Red, Hot, and Bacon

This past Tuesday, on my day off, I was enjoying dinner with my wife and two boys, telling them about the latest wacky bruleé flavor, when my oldest son, Xavier, informed me he had an idea for a bruleé flavor:

“You could do apples and cinnamon, Dad.”Okay, I said…..”I’ll do apples and cinnamon.”

The very next day, that’s exactly what I did. But nothing is ever simple when it comes to me and bruleé. So, I thought about how we could make it exciting, and a little interesting, and came to an inspiration from Jenny’s Ice Cream here in Columbus, in a fall flavor they had last year called “Red Hot Apple Cider.” (When we got it at Jenny’s we paired it with her “Salty Caramel and It tasted just like apple pie) So, I made a custard with some granny smith apples, and cinnamon schnapps, and fresh cinnamon, baked it off, and the “Red Hot” flavor wasn’t prominent enough.

What to do……….

Goldschalger (?....I’m not even attempting to spell that shit right) and the Cinnamon Schnapps, when cooked down to the “hard crack stage” of sugar cookery, makes a delicious crust. I cooked it down, and spooned it over the bruleés, and made that take the place of the sugar crust.

Delicious.

Rob, my sous, also had a creative bruleé bug up his butt on Tuesday while I was off.

His Marvelous creation: “Bacon Brulee.”

The phone call I got after dinner was like this:

“Dude….I had to call you…….I’m really excited about this one.”

“What? What’s going on?”

“I made a bacon bruleé today, and it’s delicious.”

“Bacon?........really?”

I was skeptical. One half of me was excited and intrigued, and the other half was wondering why this guy was wasting my heavy cream, eggs, and most of all my precious bacon. He said he caramelized the bacon in the oven with 1 lb of brown sugar, and used the baconfat/caramel mixture in the custard. He chopped up some of the candied bacon and placed it in the custard before it went into the oven.

I brought one home on Thursday to taste, along with the horde of food critics that is my family……….It was ravenous. The bacon was a nutty flavor and texture, with a light, smokiness to it, finished by the sweet and salty flavor of the custard…….Beautiful. I think I got 1 or 2 small tastes, before it was lapped up, and literally licked clean. My wife, the harshest critic of them all, (Seriously, folks…..Anton Ego would shutter in her presence) She said it was “Masterful.” That’s like a third Michelin star in my world. Congratulations, rob…………Job well done.

Notes and Randoms:
Thursday’s bruleé flavor board read:
- Bacon bruleé
- Orange Dreamscicle
- Red Hot Apples and Cinnamon
“I think people will freak out if we ever just had Vanilla.” - Robert H.

Next Crazy Brulee? Srirachia and bittersweet chocolate? Carrot cake with candied walnuts? Give me some ideas.

We may be changing the restaurant’s name to “Matt the Miller’s Ahi Tuna Palace,” because apparently, people go crazy over that shit.

YOU DO NOT NEED TWO PEOPLE TO CARRY A 2” HOTEL PAN TO THE BRUNCH LINE. One person will do just fine. (This actually happened………This really happened……………Ah, Sunday brunch…………is there anything you won’t surprise me with?)