Bring a torch.

 

Happy new year, everyone! I hope you all had a great holiday with friends and family.

I love citrus. Every morning in college, I had half a grapefruit with breakfast. I wore a citrus perfume for a couple years. I love Meyer lemons (the scent of my favorite hand soap), lemon in savory dishes, and a fat wedge of lime in my G&T. When my family went to Matsuhisa last year, I was properly introduced to yuzu, a delightful East Asian citrus fruit that has all the tangy-yet-sweet-ness that makes the corners of your mouth turn up with a zing. So enthusiastic were we about the yuzu juice that we convinced our waiter to give us a little spoonful to take home for the seafood dinner we planned to cook the next night.

This year for my dad's Christmas present (conveniently, when the fruit is in season), we ordered fresh yuzu online. My parents love fresh seafood, so we knew the yuzu would be put to good use. The fruit itself was totally unexpected -- about the size and shape of a slightly bumpy orange, the bright yellow sphere was so fragrant that I figured it would be bursting with juicy segments of fruit. On the contrary, once we cut open the fruit, it looked shriveled and chock full of seeds. We fortunately had come across a recipe that mentioned this, otherwise we probably would have thrown the first one (and perhaps another) out. To extract every bit of flavor, we zested the rind, squeezed some of the halves, and pureed the flesh of others to press through a sieve to extract the essential pulp.

"What else can we make?" my mom asked, brainstorming diverse and festive ways to use our yuzu. We settled on crème brûlée, which was exciting both because we had never made any before, and because we would finally need to buy a torch(!). The torch took some hunting around town, but we eventually found one, and it was worth the search.

The result was exactly what we hoped for -- luxuriously creamy, slightly sweet but balanced, protected by a crystalline golden crust that made a satisfying tap tap tap when I broke the surface with my spoon. Brûlée first-timers, fear not! The recipe below was straightforward and successful. The perfect end to our Christmas dinner.

Tip: The torch flame will have two distinct blue "cones" (thanks, high school chemistry!) -- you want the very tip (HOT!) of the inner cone to reach the sugar surface for optimal caramelization.

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Yuzu Crème Brûlée
from Tartlette Blog


For the custard:
6 egg yolks
1/2 c sugar
2 c heavy cream
zest of 3 yuzu
puree and juice of 3 yuzu (about 1/3 c combined juice and puree)

For the sugar crust:
1/4-1/2 c granulated sugar

In a large bowl, whisk together egg yolks and sugar until pale and thick (3-5 min). Meanwhile, place the cream in a saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a simmer. Add the citrus mixture. It helps to have two people for this part: When the cream is hot (but not boiling), (person 1) slowly pour it over the reserved egg yolk mixture, (person 2) whisking constantly to prevent the yolks from curdling. Let cool to room temperature and refrigerate at least 4 hours, preferably overnight. (We were in a hurry and expedited the process by pouring the mixture into a flat glass dish to maximize cooling surface area, freezing the slightly cooled mixture for 30 min. before continuing to chill in the fridge for another hour or so.)

Preheat the oven to 350*F. Place six ramekins (depending on size) in a deep baking pan. Strain the mixture into a 3-4 cup measuring container (the spout makes pouring easier). Discard the yuzu. Pour into the ramekins until about 1/4-1/2" from the rim.

Place the baking pan in the oven and pour enough hot water to reach about halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake for about 20-25 min (longer if the ramekins are deeper, less time if they're shallow). Remove from the oven and let cool before removing the ramekins from the pan.

Refrigerate until completely cold. (Again, our freezer came in handy here.) When ready to serve, sprinkle each ramekin with 2-3 teaspoons of sugar and caramelize the tops with a blow torch.