Gregory Ladner summer cookbook recipe: Creme brulee with candied rhubarb
More than 30 years ago, I gave a formal sit-down dinner party for 30 people. Dessert was the piece de resistance, individual creme brulees with candied rhubarb.
Every day this summer, we’ll publish an exclusive recipe from a favourite Australian author, dishes made with affection for family, friends or someone special.
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I still wonder how I did it. More than 30 years ago – with little money, help or modern technology – I gave a formal sit-down dinner party for 30 people for my now husband’s 30th birthday.
In those days, Mark and I lived in a beautiful three-storey Victorian terrace above the meeting rooms of The Royal Philatelic Society in South Yarra. I had a set of keys to their kitchen – although they were unaware of the fact – which gave me two old-fashioned Kookaburra ovens, whose temperature control depended on the angle of the chair that kept the oven shut.
For help, I called on my former fashion lecturer and second mum, Margaret. My friend Daphne was also on hand. The menu was quite ambitious. Entree of French-styled curried scallops served in a pastry painstakingly styled to look like fish scales. Main course of quail stuffed with pomegranate couscous with little vegetable terrines. Dessert was the piece de resistance, individual creme brulees with candied rhubarb.
Now, not only was this in the days before gay marriage, it was also in the days before the little gourmet blow torch. At least, that invention wasn’t the common kitchen drawer must-have of today – you couldn’t pop down to David Jones for one – so I went to a builder’s hire yard and left with an industrial version. It was bulky and weighed a tonne. More army surplus than kitchenware.
The first two courses went off without a hitch with Margaret helping me plate and Daphne helping me serve. Then came the dessert. I set out 30 little ramekins edge to edge on the kitchen table. The custards had set to a perfect wobble. To serve, I evenly sprinkled caster sugar, trying to keep it a consistent level.
I picked up the army-surplus flamethrower and turned it on. It hissed and spat furiously. I lit a match which promptly went out, as did matches two and three. Match four lit. It ignited the gas which exploded with a big bang and quadrupled the wattage of the usually dimly lit kitchen. Margaret shrieked. Daphne fled, worried that the silk chiffon ocelot dress I had made her for the party would go up in flames.
I remained calm, adjusted the nozzle to achieve a concentrated flow, stood back and bruleed away until I had a glorious shade of burnt gold and bronze. I stood back and allowed the brulees a few minutes to cool down. Daphne gingerly returned to help serve, and the guests remained unaware of the shenanigans that had transpired minutes before and how close the brulee had come to needing the fire brigade and an evacuation slide.
The room quietened as 30 dinner guests cracked 30 toffee tops. It was the perfect ending to a fine dinner and a fun birthday which continued well into the night with dancing and merriment. I still don’t know how I did it.
“We were young,” Mark says.
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Summer Cookbook
Australia’s favourite authors share their most meaningful recipes.
Candied Rhubarb
Bunch of rhubarb
Indian jaggery sugar (enough to fully cover and coat the rhubarb)
Brulee
5 egg yolks
150g granulated sugar
720ml heavy cream
¼ teaspoon of salt
1 ½ teaspoons of vanilla extract
Caster sugar
1. Make a custard by heating cream and salt. Remove from heat, slightly cool, add vanilla extract and sugar, gently whisking egg yolks and add gently to cream mixture being careful the cream is not too hot so they don’t curdle. Reserve.
2. Cut the rhubarb into 4cm pieces and steep in boiling water for 30 seconds, dry and place on tray with baking paper.
3. Thickly coat with the jaggery sugar, place in moderate oven until sugar turns into a heavy skin, cool all ingredients.
4. When cool, cover the bases of ramekins with rhubarb, then pour the custard nearly to the top of the ramekins. Place in a baking dish and pour in boiling water until it comes halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake in a preheated oven at 325 degrees. Refrigerate.
5. Can be prepared in advance up to a couple of hours. To serve, sprinkle evenly a teaspoon of caster sugar. Blast with blow torch until sugar turns shades of gold to black, cool until toffee crust is hard. Serves 6.
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Gregory Ladner is one of Australia’s most enduring fashion designers, whose designs have also found markets in Europe and Asia over a career spanning more than four decades. As a boy he designed outfits for his teddy and as a teenager he dressed his mother and the neighbours. He is the creator and designer of the fashion accessory company that bears his name, with his distinctive millinery particularly sought after by women. He lives in Melbourne.
A Boy and His Bear. A Memoir. By Gregory Ladner, Hardie Grant Books.