"Uh...chef...I have no more creme brulees in the walk-in..

[sir pball]

...and one just came in." They're a PPX (VIP) table so you can't walk the order back. There's uncooked mix on hand but it still takes at least 40 minutes to cook and a half hour to cook.

Pop quiz, hotshot - what do you do?

[jtuck004]

1. Get a drunk server to convince them that some free drinks and flaming Bananas Foster

is a good idea.

And if he or she can manage to drip some, and set a chair on fire, well, then, they will forget all about the Creme Brulee.

[sir pball]

2. Well, the servers are perpetually drunk, but that aside they were friends of the owners

So shenanigans weren't an option, nor was curling up in the corner..

This actually happened at service tonight, and I was out of the hole in five minutes. I figured it might make a fun thread while I sit at the bar and try to forget it happened

[jtuck004]

3. So I'll be waiting for what you did...n/t

[sir pball]

4. That would be telling.

Check your mail, if you tell anyone I'll have to kill you.

[Luminous Animal]

5. Get one from the restaurant down the street.

Kidding. As a patron, I've been told that an item I've ordered is no longer available. Depending on the caliber of the restaurant, I am sometimes offered another dessert option on the house or an after dinner drink gratis. At one particularly posh place, and entire bottle of wine was comped.

[sir pball]

6. They were guests of the owners and they wanted the brulee, there were no other options.

Give me some kind of flexibility and I barely sweat. Back me into a corner and I work miracles..

[Luminous Animal]

7. I once made a mushroom creme brûlée in the microwave. It took very little time. Maybe a minute -

a minute and a half with consistent supervision (straining out egg solids). I may have used the low heat defrost function… I really don't remember it was quite a long time ago and I haven't owned a microwave in 20 years. It was the only heating element available so I thought I'd give it a try and the taste and texture turned out great.

Now, to tackle the cooling down part… dry ice?

[grasswire]

8. uncooked mix?

what is that?

[azurnoir]

9. powder usually

[GeorgeGist]

10. Fake creme brûlée.

[sir pball]

13. The raw custard

We have a very limited number of ramekins so when I make a batch of brulee, I chill the unused mix and store it until needed. Which is the cook's job to let me know, grrr.

[grasswire]

15. seems kinda yucky to keep that raw custard overnight. nt

[sir pball]

16. It's fine, keeps for up to a week actually.

As long as it's immediately cooled and put away, it holds for quite awhile. Common practice actually, and don't get me started on scrambled eggs and omelettes..

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

11. Whip together an egg custard, heavy on the vanilla, thickened with arrowroot

Since arrowroot has little flavor on its own. Put it in the blast chiller to cool down. Sprinkle the sugar on top and hit it with the torch or put it under the salamander or whatever you usually do.

[sir pball]

14. Pretty close, but no cigar yet

You're definitely on the right track, though. Well, except for the blast chiller, we aren't Dinex over here!

Answer at midnight (ish) tonight.

[mopinko]

12. take one heading for another table?

give the sob story to the regular patron and make the boss' buddies happy?

[sir pball]

17. Didn't have one on the board.

The previous one had walked twenty minutes beforehand, requisitioning it was not an option..

[cbayer]

18. Er, tell them that you make your creme brûlée out of mix and they really would be better

off having another one of your homemade desserts.

You have home made desserts, right?



on edit: i posted this before reading what you meant by "mix", so I withdraw my answer.

but I am actually shocked that this is the only dessert you serve.

[sir pball]

21. It isn't, but it's what they wanted

And while normally we'd cheerfully offer them an alternative, it would have turned out really badly if we had to walk their order back and they told their friends/my bosses..

[cbayer]

22. Doesn't look good for the pastry chef, that's for sure.

I'll be interested to know what you did. I am a connoisseur of creme brûlée and it would be very hard to fool me, but you might.

[sir pball]

24. We're small enough that I'm the pastry chef as well.

Ultimately though, it's the line cook's responsibility to look at what's left and keep me up to date on what needs to be made; I'm busy enough without having to look at everybody's mise en place.

It was actually an "authentic" recipe, but archaic enough that it's completely unheard of these days. You'd definitely notice a difference, but I doubt you'd have been displeased.

[cbayer]

25. Aha! It was the line cook with the spatula in the walk-in! Case solved, lol.

So the guests wanted this particular authentic recipe then? They had probably heard about it and wanted it specifically.

In that case, there is no substitution. I would go directly to the owner and ask what you might offer them, taking responsibility for your line cook's misstep.

[sir pball]

27. They didn't ask for any particular recipe, but were thrilled with their meal.

They apparently said it was the best one they've had here so I'll chalk it up as a win. The recipe I mean is the on the fly one; my standard recipe is also actually a bit different from most, people do remark on how unusually silky it is.

The hammer wouldn't have fallen on my head regardless, not setting up the station right starts and stops with the cook on it, I've seen people summarily fired for failing to do it.

[cbayer]

29. Well, I am glad that it all worked out for you.

You are most likely a keeper!

[Warpy]

19. I'm not a chef

but I've had masses of people descend on me unannounced.

Dessert could be a simple stovetop blancmange with egg yolks whisked in to give it that vaguely sulfurous custard flavor and help it set up quicker, top sugared and the Bernz-O-Matic used to create the crust.

Shove it into the fridge while the unannounced guests are stuffing their faces with whatever I had to feed them, pour a few drinks into them, and they never knew the difference.

Let's-Fake-A-Dessert R me.

[Phentex]

20. or put all the ingredients in a bowl and tell them

it's been deconstructed.

[Warpy]

30. I can see it now

A mountain of cornstarch surrounded by a lake of half and half, playfully drizzled with vanilla extract with a sunny egg yolk peeking over the horizon, all kissed by a dusting of sugar.

Bon appetit.

[sir pball]

23. So very very close..

It was a named recipe, not something I just knocked up, and a kissing cousin of blancmange..

[japple]

26. Jello instant pudding? Or a cornstarch pudding?

My guess is those little molded puddings in the convenience paks that are available at all groceries...
Who knows? Maybe they have creme brulee flavor??

[sir pball]

28. Eeeew

No, it was definitely done in-house...we may not be a Michelin starred place but we aren't the corner diner, either..

[japple]

31. Sorry. Did not mean to insult. eom

[sir pball]

32. Oh, no offense taken. I've been known to half ass, just not quite store-bought nt

[grasswire]

33. silken tofu? nt

[sir pball]

34. Drumroll please,

Creme patisserie.

In this case, three yolks, a huge heaping teaspoon of cornstarch, tablespoon of sugar, the seeds from half a vanilla bean, and a cup or so of milk - I eyeballed everything so it's certainly not a recipe by any means. All set in about 45 seconds. I can be freakishly fast when needed. Frantically whisked together on an 1800 watt induction burner until it came to a splattering, gooey boil. Another minute down. Dumped into a small bowl set in a bigger bowl of ice brine and beaten till cold, another minute thirty. Spooned into the ramekin, smoothed down, sugared and hit with the torch, 45 seconds.

That's how you make a passable, even legitimate if you follow Julia Child (that's her recipe, adapted for exigency), creme brulee in four minutes.

[cbayer]

35. Cool! Congratulations on your success.

[Sentath]

36. Pastry Cream, wonderful stuff

I just had no idea a stirred custard could be made resilient enough to be torched.

Awesome save, sir ( :