You didn’t witness, and most of all didn’t try, my first two attempts but one of my friends did, and I really have no idea how she was still happy to try attempt number 3!
The first 2 were absolutely horrible, they didn’t set, they were gluey, awfully gluey!!!
So I gave up, I looked at my Jamie Oliver calendar, stuck on my fridge, and March gave me the answer I was seeking for a long time!
He calls it ‘Cambridge Burnt Cream‘ and this time I will tell you that I didn’t change anything from the original recipe! Ok, ok one tiny detail but that’s it!
So I’m just sharing an existing recipe that, finally, worked fine! Come on, he probably learned it from someone else too…don’t you think?! This time no additional attempt from my side, I called the expert!
Ingredients:
150 ml Double Cream
250 ml Milk
1 Vanilla pod
3 Egg Yolks
40 gr Sugar
Plus a few spoons of Brown sugar for the topping…ah this is my valuable detail!!!
The recipe is actually pretty simple, so I cannot understand why all the ones I tried before were so terribly complicated…anyway I’ll try to make it even simpler.
Put the milk, the double cream and the split and scraped vanilla pod in a pot on a low heat until warm.
Beat the egg yolks with the sugar and add the warm milk-cream mixture to the mix, removing the pod.
Mix together and pour it into 6-8 small ovenproof cups.
The only tricky part of the recipe is technical as you need to put the cups inside a tall baking tray filled with warm water – the water should reach halfway up the sides of the cups Jamie says!
When you are ready, slowly put your baking tray into a preheated oven – 150°C – for 30-40 mins.
Do not expect the cream to get completely hard, it will get firm but definitely not hard, so be brave and take it out of the oven when it starts to reach a good colour and be very, very careful with that incredibly hot water!
Leave the cups to cool down and before serving, add the brown sugar on top and grill the sugar under a hot grill…unless you are incredibly professional and you have the little cooking flame tool – I don’t.
When it caramelises you are done! Finally, for me, because it was simple but incredibly painful until now!
Delicious too!
I’m not sure this recipe is listed in any of his books – it probably is but I have no idea where – so I hope you can enjoy my less detailed version and ‘buon appetito‘!
mmmmmmmmmmhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!