# The custard in my creme brulee came out... curdled



## vorius (May 16, 2013)

I am using a recipe I printed out and my mom has been using for a long time with great success, it is from Alton Brown but is a pretty standard creme brulee recipe (no corn starch or cinnamon sticks in it!!)

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/creme-brulee-recipe/index.html

When my mom makes it the custard is so silky smooth and delicious

This time I helped her and the result was that the custard came out too thick and in this curdled consistency, almost bordering on like cottage cheese.

There were two primary differences:

We used a new brand of heavy cream because the old one had carrageenan in it (wtf?) so we wanted to dump that and also I took care of the cooking of the milk with vanilla beans

When I cooked it, I probably was a bit too hasty/sloppy and it came to a complete boil.

So what do you think it could be? The overcooking of the cream or is it the quality of the new cream we got?

edit: or could it perhaps be another cause - if we tempered the cooked cream into the egg yolk mixture too soon?


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## durangojo (Jul 30, 2007)

my thoughts are that you either heated the cream way too fast or the cream was way too hot when you added it to the eggs or maybe even a bit of both......a few questions????

~ What did the cream look like after it boiled and you took it off the stove....after it settled down?
~ Did the cream look curdled or weird or any different from your previous experiences before you 
added it to the eggs?
~ Since the cream was boiled, did you let it cool down longer before adding to the eggs?
~ Did you strain the cream/egg mix and let it rest? Did you skim the top after it rested?(has nothing 
to do with curdling, only appearance)
~ Did the custard look at all different when you poured it into the ramekins? You said it was thick
but was it grainy



another thought is that perhaps your new cream was on the verge of spoilage, but I doubt that was your problem...

joey


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## cheflayne (Aug 21, 2004)

Sounds to me like you had the cream too hot and probably added it to the eggs too fast which would scramble or cook the eggs making for a cottage cheese effect. If the cream itself were the problem you would have noticed it curdling when you heated it and before you added it to the eggs.


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## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

Did you cook the cream containing the eggs too long? 

When you burned the sugar on top did the cream come to a boil?

\When adding hot cream to eggs, did you first add a tbsp to the beaten eggs, while beating, then another, then another, so the eggs were warmed before mixing with the rest of the cream?

All of these point to overcooking the cream with the eggs in it.


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## durangojo (Jul 30, 2007)

Quoting Siduri, "Did you cook the cream containing the eggs too long?"

you might be thinking of creme anglaise here Siduri, or did i read that wrong? When making creme anglaise after tempering the eggs, the pan is returned to the stove to thicken(stirring constantly of course).
In creme brûlée there is no further heating after the eggs are tempered. At least the way I make it.

joey


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## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

durangojo said:


> Quoting Siduri, "Did you cook the cream containing the eggs too long?"
> 
> you might be thinking of creme anglaise here Siduri, or did i read that wrong? When making creme anglaise after tempering the eggs, the pan is returned to the stove to thicken(stirring constantly of course).
> In creme brûlée there is no further heating after the eggs are tempered. At least the way I make it.
> ...


Oops /img/vbsmilies/smilies/blushing.gif- i was talking generally and didn't connect to the link (i don't usually look at the links). The recipe i use says to put the eggs and cream back on the heat for a little until it coats a spoon but without boiling. I just imagined that's how they all were. It's not something i've attempted more than a couple of times, and always with the same recipe.


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