Truffle Custard - Cover Image

I do so love this unequivocally delicate, delicious and even somewhat coquettish little dish, which may be served as either an hors d’oeuvre or one of two miniature starters as part of a five course meal, lest your guests feel cheated!

The charming little story behind how, or rather why, I came up with this concoction, pertains to a Japanese tasting menu cooked with surgical precision by a friend at his home, in which his stand out dish was the classic Japanese Chawanmushi, crowned with seaweed & shrimp …

… Since we had planned to cook together shortly thereafter and conduct an orchestra of European and Japanese dishes, I sought to create an equivalent of the oriental custard, and here-below is what ensued.

Once again, it is so very simple to prepare, so long as there is a whole lot of love and a little bit of attention to detail.

Ingredients

First and foremost gather the ingredients for the custard (IMAGE 1).

Truffle Custard - Image 1
Image 1

YIELD: 5 custards (using 3inch length x 2.5in width x 1.25in height and 73ml volume capacity oval ceramic dishes, as shown in the images; you can use a different style of dish, but do try to keep the same size and volume)

  • 1 egg
  • 2 egg yolks
  • ⅛ teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup imported double (aka whipping) cream, as shown in the image above, but guess what I just discovered, ordinary Amul cream works just as well too!!!
  • 1 teaspoon imported white truffle oil (any brand will do)

Method

Preheat the oven (convection – bottom setting) to 160°C.

Lightly beat the egg and egg yolks with a whisk. Add the salt and truffle oil and beat again (STEP 1). Then heat the cream till below simmering (STEP 2), gradually pour the cream into the egg mixture, stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon until fully incorporated (STEPS 3 & 4).

Pass through a sieve into a jug (STEP 5 & 6 – note the residue left in the sieve) and then fill each dish ¾ way full (STEP 7).

Place in baking dish and pour in boiling water half way up the sides (STEP 8). Place on middle shelf of oven and cook for 15 mins. Check at 15-minute mark by inserting a wooden tooth pick into the centre. It should come out with a thick coating and the custard should have a very slight wobble when removed. Take the baking dish out of the oven, let the custards sit in the baking dish for one minute and then remove.

Truffle Custard - Step 1
Step 1
Truffle Custard - Step 2
Step 2
Truffle Custard - Step 3
Step 3
Truffle Custard - Step 4
Step 4
Truffle Custard - Step 5
Step 5
Truffle Custard - Step 6
Step 6
Truffle Custard - Step 7
Step 7
Truffle Custard - Step 8
Step 8

To Finish:

  • 90g sliced smoked salmon (IMAGE 2) – cut each slice into 2 to 3 pieces and roll to fit on top of the custard (STEP 9)
  • 1 bottled premium ikura (IMAGE 3)

Both of the above ingredients are from Big Sams (www.bigsams.in)

Truffle Custard - Image 2
Image 2
Truffle Custard - Step 9
Step 9
Truffle Custard - Image 3
Image 3

Needless to say that after the custard has rested for a minute and you have removed it from the water bath, quickly place the pre-rolled salmon onto each custard (STEP 10), top with ¼ teaspoon of Ikura (STEP 11), drop a few micro-herbs on top (STEP 12), serve immediately while warm and watch how the dinner party chit-chat comes to a sudden halt! (FINAL IMAGE)

Truffle Custard - Step 10
Step 10
Truffle Custard - Step 11
Step 11
Truffle Custard - Step 12
Step 12
Truffle Custard - Final Image

Above: Final Image