Duck à l'Orange Crème Brûlée

Thanks little guy

Guest post from Jar Head:

One of the pleasures of being out on Mayne Island is picking up fresh local ingredients directly from the farms. This past weekend we came across fresh local duck eggs, something that we have not previously used. Once we cracked one open and saw the huge size of the yolk relative to the white we immediately realized that these were made for custards.



Combined with the fact that we just recently acquired a pressure cooker - which we heard makes great custards - we were set to go.

Ingredients and Equipment

What you will need:

• 1 cup cream
• 3 duck yolks (4 if using chicken)
• 2.5 TBSP white sugar
• 2 TBSP raw sugar (for caramelizing)
• 1 vanilla pod, split and seeded
• zest of one orange
• pressure cooker 
• trivet
• ramekins
• tinfoil
• torch 

Add the creme, vanilla and orange zest to a heavy bottomed pot and bring to a boil stirring occasionally. Once the milk begins to boil and froth remove from heat and set aside for at least 30 minutes to allow the flavours to infuse.

Once the creme mixture is at room temperature prepare your pressure cooker. You want your ramekins to be above the water - I raised the steamer that came with mine by arranging 4 empty ramekins on the bottom of the pot with my steamer sitting on top. Add water to just below the steamer.

Ready to Cook

In a mixing bowl add the white sugar and the egg yolks and whisk until the sugar is completely dissolved. Add the yolk mixture to the cream mixture and incorporate. Strain the mixture through a mesh sieve into your ramekins and cover tightly with the tinfoil. Place the ramekins onto the steamer insert, cover and lock. Turn heat to high and once at low pressure turn down heat and maintain at low pressure for 8 minutes. Once the time has elapsed remove from heat and allow pressure to come down naturally.

Topped with fresh berries...mmm

Remove the ramekins and check to see if they have set - they should be jiggly in the middle but not liquid. If they are not set return to the pressure cooker and repeat at low pressure for an additional few minutes depending on how loose they were.

Once cooked allow to cool 30 minutes and then place in fridge for 3-4 hours. 

Before serving remove from fridge, cover the top with the raw sugar and torch to caramelize. Serve with fresh berries and mint leaves.