Roasted Banana Crème Caramel

Poole's: Recipes and Stories from a Modern Diner

I'm not a huge fan of banana desserts, so I was curious whether even I would like this. (My husband is a much bigger fan!) I think roasting the banana changes the flavor, in a good way for me. I would do things differently if I made this again, but even so, it was better than I expected!

I was able to find this recipe in the google books preview here: https://books.google.com/books?id=-JzhDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA270&lpg=PA270&dq=poole%27s+diner+roasted+banana+creme+caramel+recipe&source=bl&ots=J79GPfikq3&sig=ACfU3U3Eb6qWXl4w6PBYsjsiVDOJxfClJQ&hl=en&ppis=_e&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwijtYzQ36fnAhXJmeAKHUeLALsQ6AEwD3oECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=poole's%20diner%20roasted%20banana%20creme%20caramel%20recipe&f=false

Captions

[00:04]: hi guys and welcome to another episode
[00:07]: of cooking the books with Heather on
[00:09]: this episode we are going to be working
[00:11]: from Ashley Christensen this cool diner
[00:14]: cookbook and we're going to be making
[00:16]: roasted banana creme caramel now we had
[00:23]: a bunch of bananas we had three of them
[00:26]: left over just getting dark on the on
[00:30]: the counter and we were looking for
[00:32]: something to do with these and there's a
[00:35]: banana pudding recipe that actually
[00:37]: requires roasting them as well in the
[00:40]: deeper roots cookbook but this recipe
[00:42]: that takes way more bananas this recipe
[00:46]: really only calls for one banana and
[00:48]: probably doesn't even use quite all of
[00:50]: that we're gonna go ahead and do the
[00:52]: three that we had here because as you
[00:54]: can tell they're getting really dark
[00:55]: won't last very much longer on the
[00:57]: counter but and I'm not ready to
[00:60]: actually make all of this today I'm not
[01:03]: ready to do the whole custard and
[01:05]: caramel stuff today but while the
[01:07]: bananas are like this we're gonna go
[01:09]: ahead and roast them and then when we're
[01:13]: done roasting them we take care of them
[01:15]: and then after we do that they will last
[01:18]: in the refrigerator for a few days until
[01:21]: I'm ready to actually do the rest of
[01:24]: this so all we're doing right now is
[01:28]: roasting these bananas I've got my
[01:30]: convection oven on at 400 and we're
[01:34]: going to put these in for about 25
[01:36]: minutes and they're going to be black
[01:38]: when they come out so no pictures of
[01:41]: those in here but like I said Vivian
[01:44]: Howard see fern roots cookbook does a
[01:46]: similar thing for her banana pudding and
[01:49]: there's a picture of them in there and
[01:51]: some that's what I'm going for just
[01:52]: black so we'll be back
[02:02]: my bananas were in the oven for exactly
[02:05]: 25 minutes they're not quite black but
[02:07]: they're very Brown and they smelled a
[02:12]: little bit like roasted marshmallows
[02:15]: while they were in there not sure why
[02:16]: that was interesting and they've been
[02:19]: cooling for a really long time longer
[02:21]: than they should have probably because
[02:23]: some of it you just put the juices in
[02:24]: here with the flesh of the bananas and a
[02:27]: lot of that is sort of stuck so we'll
[02:31]: see how much of that we get I'm glad I
[02:33]: did more than one because this one in
[02:35]: particular looks like it kind of it
[02:38]: puffed up you know they all kind of
[02:40]: puffed up but this one looks like
[02:41]: there's not even that much left in them
[02:43]: in it so now the goal is to remove the
[02:47]: flesh put it in the food processor and
[02:51]: with the juices that I can get and make
[02:56]: it a smooth paste so I'm going to do
[03:01]: that they came and on the skin they came
[03:07]: out with it seems a lot easier than I
[03:10]: expected so that's good I'm trying to
[03:12]: get some of this sticky liquid off of
[03:17]: the parchment paper it certainly didn't
[03:25]: keep any of it from going underneath so
[03:29]: maybe I need to more thoroughly cover
[03:32]: the birthday paper next time there's a
[03:36]: lot of it did go under
[03:50]: that's about all the juice that I can
[03:53]: salvage from there no that's very super
[03:56]: stuck so I'm gonna get as much off the
[03:58]: baking tray as I can so now the goal is
[04:03]: just to woord this up until it's smooth
[04:10]: I'm gonna call that on and I'm going to
