Components: bread pudding, brown butter caramel, lemon-thyme gelato, apple terrine, vanilla crème fraiche, sbrisolona
Concept: An innovative approach to a classically rustic dessert.
Approach: It’s difficult to heat bread pudding in an oven without drying it out. Placing a sauce in the center of the bread pudding makes it easier to heat the pudding quickly and ensures that the pudding remains moist and creamy.
Ingredients/Technique: For the bread pudding: The bread is soaked in a custard mix and packed into a fleximold. The caramel center is a brown butter caramel bound with gellan gum. The caramel is frozen in a sheet and cut into bars that are then encapsulated into the pudding. The pudding is not baked; it is pressed into a fleximold’ allowed to set for 24 hours, unmolded, and heated to order. For the apple terrine: Granny Smith apples are sliced, layered with cinnamon sugar, and pressed for 12-24 hours. The juice is drained and the terrine is baked at 275F for 6 hours. (Given the long cooking time, I didn’t see any benefit in using heirloom apples for this recipe.) Lemon thyme adds an herbaceous flavor that lends a “faux” freshness to cooked apples. I serve the vanilla crème fraiche as a light foam and top the terrine with sbrislona to add a crunchy element and anchor the gelato.
Flavor Pairing: caramel, apple, and lemon thyme.
Comments: This dessert is a personal favorite because it best represents my approach to desserts: presenting a classic dessert using contemporary techniques and unusual flavors. The best part of serving this dish is the look of surprise when people cut into the pudding and caramel pours out. (Thanks Alex Stupak for sharing the caramel “gel” recipe via So Good magazine!)
Buttery. Salted. Caramel. 
Leave a comment