caramel hardens.
How to achieve the perfect tea flavor
In this recipe, the tea should complement the cream, not overpower it.
A balanced Earl Grey first brings the structure of black tea, then the characteristic citrus notes of bergamot.
After cooking and cooling, the flavor is generally a little more subtle than at the time of steeping. This is why the infused cream may seem slightly more expressive before cooking than the result you are looking for on the plate.
The perfect pairing
A cold cream, a still-warm caramel
Serve the cream immediately after caramelizing the top. The contrast between the cold cream, the hot and crunchy surface, and the bergamot notes is a large part of the appeal of this recipe.
Can it be prepared without a culinary torch?
Yes. You can use the very hot oven grill, placing the cold ramekins as close as possible to the heating element for a very short time.
However, the result is generally easier to control with a culinary torch.