[04:14]: transfer this into a container and put
[04:19]: it into the refrigerator and we'll have
[04:21]: it when we're ready to finish making
[04:22]: this recipe so now it's been probably
[04:26]: about a week I ended up putting my
[04:28]: roasted banana in the freezer but we're
[04:31]: ready to actually make the creme caramel
[04:33]: and I've got everything defrosted and
[04:37]: laid out so hopefully we'll be able to
[04:39]: do this you might not get the best shot
[04:41]: of actually making the custard because
[04:43]: we're not gonna reset up over there
[04:44]: because it all kind of has to happen
[04:46]: relatively quickly but I have my oven
[04:49]: preheated convection 275 if you're doing
[04:53]: it on a regular it'll be 300 I've got my
[04:57]: ramekins here you're supposed to spray
[05:01]: them with nonstick spray I don't keep
[05:02]: that in the house I just buttered them
[05:04]: and I have them in this pan with a
[05:08]: kitchen towel I don't much care about
[05:10]: underneath so they don't move a lot
[05:12]: we're going to be putting hot water in
[05:17]: there cooking them in a bain marie which
[05:22]: is just hot water so it's moist in the
[05:24]: oven and the temperature changes less
[05:28]: quickly than with air around it anyway
[05:32]: our first step now is to make the
[05:36]: caramel that goes in the bottom so I've
[05:39]: got my hot water that I'm planning to
[05:41]: use for this and I've
[05:42]: got some sugar in here and you just add
[05:44]: a little bit of water and then turn it
[05:51]: on medium-high heat
[05:53]: I'm pretty sure yes then we're gonna
[05:57]: cook this until it turns a what does she
[06:01]: say very deep amber color caramel is I
[06:06]: mean I've made caramel form a caramel
[06:09]: sauce before whatever it can be a little
[06:12]: challenging so we'll see what happens
[06:14]: here
[06:15]: there are several philosophies about
[06:17]: caramel whether you stir whether you
[06:19]: don't whether you just squirrel whether
[06:20]: you use a pastry brush to get the
[06:23]: crystals off the side I'm just going to
[06:27]: not stir and hope for the best
[06:30]: I don't have a candy thermometer which
[06:33]: she suggests but in my experience candy
[06:39]: thermometers like the standard
[06:43]: non-digital candy thermometers don't
[06:46]: work very well when you don't have very
[06:48]: much of this mixture because it's sort
[06:52]: of a long thing that you clip to the pan
[06:55]: and you have to make sure the bulb is in
[06:59]: the the mixture in the sugar mixture and
[07:04]: it's hard but I do have this which is
[07:08]: sort of an instant-read thermometer you
[07:11]: use it for meat whatever but it does go
[07:13]: up to I think it said 572 degrees so
[07:18]: that should be fine we're cooking this
[07:20]: to 360 Fahrenheit so we're just gonna
[07:27]: let it go got it on the heat she
[07:31]: suggests and we're gonna watch it and
[07:36]: maybe swirl it kind of get the sugar
[07:41]: that doesn't look
[07:43]: liquefied yet it's not all really
[07:47]: dissolved in that water but it liquefies
[07:51]: at a certain temperature right so I'm
[07:54]: gonna check it occasionally with this
[07:56]: thermometer but right now it's nowhere
[07:59]: near caramel color so we're gonna see
[08:01]: what kind of maybe time how long it
[08:04]: takes it's only been about two or three
[08:08]: minutes and it's already starting to
[08:09]: come up to temperature and starting to
[08:11]: change color and this is when you have
[08:12]: to really pay attention to it because
[08:14]: this change can happen really quickly
[08:18]: like this says we're above that
[08:22]: temperature but it is not shoot it is
[08:27]: not quite a deep amber color yet so I'm
[08:31]: gonna go for color but it's going very
[08:35]: very quickly
[08:41]: and I didn't get any crystallization on
[08:44]: the edges and it's starting to smell
[08:48]: like caramel oh oh yeah I think we're
[08:52]: almost there so we're gonna so now we
[08:55]: take it off and swirl it for two minutes
[08:58]: until you can't see the bottom of the
[09:01]: pan not sure exactly what that means but
[09:08]: I think that just means it's getting
[09:10]: thicker
[09:14]: definitely darkening still even after
[09:17]: I've taken it off the heat
[09:42]: very dark definitely starting to smell a
[09:45]: little smell not a little quite a bit
[09:47]: toasty so close to Bart but I think
[09:57]: we're okay that happened very very
