Category: egg

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book review cream egg food lemon

marco pierre white’s lemon tart

marco pierre white's lemon tart

I recently got hold of a copy of Marco Pierre White’s White Heat book from the library. It is a cookbook but really it’s a capture of a time and a place: when Marco was on top of the culinary world and the absolute hottest thing in chefs and cookery. I hadn’t read it before; I devoured it an hour and immediately ordered a copy for myself.

The photography, all black and white, is still crisp, clear and full of motion and emotion. The words from Marco are full of his cool directness. The recipes are surprisingly good; unpretentious and focused on celebrating a core ingredient. One stood out to me: Marco Pierre White’s lemon tart.

As I read it, I suddenly remember it seems familiar: there’s a very similar one in Heston at Home that I’ve made before.

It should come as no surprise there is a similarity. The backgrounds of Marco and Heston overlap. Heston’s first job at a restaurant was a week spent at Raymond Blanc’s Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons. They struck up a friendship that stuck. While Heston ploughed his unique furrow Marco did the traditional route of moving up from kitchen to kitchen learning from Pierre Koffman, Albert and Michel Roux Sr and Raymond Blanc as mentioned. The classic French method was drummed into him, and while Heston studied at home it was the French classics he drilled. Heston even spent time at White’s Canteen to learn how to run a team of chefs before opening The Fat Duck.

Marco’s tart

I made the lemon tart immediately. It is thick and custardy, very satisfying. Though he does recommend grilling the top to brulee the sugar topping, I found it hard to protect the pastry from burning – I would cover the pastry in foil if trying again. As a recipe itself it also lacks crucial detail. We’re told to mix the filling ingredients – but until when? Just combined? Beaten smooth? And there’s no indication what size pie dish you should be using. The depth of the filling means you can’t tell when it will cook convincingly. I’m all for improvising in the kitchen – an advocate in fact – but with pastry dishes precision is everything.

Heston’s tart on the left, Marco’s on the right

I couldn’t help but compare Marco and Heston’s tarts. Heston has an unnecessarily fussy pastry recipe, but has the smart idea to part-set the custard over a bain marie before transferring to the oven. And in classic Heston style check the set temperature with a probe to get consistent results. And to avoid burning use a blowtorch to finish.

Overall I found Heston’s far more enjoyable, more what I expect of a lemon tart. The lemon had more zing, and the filling itself is unctuous and creamy.

If I was to make it again, I’d use whatever pastry recipe you are happy with, or even buy a dcent pre-made case, then go Heston’s method for the filling. It’s dead easy, just warm things in a bowl over the hob, then pour into the case. You will need a probe thermometer.

Both great recipes, but fascinating to explore what makes the differences.

Want another view? Jay Rayner tries Marco’s tart

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marco pierre white's lemon tart

Course Dessert
Cuisine French
Keyword brulee
Prep Time 45 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 25 minutes
Servings 8 slices

Ingredients

For the tart case:

  • 500 g plain flour
  • 175 g icing sugar
  • 250 g butter diced
  • grated zest of 1 lemon
  • grains from 1 vanilla pod
  • 1½ eggs
  • 50 g sieved icing sugar

For the lemon filling:

  • 9 eggs
  • 400 g caster sugar
  • 5 lemons zest of 2 and juice of all 5
  • 250 ml double cream

Instructions

For the pastry:

  • Pre-heat the oven to 180C. Sieve the flour and icing sugar and rub in the butter.
  • Mix in the lemon zest and vanilla seeds.
  • Beat the eggs and add to the mix. Knead the mixture with fingers, then wrap in clingfilm and leave to rest for 30 minutes in the fridge.
  • Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface to a size just large enough to fill the flan tin or ring to be used.
  • Using either a greased flan ring on a greased baking sheet, or a greased flan tin with a removable base, fold the dough into it. Gently ease the dough into the corners of the tin, ensuring a good 1cm/2in overhang. Do not cut this off.
  • Line the flan with greaseproof paper and fill with enough dry baking beans or lentils to ensure that the sides as well as the base are weighted. This helps give a good finished flan shape.
  • Bake in the oven for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, remove the beans and greaseproof paper and trim the overhang from the flan. Return the flan to the oven for a further 10 minutes.

