Pot de crème
A baked custard dessert served chilled in its baking dish.
Pot de crème is a baked custard dessert with a smooth, delicate texture, served chilled in the dish it was baked in. It resembles crème brûlée but lacks a layer of hardened caramelised sugar. The dessert is known for its rich but neutral flavour, often enhanced with additions such as chocolate or coffee.
Quick Facts
- Course
- Dessert
- Main ingredients
- eggs
- cream or milk
- sugar
- flavourings
Facts from the source article.
Preparation and serving
In a typical preparation, cream or milk is scalded and combined with sugar and eggs while avoiding incorporating air. The custard is portioned into small cups or dishes placed in a container with hot water halfway up each dish, a water bath that insulates them; some cooks place a towel between dishes and the container. Lids from specialty pot de crème cups or punctured plastic wrap may cover the dishes. The dishes are cooked slowly at around 300–350 F until barely set, so that only the centre moves when the pan is gently shaken. If air was worked into the liquid, cracks may appear, and without a covering, a crust may form. After baking, pots de crème are quickly removed from the water bath, cooled, covered, and refrigerated; without covering, they absorb fridge smells. They are served cold in the baking dishes, which may be ramekins or specialty porcelain cups with lids.
Varieties
The rich flavour of a basic pot de crème comes from eggs and cream, with no particularly prominent flavours. Common additions include vanilla, nuts, coffee, and chocolate. Harold McGee describes a chocolate pot de crème as essentially a ganache, and Dorie Greenspan notes a popular belief that they are culinary siblings of chocolate pudding, though chocolate pot de crème is seen as sophisticated while pudding is homey; the difference lies in cooking method and flour—pudding uses cornflour and is stirred on a stove. Kyri Claflin observes that some chocolate pots de crème in France are a mousse rather than baked custard. Hering's Dictionary of Classical and Modern Cookery identifies versions with toppings such as dates, apricot-sauce and orange blossom water, or poached pear with chocolate sauce, many decorated with whipped cream, and some with pralin mixed throughout.
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