Confit Byaldi from Ratatouille

Movie Inspired Meals

Classic Créme Brulee from No Reservations

No Reservations
In No Reservations, Kate Armstrong (Catherine Zeta-Jones) is ferociously content in her unbalanced life as an exacting master chef. When her life is thrown topsy-turvy after her sister is killed and she inherits her 9-year-old niece, Kate is forced to function outside her well-controlled kitchen. Her boss seems to think Kate needs help as well, and hires Nick (Aaron Eckhart), a fun-loving, opera singing chef whose Italian cooking is as chaotic as Kate’s cuisine is disciplined. Kate immediately sees Nick as a threat, creating some delicious tension, but shortly realizes that he has something to offer her kitchen and her new family.

The plot is filled with mouth-watering glimpses of stunningly executed dishes and stomach-rumbling food talk. With meals like quail in white truffle sauce, perfectly seared fois gras with sautéed apples and sea bass with Serrano-basil vinaigrette, food plays a dramatic starring role. Both Zeta-Jones and Eckhart took extensive culinary training to execute their characters, and look perfectly garnishing plates and slicing truffles.

This classic crème brulee is a perfect example of how, as Kate says, “precision is the most important ingredient in the kitchen.” It requires just barely bringing the milk to a boil, then reducing the heat before it scalds, tempering the eggs with the hot cream and then skillfully torching the top with sugar to produce a thin, crackling crust of burnt sugar. Little wonder it was a favorite creation of Chef Kate’s.

Classic Créme Brulee

Ingredients:

Creme Brulee
  • 4 ½ cups heavy cream
  • 1 whole vanilla bean, split
  • 6 egg yolks
  • 1/3 cup granulated white sugar
  • 6 Tablespoons turbinado sugar (to caramelize the crème brulee tops)

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 325°. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, bring the cream and vanilla bean to a gentle boil. Remove from heat and allow the vanilla bean to infuse with the cream for about 3 minutes.
  2. In a standing mixer, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until light and creamy. Remove vanilla bean from cream. Slowly pour the cream into the egg and sugar mixture, blending well.
  3. Divide cream mixture into 6 8-ounce ramekins. Place ramekins in a pan and carefully fill the pan with warm water, until it reaches halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake custards until set around the edges, but still loose in the center, about 30 to 40 minutes. Remove from oven and leave in the water bath until cooled. Remove cups from water bath and chill for at least 2 hours, or up to 2 days.
  4. When ready to serve, sprinkle one tablespoon of sugar over each custard. Melt the sugar with a small hand-held torch or place under broiler. Re-chill custards for a few minutes before serving.

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