For the lemon filling:

  • Whisk the eggs with the sugar and the lemon zest.
  • Stir in the lemon juice and then fold in the cream. Remove any froth from the top of the mixture.
  • Reduce the oven temperature to 120C.
  • Pour the cold filling into the hot pastry (this ensures that the pastry case will be sealed and hold the filling) and bake for 30 minutes in the oven.
  • Pre-heat a very hot grill.
  • Sieve the icing sugar over the tart as soon as it comes out of the oven and then flash it briefly under the grill to caramelize the sugar.

Video

Categories
egg

heston blumenthal’s sous vide scrambled eggs

Recently I ranked all of Heston Blumenthal’s books, and in that I named Heston Blumenthal at Home my favourite Heston book. To celebrate let’s show you a recipe that really typifies his approach: Heston Blumenthal’s sous vide scrambled eggs.

The humble scrambled egg, that anyone can do, often one of the first things people learn to cook. Some people add milk, some people microwave, though if you just go to it in a pan over a low heat you get delicious fluffy eggs packed with flavour.

Heston favours the sous vide method. By vacuum packing the eggs into a bag and leaving in a 75°C water bath. With the occasional massage of the bag the eggs cook slowly but come up to temperature perfectly and they come out magical.

As usual the genius Blumenthal touch isn’t the method – though that is great – but the addition of brown butter at the end is what makes it. The clarified butter taken to the nutty stage adds a layer of flavour that is great with the eggs, simultaneously sweet yet savoury.

This kind of recipe is very representative of Heston – scrambled eggs is dish everyone knows but the addition of a little science and careful thought it is elevated above the norm. Give it a try!

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heston blumenthal's sous vide scrambled eggs

A simple recipe elevated with techniques
Course Brunch
Cuisine British
Keyword eggs
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Servings 1 person

Ingredients

  • 3 eggs
  • 10 ml butter melted
  • 10 ml double cream
  • 10 ml whole milk

For the brown butter

  • 10 g butter

Instructions

To make the brown butter:

  • Melt the butter in a pan over a medium heat. Once the sizzling subsides pay close attention to the pan. Look for it to turn dark brown and smell like hazelnuts. Immediately strain through a coffee filter paper or muslin into a bowl or cup and reserve for later.

For the eggs:

  • Set the sous vide setup to 75°C.
  • Whisk the egg, melted butter, milk and cream together along with a pinch of salt until well combined. Vacuum seal the eggs in a bag.
  • Submerge the eggs in the water bath for 15 minutes. Every 4-5 minutes remove the bag and massage to mix (be careful of the temperature, use a towel or gloves).
  • Serve with your favourite toast (I like a bagel!) and optionally garnish with chives. Add a spritz of the melted butter and eat immediately.

Video

Categories
bacon egg food ice cream milk

heston blumenthal’s egg and bacon ice cream

Heston Blumenthal was born in West London in 1966. His childhood fed many of his culinary fantasies he was to later draw upon and revisit: from fish and chips at Norman’s Plaice, to ice cream at the Regent Snack Bar. Breakfast and ice cream recur throughout his career, and the confluence of those is one I’m going to look at and cook today: egg and bacon ice cream.

This recipe, like so many of Heston’s, was born out of obsession and one of the first foods he investigated in depth at The Fat Duck restaurant. He wanted to find the perfect creamy mixture, with bold flavours, and yet not tasting too eggy. Not every ice cream recipe needs eggs but egg is an emulsifier that suspends butterfat particles and creates richer, creamier ice cream that stores really well. Searching for the perfect ice cream he began to experiment with all the variables, tweaking egg volume, freezing time, sugar content. After pushing received wisdom that custard bases should be cooked no higher than 85°c, his pastry chef Jocky Petrie commented that the overheated result “looked just like scrambled egg”. This eureka moment sent Heston off in a breakfast direction, remembering how much egg and bacon was a special treat growing up. After some refinement the dish first appeared on the menu at the Fat Duck restaurant in 2000.

The original plating in 2000

It might surprise you that this recipe uses milk powder. Heston has long favoured ice cream recipes with a low sugar content. Not for dietary reasons, but to create a denser texture and heightened flavours. Because of reduced fat and sugar, this recipe is high in egg yolks. The skimmed milk powder stops the ice cream from crystallising to create richness yet light and clean.

There are two published versions of the recipe: the uber-recipe from The Fat Duck Cookbook is an unsurprisingly complex and multi-layered affair, with tea jellies and tomato compotes. But there’s also the comparatively laid back version in Heston at Home, which is what I’ve emulated here: with the ice cream served with an egg-soaked bread and candied bacon. Much more approachable and likely more crowd pleasing.

