Today wasn’t the best day, I’ll be the first to admit it. It started well. I started by making a praline. To do this (you can follow this recipe to make some good easy praline) you toast three ounces of either slivered or powdered almonds (slivered works best) for ten minutes in a 160 degree C oven. Then take three ounces of sugar and put it in a pan with two tbsp water and heat until it forms a darkish brown colour. Then immediately put the almonds in and bring to boil if using slivered or darken to a hazelnut colour if using powdered. Immediately spread over a baking sheet. Let cool 10 minutes and smash up. For this recipe I ground them up after.
Then the soufflé part of the Île Flottante. As the french would say aïe aïe aïe! I whisked eight egg whites until soft peaks and then I whisked in some sugar and praline two tablespoons at a time. It became a liquid! Definitely not beautiful stiff peaks. Did I whisk too much? Maybe, I don’t think so though because I’ve whisked for much longer in the past. I don’t know what happened. I decided to go with it anyway so I put it in to a sugared mould and baked in a water bath in the oven for 40 minutes. It puffed up real nice so I think I got away with it. This is where the luck ends.
Now the custard. Good god. I boiled some milk, whisked some egg yolks and some sugar together, then whilst whisking, I poured the milk into the eggs slowly. It was when I was doing the cappuccino (see Sunday 13th September) that I realised there were lumps of egg in it! So in desperation I whisked the living daylights out of it. I thought it worked. I returned it to the pan and heated until thick. It hadn’t worked. It was grainy. I passed it through a sieve and through muslin and everything. Nope. Grainy custard. The milk was too hot, but I was doing it like she said so it’s also the recipe (excuses excuses!). I also didn’t add the optional cornflour which renders it fool-proof. It was tasty but unservable. I can’t tell you if the whole thing is good because I haven’t eaten it yet (I’m gonna retry the custard on the 28th I think and take to school the 29th).
Maintenant la crème anglaise. Bon sang. J’ai fait bouillir du lait, j’ai battu des jaunes d’oeufs avec du sucre et, en fouettant, j’ai versé le lait dans les oeufs et très lentement. C’était quand je faisait le cappuccino (voir Dimanche 13 Septembre) que j’ai vu qu’il y avait des bouts d’oeuf! Donc en désespoir, j’ai pris le fouet et j’ai fouetté comme si ma vie en dépendait. J’ai cru que ca avait marché. J’ai remit dans la casserole jusqu’à que ça épaissit. Beh non. C’était granuleux. Le lait était trop chaud, mais j’ai fait comme elle a dit donc c’est un peu la recette aussi (toujours une excuse). J’ai pas non plus mis la farine de maïs ce qui le rend infaillible. C’était bon mais je pouvais pas la servir. Je peux pas vous dire si le tout était bon parce que je n’ai pas encore goûté (je vais réessayer la crème anglaise le 28 et apporter à l’école pour la manger/partager le 29).
Cool beans! I gotta go to the hospital because my hand got eaten whilst reaching for a sandwich. Gotta keep an eye on ‘dem tomato and hummus ones! Bye!
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