Ginger Beer Crème Brulee

3:55 am on 27 January 2009

Author of a Pinch of Salt (HarperCollins Publishers) www.pauljobin.co.nz

Serves 7 Chinese tea cups

1 375 ml bottle Ginger Beer (recommends Bundaberg Ginger Beer)
1 knob fresh ginger, peeled and grated
¼ cup raw sugar

In a saucepan, place the ginger beer, grated ginger and raw sugar, reduce down to a ¼ cup of syrup, approximately 10 minutes.

Put aside.

1 cup cream
1 cup milk
½ vanilla bean, split down the middle and chopped
5 egg yolks
¼ raw sugar
½ teaspoon table salt
7 tablespoons caster sugar

In a saucepan, place in the cream, milk and vanilla, bring to a near boil.

Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, lightly cream the egg yolks and raw sugar.

Whisk the cream liquid into the egg mixture then this mixture whisked into the ginger beer syrup. Try not over whisk and aerate.

Add the salt.

Pre-heat the oven to 140°C and boil the kettle!

Place the tea cups into a deep roasting dish lined with a tea towel.

Pull the oven rack out, place the roasting tray on the rack and fill the cups to the top

Pour in boiling water to halfway up the sides of the cups and bake for 50 minutes.

Once baked, remove crème brûlées from the dish; place into the refrigerator to set (up to six hours is good).

To serve, sprinkle the surface of each brûlée evenly with 1 tablespoon of castor sugar and caramelise with a blow torch. Serve with biscotti.

Tyson Stelzer, author of Taste Food & Wine 2008, winner of the Award for Best Food and Wine Writing in The Australian Food Media Awards 2008.

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