Meyer Lemon and Ginger Crème Brûlée

Meyer Lemon and Ginger Crème Brûlée
 
Recipe from Ripe for Dessert by David Lebovitz
Notes: As a dessert for dinner for six, I made this creme brulee using Meyer Lemons that I bought at The Big Carrot. I love their intoxicating perfume with its hint of tangerine. This recipe calls for slicing the ginger and steeping it for an hour. After baking the custards, they came out looking shrivelled and curdled. This might have been the loose-fitting foil cover I applied that might have prevented them from drying out. Anyway, we had J, a 13 year-old fire-fanatic help us out with the torching. The custards had an uneven top, so we had to be diligent about sprinkling an even layer of sugar.

In the end, I felt these were a disappointment. The ginger flavour was just right: present, but not overwhelming. Unfortunately, the lemon was in the shadows. Worse, the custard wasn't silky and creamy. I attributed that to one of two things: the ginger curdling the cream, or the use of 18% cream. Other recipes typically call for 35% whipping cream. Oh well.

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