Selling mini crème brûlées
This may be a difficult question to answer but if you have any recommendations, I would greatly appreciate it.
I’m going to be opening up a small a home owned desert business and I would like to sell mini crème brûlée. It’s hard to keep the top crunchy and if you pre-torch it and leave it in the fridge the topping will be ruined.
I was thinking of torching them right before the customer picks an order up, but if they decide to put it in the fridge, when they go back to it and bite into it it’ll be really soggy. Or if they order a dozen of them for a party the next day, the next day the topping will be super soggy.
I was just wondering if there was a way to keep the crunchy sugar top crunchy for long-ish periods of time especially because the dessert itself needs to be refrigerated and can’t really be outside the fridge for too long. Please help!
Best Answer
The question you are asking has no technological solution - you cannot put caramel on something wet and preventing from becoming wet. So you are looking at logistical solutions, and you have basically listed them already.
For eating on premises, you keep the custard in the fridge and add the sugar and torch just before serving, as you mentioned. This is so well-suited and common, that I don't think anybody has had the need to develop any alternatives.
For eating later at home, there are two options. One is as you said - you caramelize when selling, and the buyer has to live with the choice between eating it soon or eating it later without a snappy crust. The second is the one used by supermarkets and mentioned in comments - you package coarse dry brown sugar separately, and the customer has the choice between producing a good caramel crust at home (which is time-consuming and not everybody has the needed tools) or eating a custard with sprinkled brown sugar that has not been actually caramelized into a crust.
A variation of the "package the sugar" along option is to package caramel along, either as a whole disc or ground into sugar-sized crystals. It doesn't require the customer to caramelize at home (so the tool and time drawbacks are eliminated), but it is clearly separate from the custard, making it less like real creme brulee.
All two (or three) solutions fall short of the ideal, but as far as I am aware, you can't do better than that. You can just choose which negative is the most acceptable for you and your customers.
Pictures about "Selling mini crème brûlées"
How much is creme brulee in a restaurant?
We looked at menus from a variety of different restaurants and other foodservice establishments that serve creme brulee and found that the prices ranged from $6-$12, with most listing around $8 per serving.Can you ship creme brulee?
Classically creamy, made with the finest ingredients, and ready in just 20 minutes. Shipped frozen. Serves 4. Gluten-Free.What is a creme brulee dish called?
Dishes for creme brulee are also called ramekins; each dish holds one serving.How long should creme brulee set in the fridge?
They should be cool enough after about two hours in the refrigerator, but you can keep them in the fridge for up to three days, which makes them an excellent make-ahead dessert that'll surely impress your friends. Once you're ready to finish up your cr\xe8me br\xfbl\xe9e, it's time for the tricky part: the crunchy top.Selling my Old Mini Luxury Car Dealership | Diorama | Diecast Model Cars
More answers regarding selling mini crème brûlées
Answer 2
Personally, I would experiment a few-times with:
Boiling sugar to different degrees close to "hard-crack" temperatures, pour into "discs" on parchment paper.
Place disc on top of crème brûlée and tape a piece of quality paper-towel (Viva) over them and refrigerate.
See how long they remain fresh looking.
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.