One hour to go before this becomes Wednesday with Dorie, so here goes.This week's Tuesdays With Dorie assignment was creme brulee -- one of my all-time favorites. Only I've never tried to make it without a water bath before, so when Dorie's recipe said to just put it on a baking sheet, I was skeptical.
TOO skeptical.
I put it in a water bath anyway, and wondered how it would be different.
The difference is -- in a water bath, it takes a hell of a lot longer.
So after doubling the cooking time, increasing the temperature from 200 degrees to 300 degrees and cooking it another twenty minutes (until it was actually BUBBLING), I took it out and stuck it in the refrigerator.
The next evening, we took them out and brulee'd.
We cracked through the brulee (one of my favorite sounds EVER) and discovered that even after 100 freaking minutes in the oven, the custard had not set.
And it really didn't taste that great. In spite of the addition of cardamom (see, I TOLD you I was going to use it in everything from here on out) and orange zest.
I learned my lesson. Trust Dorie. (But I still wonder if the 200 degree cooking temperature was a typo.)