The original recipe requires dry ice. I wasn’t willing to stretch to this – I can’t find it for under £37 – but instead used my ice cream maker for the final step. It may not be truly authentic but at least it’s Heston’s own endorsed model?

The result is a surprising and playful dessert that combines sweet, creamy ice cream with the savoury and smoky flavours of bacon. The Egg and Bacon Ice Cream reflects Blumenthal’s signature style of molecular gastronomy, where he combines unexpected ingredients and techniques to create unconventional but delicious dishes.

It is terrific. Really, super tasty. If you like dishes that combine sweet and salty flavours this is the one for you. The ice cream has a sweet but smoky flavour with a slightly ‘chunky’ texture and is a real winner. But the pain perdu / french toast / eggy bread is stunning. With a glass-like finish and sweet, chewy middle it’s sensational and worth having with other desserts.

Here’s a variation on the recipe served in egg shells.

And here’s Aldo’s version from BigFatUndertaking.

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egg and bacon ice cream

Heston Blumenthal's ice cream inspired dessert is french toast with a twist of sweet / savoury ice cream.
Course Dessert
Cuisine British
Keyword savoury, sweet
Servings 2 people
Calories 609kcal

Equipment

  • Ice cream machine

Ingredients

For the ice cream base:

  • 66 g sweet-cured smoked back bacon
  • 166 g full-cream milk
  • 5 g semi-skimmed milk powder
  • 4 large egg yolks
  • 20 g caster sugar

For the pain perdu:

  • clarified butter
  • 2 slices brioche stale (refrigerate overnight in a container to speed this up)
  • 100 g milk
  • 1 egg
  • 10 g golden caster sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

For the caramelised bacon:

  • 2 slices smoked bacon
  • 1 tablespoon maple syrup
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon sugar

Instructions

For the ice cream base and caramelised bacon:

  • To start the ice-cream base, preheat the grill to high. Lay the bacon slices on a baking tray lined with baking paper and place under the grill for 5-7 minutes or until crisp.
  • At the same time mix the syrup, salt and sugar together and then brush on two more bacon slices and grill with the other bacon. When this is cooked refrigerate until needed.
  • When the initial bacon is cooked, drain on kitchen paper and cut it into strips. Place in a bowl, pour over the milk then refrigerate to infuse overnight.
  • The next day, put the milk and bacon into a saucepan and add the milk powder. Place over a medium-low heat and bring to a gentle simmer. Remove from the heat and strain off the bacon.
  • In the meantime, blitz the egg yolks and sugar together using a hand blender. Combine the egg mixture with the warm milk and return the pan to the heat. Warm the liquid until it just reaches 90ºC.
  • Once this temperature has been reached, remove the pan from the heat and pass the ice-cream base through a fine sieve into a clean container over iced water, pushing the custard through with the back of a spoon. Transfer to an ice cream machine and churn until done. Freeze until needed.

For the pain perdu:

  • Mix the egg, milk, vanilla and sugar together. Dunk the bread in to soak for 20 minutes. After this time remove the bread to a rack to drain for a couple of minutes.
  • Melt a tablespoon of clarified butter in a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. Add the bread and fry on all sides, remove and place on paper towel to absorb any excess fat.
  • Wipe the pan out then place it over a medium-high heat. Add enough sugar to cover the bottom of the pan and allow to melt.
  • Once the sugar has completely melted and caramelised, add the bread and cover every side. Once coated on all sides, remove the bread from the pan, place on a silicone mat and allow to cool.
  • To serve, scoop the ice cream into a serving bowl (I used an egg cup). Place a slice of crystallised bacon on top and serve with pain perdu on the side.

Video

Notes

If you don't have an ice cream machine, you probably don't have dry ice either. This can be also made by placing into a freezer, and breaking up every 30 minutes but the results won't be a smooth.
Categories
asparagus bacon cheese cream egg food

improving the coronation quiche

For the first time in a very long time, Britain (and other countries for reasons I don’t want to get into in a recipe blog) have a new monarch. And as is customary, we will have a coronation ceremony in May 2023. And more importantly for most people, we get a bank holiday. A bank holiday so you can celebrate in your own way whether that’s hosting a street party, a garden BBQ, afternoon tea or throwing eggs at a rich person that you don’t like.

