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Chocolate Bacon Cayenne Brulee at Café de Ville

Our last stop during our Thursday night Pork –Week pork crawl was over to Café de Ville on 124^th street to visit Chef Tracy Zizek for a real treat – Chocolate Bacon Cayenne Brulee.

Creme brulee is hands down my favourite dessert. I’ve only ventured into the world of chocolate in the last couple of years so I was curious what this would taste like. Being Pork Week in Edmonton… I was game for everything our chefs would cook up.

We arrived late in the evening with our bellies full of pork, but room for some sweetness. We ordered pots of peppermint tea and waiting for our pork dessert.We were warned the dish was quite decadent and could be shared. What arrived at the table was beautiful – the burnt sugar topping accented with a bacon strip dipped in chocolate.

Cracking the topping is my favourite part of eating crème brulee, and so we set our spoons in at the same time we each had our own unique flavour explosion. My first bite was of thick rich chocolate; with a smoky taste from what I assumed was the Cayenne but no bacon? Jaclyn on the other hand was raving about how strong the bacon flavour was.

I kept digging and on my third bite in, I got a morsel of bacon. I have to say I was a huge fan, and the smoky salty taste with the sweetness of the chocolate totally worked for me. As it was nearing the end of the evening Chef Tracy Zizek came out to say her hellos and have a seat with us. She said the dish had been popular during Pork Week, and many of those willing to try a bacon-inspired chocolate dessert ‘got it’.

I got it, all the way down to the last bite. I also loved the commitment to try something new and exciting. Bacon in your dessert is not for everyone, but I am a huge fan of this dish and overjoyed that Chef Paul Campbell and Chef Tracy Zizek of Café de Ville were willing to share this creation for me.Thanks also for bringing Pork Week east of Edmonton, with a unique pork menu at the Cafe de Ville Sherwood Park location.

So… just in time for Thanksgiving:

Chocolate Bacon Cayenne Brulee

Recipe Courtesy of Café de Ville
serves 8-10 6oz portions

Ingredients:
1lb regular sliced bacon
1liter heavy cream
7.5oz sugar
7.5oz egg yolks
4oz dark chocolate
1tsp cayenne
1tbsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. In a sauté pan cook the bacon until it becomes crispy.
2. Remove the bacon from the pan and chop finely and reserve till later.
3. Steep the heavy cream in a sauce pan with the vanilla until just before simmer.
4. Whisk together egg yolks and sugar in a separate bowl until pale yellow in color.
5. Add the chocolate to the hot cream and whisk until it is melted in.
6. Slowly temper 1/4 of the hot cream into the egg yolk sugar mixture. Then add remaining cream to the mix.
7. Whisk in the cayenne pepper.
8. Divide the bacon bits up between the brulee dishes and pour the egg and cream mixture over top until the dishes are full.
9. In a water bath bake the brulee’s at 325f for about 45-60 minutes or until the custard is just barely set.
10. Remove from the water bath and let cool till room temperature.
11. To finish brulee’s sprinkle with a thin layer of sugar on top of the custard and caramelize with a creme brulee torch.
12. Garnish with a piece of chocolate dipped bacon!