Rouxbe

I would never have tried this recipe if I hadn't seen the video. And, based on my experience, the video made the difference between success and a disaster: the part of the video which showed just how much "wiggle" I should see saved me from pulling the ramekins out of the baine marie a couple of minutes too early.

My only *slightly* negative comment is that the printed instructions didn't mention (though it was mentioned in the video) that the water should be boiling hot. Fortunately, I remembered that as I was creating (!) in the kitchen and the result was excellent.

My wife kids me that I won't buy a recipe book unless it has pictures. The vids here show just how useful vids and pictures can be.

There have been several comments about torches so I thought I'd add a little story of my own. The first time I made creme brule (see my other comment on this thread) I used a standard garage propane torch. It worked fine ... well, fine *except* ... it seemed to have a very strong gas flow and that -- even though I had it turned down -- still blew many of the sugar granules around.

So, next time, I went to a local kitchen store and bought an inexpensive torch. On the way home, I picked up a butane cartridge and, at home, I loaded up the torch and tried it out.

Wow! A yellow flame -- almost a metre long -- leapt out! Then, suddenly, it dropped back to a 5-10cm blue flame. Just what I wanted. But I was, naturally, worried so I tried the unit again. And again. And each time I'd get a long yellow flame for a few seconds before seeing the desired 5-10cm blue flame. Back to the store with the unit, a quick demo of the problem and I got a new one. This time, I loaded it in the store and tried it out while I was still there. The replacement unit worked perfectly.

So ... if you are going to buy a kitchen torch (instead of using one from Canadian Tire) then buy a butane cartridge first so you can try the unit out near the store in case you need to exchange it.

One other thing (which I have noted before): the printed instructions don't mention that the water in the bain marie should be boiling. If you print the recipe out then make a notation to that effect.

A final thought: this is a "do not rush", focus on what you are doing, watch your timing, and check your "jiggle" as you approach the end of the cooking time. If you take care you are almost guaranteed a perfect result.