Archive for January, 2012
Malt Brulee or to give it its full title, Malt Flavoured Crème Brûlée is a new dessert that is now a regular fixture on my small “Sweet Things I like” menu.
I love a good crème brûlée, and trust me, I have tried many! It´s essentially a rich custard with a crunchy caramel lid or topping. I love the smooth silky texture of the set custard and the sweet bitterness of the caramel.
The name Crème Brûlée is 100% French (though that does not mean it was invented in France, if you believe everything that you read it can either be British or Spanish in origin! :shock: ), in Spanish it can be called “Crema Quemada”, both translate to “Burnt Cream”.
It is similar to its culinary cousin “Crema Catalana”, which is sometimes incorrectly referred to the Spanish version of crème brûlée, when in fact it is a different dessert, flavoured differently and cooked differently. The similarity lies in the texture of the custard and the burnt sugar topping, which is achieved by using a hot iron for the crema catalana and a grill or blowtorch in the case of the crème brûlée.
Commonly the dessert is flavoured with vanilla, however it can also be found on menus flavoured with coffee, chocolate, mango, orange, jasmine etc…
Why malt?
The reason I choose malt is because I was very impressed with a dessert that I had at the vegetarian restaurant Vanilla Black in London during a visit in November 2011. On their menu was an “Iced Malt and Burnt Orange Marshmallow with Muscovado Sugar Meringue and Parsnip Purée”. It was the “Iced Malt” that got my attention. It was lovely! 
My brother King who used to work there managed to get hold of the recipe for me, one of the key ingredients was malt extract (obviously!).
Its not easy trying to track down some ingredients in the countryside of Spain, so after a while I gave up and filed the idea in my head.
Then on a recent trip to Belgium and after ordering a crème brûlée in every restaurant I ate in (yep! lunch and dinner!) and seeing and tasting the difference in textures and flavours between different restaurant versions, my mind was made up… I wanted to have a version on my menu, the way I like it, so I could share it with my clients.
I knew then that I wanted to make a malt crème brûlée.
With that idea in mind I visited a few health shops thinking that it would be easier to find malt extract in a large city. Boy was I wrong. 
Then it hit me! Actually it hit me over a few beers 
. There is no doubt that the best beers in the world are from Belgium!! It was over a discussion about the many different beers (all 1100 of them!) and how I used to brew my own that I realised that I knew exactly where to get hold of malt extract. I had some at home. I always had!!!
Once back in Spain I set about trying to make my “Malt Brulee” (no need for accents in my version!). After a few trials and errors I finally came up with a recipe that I liked.
This is a seriously rich dessert, loads of sugar, egg yolks and cream! But hey!, Sometimes you should spoil yourself. I know I do! 
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Malt Brulee
Ingredients:
- 300g Dried Malt Extract
- 125g Milk
- 1 litre cream (at least 35% fat, in Spanish its called “Nata para Montar”)
- 2tsp good quality Vanilla Extract (or use 1 Vanilla Bean if you can get it)
- 150g Egg Yolks (from about 8 eggs)
- 120g Granulated Sugar
- Brown Sugar for topping
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Method:
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I use Extra Dark Spray Malt from my stout making days. This dark malt extract adds a nice caramel colour to the finished dessert, using a light spray malt will result in a lighter, golden coloured dessert which is equally nice.
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I use 8cm diameter small ramekin style bowls that hold about 50-60 grams, this recipe is enough for about 18 to 20 of these bowls. These are placed in a baking tray that will allow you to add hot water, otherwise known as a “bain marie”.
Set the oven to 120ºC. In a large pan bring to the boil about 4-5 litres of tap water.
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In a saucepan add the malt extract and the milk.
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Give it a good stir. Dried malt extract has a tendency to clump up when liquid is added to it, stirring it now will reduce the amount of clumps when the cream is added.
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Add the cream slowly, stirring constantly. Place the pan on a low flame and allow to come to a simmer, make sure you don´t let it boil. The low flame is necessary, you don’t want to scorch or burn the mixture. If you are using a vanilla bean you can split it in half, scrape out the seeds and place everything in the mixture now.