Valentine's Day 2025 - Chicken and Mushroom Broth Fondue and Genevieve Yam's Crème Brûlée

grimmsfoodietales
Mar 14
4 min read

Dinner Feb 14, 2025

Note: Fondue stock, fondue vegetables, and crème brûlée custard were made a day in advance to cut down on day-of preparation time.

Thinly sliced and rolled meats were found at an Asian supermarket in their freezer section.

Fondue Ingredients:

2qts Easy Chicken Stock

1 small Yellow Onion

4 Carrots

2 Bay Leaves

½ teaspoon Black Pepper Corns

2 Rosemary Sprigs

3 Celery Leaves

1lb Button Mushrooms

3 Parsnips

4 Potatoes

1 package thinly sliced and rolled Lamb

1 package thinly sliced and rolled Pork Belly

1 package thinly sliced and rolled Wagyu Beef

Fondue Directions:

Make Easy Chicken Stock from frozen, saved scraps and the addition of the onion, one carrot, 2 bay leaves, pepper corns, celery leaves, rosemary sprigs, and button mushroom stems.

Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C).

Peel the parsnips and remaining three carrots and cut into thin coins. Wash and cut the potatoes into 1-inch cubes.

Line a sheet pan with aluminum foil, grease, and add parsnips, carrots, and potatoes to the tray. Roast for 10 - 15 minutes.

Toss the mushrooms with salt and pepper and add to the tray and continue to cook for about another 10 - 15 minutes. You don't want anything to be completely cooked yet.

Add strained stock to the fondue pot. Turn the pot on to temperature setting 3, the fondue should continue to just simmer but never boil.

Final Notes:

We did raw vegetables, and they were taking a very long time to cook in the fondue pot. That's why I added the directions to parcook the vegetables.

I also made dipping sauces, but I don't really remember what I made because I felt rushed to get everything ready to be able to eat. Highly recommend having some sauces available.

Crème Brûlée Ingredients:

1½ cups Heavy Cream

1½ cups Whole Milk

1 Vanilla Bean, split lengthwise and scraped

¼ teaspoon Kosher Salt

7 large Egg Yolks

½ cup (100g) Granulated Sugar, plus extra for topping

Water for the water bath

Crème Brûlée Directions:

In a 3-quart saucepan, combine heavy cream, whole milk, vanilla bean and seeds, and salt. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium-low heat, then remove from heat, cover, and let stand 1 hour.

Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 325ºF (160ºC). In a large bowl, whisk yolks with granulated sugar until smooth (do not combine the sugar and yolks until you are ready to add the dairy; if left to stand before adding the dairy, the sugar will absorb moisture from the yolks and leave behind hard, clumpy bits, something pastry chefs refer to as “burning” the yolks). Set a fine-mesh strainer over yolk mixture and pour cream mixture through; discard vanilla bean. Whisk custard base until thoroughly combined.

Set six 4-ounce ramekins in a 9- by 13-inch baking dish. Divide custard base evenly among the ramekins, filling them ¼ inch from the top of the rim. (If you have a few tablespoons of extra custard, that’s okay.) Pour just-boiled—but not boiling—water, around 180-200ºF (88-93ºC) into baking dish until it comes ⅔ of the way up the ramekins; be careful not to splash water into the ramekins as you pour. Carefully transfer baking dish to middle rack of oven and bake until custards are just set (they should jiggle slightly in the middle and register 175-178ºF (79ºC-81ºC) on an instant-read thermometer inserted in the center), about 35 minutes. Remove from oven and carefully transfer ramekins to a cooling rack, using towels or silicone-coated tongs. Allow custards to cool to room temperature, about 1 hour. Refrigerate until set, uncovered, at least 4 hours.

To finish and serve, let custards stand for 20 minutes at room temperature. Right before serving, top the surface of each custard with an even layer of raw sugar (about 2 teaspoons per ramekin), swirling the ramekins to distribute the sugar evenly. Working in a circular motion, use a butane blowtorch to pass a flame over the top of each crème brûlée, 1- to 2-inches away from the surface of the custard, until the sugar has caramelized and melted into a glossy, crackling sheet and turned golden brown (how closely and how long you should torch your custards will depend on the strength of your blowtorch; watch the sugar carefully as you pass the torch over the surface of the custard to avoid scorching your crème brûlées). Alternatively, for a broiler method, see notes.

Cool slightly for 1 to 2 minutes, then serve immediately.

Final Notes:

Custard was surprisingly light which made it felt like the serving could have been twice as big as it was. We liked it, but maybe add half the egg whites OR two-parts whole milk and one-part cream if you want a thicker custard.

We tried garnishing with blueberries and raspberries, but it actively tasted better without the berries.

Kind of wish I had crème brûlée dishes that have a wider circumference and are shallower to get more of the burned sugar crust.