You know what the signature dish was for the 1953 coronation? It was called “poulet reine Elizabeth“, but everyone knows it as coronation chicken. It’s a creamy curry sauce that’s got an Indian vibe and you can either chuck it in a salad or slap it in a sandwich.

From Le Cordon Bleu cookery school

Apparently, the dish was the brainchild of food writer Constance Spry and chef Rosemary Hume from the fancy Cordon Bleu cookery school in London. They whipped it up for the queen’s coronation feast. It was inspired by a dish called jubilee chicken, which was created for George V’s silver jubilee back in 1935.

For Queen Elizabeth II’s golden jubilee in 2002, there was another jubilee chicken dish. This one was made by the chefs at Buckingham Palace and was a baked chicken cut into bits and smothered with a mix of creme fraiche, mayonnaise, lime and ginger. They served it up with pasta salad, lime slices, and flat leaf parsley, all packed up in a Waitrose plastic tub.

Now, for her platinum jubilee, they had a pudding competition and the winner was a lemon swiss roll and Amaretti trifle recipe. Nice, eh?

For King Charles’ coronation we have the coronation quiche. Perfect picnic fare, this quiche is flavoured with broad beans… and spinach?

Eh. It’s a bit dowdy, isn’t it? Doesn’t reek of celebration or festivities. Likely in the backdrop of cost-of-living crisis with rising energy bills and being squeezed, it was selected as being muted in tone to be a bit more down to earth. But I think we can do better than that, celebrating the best of British produce. While it’s nice to use broad beans it’s a bit… post-war rationing. Why not the undisputed king of British summertime, asparagus? Bang on season and something I wait for every year. And let’s add in some bacon, by the fact that everything is better with bacon. I also think we can do a little more with that pastry, so let’s amp that up. And finally let’s use some precision in the baking. None of this “20-25 minutes until golden”, let’s cook it until it’s actually perfect. With science!

Can you buy the coronation quiche?

I don’t think you can buy the coronation quiche in any shops. The only way to get the real deal is to use the official recipe, or you know, just be invited to the coronation.

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my coronation quiche

A celebratory quiche suitable for any gathering or garden party. One of the best things about a quiche is it really doesn't matter when you eat it: straight from the oven hot with a salad, or the next day packed up for lunch.
Course Main Course
Cuisine British
Keyword eggs, garden party
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Servings 6 people

Ingredients

Pastry

  • 200 g plain flour
  • 50 g cold butter
  • 25 g lard
  • 25 g cheddar cheese
  • 1 egg
  • milk might need a splash

Filling

  • 300 ml double cream
  • 2 medium eggs save a tablespoon of it for later
  • 1 tablespoon fresh tarragon chopped
  • 100 g grated cheddar cheese
  • 100 g bacon diced
  • 150 g asparagus spears

Instructions

For the pastry:

  • I use a food processor for speed and to be honest, it's better: add the flour, butter, lard and cheese and pulse until it forms a sandy breadcrumb texture. Whizz in the egg and if needed pulse in the milk until it comes together - be sparing and stop the moment it comes together. If doing by hand, rub fats, cheese and flour together until it resembles breadcrumbs, then beat in the egg and milk as required to form a dough.
  • Wrap and allow to rest in the fridge while you get on with everything else.
  • Put a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the bacon to a dry pan and fry for 4-5 minutes. While this fries, snap off the woody end of the asparagus spears. Then finely slice the stalks but stop at the tips. Add all the asparagus pieces to the pan and continue to stir fry for another 3-5 minutes until softened. Remove to a plate to cool down.
  • Preheat the oven to 190°C.
  • Put the cheese, cream and tarragon in a jug, add salt and pepper and stir well to mix. Hold back about a tablespoon of the egg mix to one side for later.
  • Remove the dough from the fridge and roll out to the thickness of a British pound coin. Lay into a quiche dish (appropriately enough) or similar and prick the base all over with a fork to stifle it rising. Brush your reserved egg over the base to seal it. Pop in the oven for 20 minutes, where it should have gone a biscuity brown.
  • Take the pastry base out and reduce the oven temperature to 140°C.
  • Spread the bacon-asparagus mixture over the base, then pour over the liquid mixture. Place into the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until the middle of the quiche gets to 85°C.

Video

Notes

You can stop cooking this when you're happy with how golden it is. By using a probe thermometer you can capture it when it's perfectly smooth and not scrambled-eggy.

Want more quiches? I took a lot from this fantastic cheese and onion tart I made years ago. Or take a look at Big Foodie Geek’s video.

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