Crème Brûlée

WEOOOO. Can you believe this is the last #stuffwithsvetfoodchallenge of 2019?! Where did the time go???

This is my eighth challenge. I started off with the first one in May with Laksa, as a joke! And now it’s turned into this epic challenge since you guys love them so much.

So for the month of December, I wanted to go out with a bang and do a dessert. I’ve done breakfast, appetizers, mains, beverages, but no desserts! So we went with….creme brulee!

Creme brulee is a french dessert consisting of a silky custard with hardened caramelized sugar on top. To caramelize the sugar on top, chefs will take a torch and slowly “burn” the sugar to get the hardened effect. My favorite part is breaking through the sugar into the custard for the first bite!

The three must have components for creme brulee are:

–texture – smooth and silky consistency – creme brulee is a very technical dessert so the texture has to be just right, nothing is worse than grainy “chunky” custard due to being overcooked

–flavor – traditionally vanilla, rich and decadent

–presentation – appropriate size and served beautifully

Let’s review where we went!

Social 242:

The first place we checked out was Social 242! Social has a lounge/restaurant vibe to it so I knew we would get a fun spin on creme brulee, and was I right! The presentation of the creme brulee was super fun. It was quite colorful served in a martini glass. The texture was super thick and chunky, almost reminded me of pudding but super flavorful. It was a decent size and was very caramel-y flavored. I loved their funky take on this classic dessert. My only critique would be the texture of the custard – it was very thick compared to what normal creme brulee is.

Basil & Mint:

Basil & Mint on the other hand was the complete opposite with their consistency. Their custard was very thin. It was a smaller portion served in a ramekin with fruit on top. It was a very chic, classic take on the dessert, just like the restaurant! It’s exactly what one would picture creme brulee to look like. My main critique with Basil & Mint’s was that the custard seemed almost too thin for my liking and a little smaller than what I would like.

Eldorado:

Eldorado’s take on creme brulee was served in this grand bowl as seen above. Out of all the creme brulee’s, I would say theirs had the best texture. Not too thick, not too thin. The taste of the creme brulee was very lemony – not your typical vanilla/caramel flavor you would expect. Eldorado also served their creme brulee with unique toppings: a biscotti, fruit, candied zest, and apple. While the toppings were yummy, I found it didn’t go/seemed to be quite random on a creme brulee. However, I appreciate the elegant display of the creme brulee and that it was a larger size. Who doesn’t like lots of dessert 😉

So who takes the cake? Or who takes the creme brulee? Ha..ha..

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BASIL & MINT !!!!

All the creme brulees were yummy but Basil & Mint’s was the ultimate “creme brulee”. All the technicalities were there. It was presented very beautifully and the texture was so silky and smooth. The other two were good as well but Social’s texture was off and Eldorado’s was a little random for my liking.

Thanks for watching my #stuffwithsvetfoodchallenges! See you guys in 2019 🙂

-Jenna xoxo