[09:59]: quickly
[10:08]: because I think it's been like a total
[10:10]: of about four minutes no you have four
[10:12]: minutes alright so now I put about a
[10:15]: tablespoon of this into the bottom of
[10:19]: each of these ramekins
[10:28]: I'm just gonna kind of divide this
[10:32]: equally among all of my ramekins and
[10:38]: this will harden basically cook this
[10:41]: sugar until it will harden to a solid
[10:47]: state in the bottom here and you want
[10:51]: that to happen before you put the
[10:52]: custard in so it's hot much as I want to
[11:02]: touch them alright so now we're going to
[11:04]: make our custard
[11:06]: and I've got everything here so we're
[11:11]: going to put the rest of the sugar the
[11:14]: recipe calls for in this saucepan I
[11:18]: think I forgot to get something to stir
[11:20]: with but look at this we have some whole
[11:26]: milk we have some heavy cream
[11:37]: me a pinch of salt some vanilla and the
[11:52]: banana puree now I'm not sure if I'm
[11:57]: supposed to whisk this or yep whisk
[12:03]: together all right
[12:05]: I've got my whisk here that I'm gonna
[12:08]: use later as well this will be fine for
[12:11]: whisking this together and on medium
[12:17]: heat and remember how I said that it
[12:28]: calls for one banana and I went ahead
[12:30]: and did three because that's what I had
[12:32]: know when to use them up that measured
[12:35]: amount of banana that I was supposed to
[12:37]: have I use almost all of the three
[12:40]: bananas that I roasted so go ahead and
[12:44]: do more than it says otherwise you might
[12:45]: not have enough now we don't need to
[12:56]: whisk anymore I'm just gonna stir you
[12:58]: get your spatula to stir this and we
[13:03]: cook this to 180 degrees so I'm gonna
[13:07]: just use this to verify when we get
[13:13]: there when I think
[13:18]: doesn't give you any suggestions on time
[13:25]: but my banana was cold
[13:30]: everything else was cold so it might
[13:33]: take a little bit to come up to that to
[13:34]: culture we are really close to 180 and
[13:39]: when I leave it alone for too long it's
[13:41]: starting to bubble so I think that's
[13:44]: probably right about where you're we're
[13:48]: 180 is with this mixture let it go for
[13:54]: about another minute maybe and check it
[13:57]: probably less than a minute and check it
[13:59]: again
[13:59]: and I think we'll be there definitely a
[14:04]: 180 now alright so I'm going to take it
[14:07]: off of the heat now I have egg yolks
[14:14]: that I want to do right here but because
[14:17]: that's hot I'm gonna get a towel
[14:20]: cause I want to do this here for filming
[14:22]: purposes I'm just going to put these
[14:23]: towels down and also help help it'll
[14:26]: help the bowl will not spin around and
[14:28]: not get the heat from there
[14:30]: so me use the same whisk that I used to
[14:32]: have set up together and whisk these
[14:36]: until they lighten in color okay I think
[14:43]: that's good enough and now we add a
[14:47]: little bit of this at a time to this
[14:53]: mixture and whisk it the whole time just
[14:59]: try not to waste any of that before we
[15:01]: add the rest
[15:02]: this is tempering the egg yolks so that
[15:05]: you know they don't curdle and become
[15:07]: scrambled eggs
[15:10]: [Music]
[15:17]: and then can go ahead and have the rest
[15:20]: in without being so gentle with it
[15:24]: because the eggs have sort of gotten
[15:26]: warmer and they should be curdled but we
[15:29]: also need to whisk it that so I can't do
[15:34]: both of the same should make sure I've
[15:47]: got as much out of here as possible
[15:49]: because that's the kind of person I am
[15:51]: I hate to be wasteful all right okay now
[16:02]: we're just going to divide this into
[16:04]: these ramekins Angie as you know even as
[16:10]: possible when you start with a little
[16:11]: bit less than I think they should hold
[16:19]: [Music]
[16:28]: okay now we put this hot water it's not
[16:36]: super hot anymore but whatever into this
[16:44]: dish try not to get it into the ramekins
[16:49]: until it comes up about half way a lot
[16:56]: of people do this while it's sitting in
[16:57]: the oven which is not a bad idea
[16:58]: especially if the water is boiling but I
[17:01]: think we'll be okay
[17:02]: I think that'll be that'll be for me and
[17:07]: I'm gonna put these in the oven for 60
[17:12]: to 90 minutes or until they just give a
[17:16]: slight jiggle they should be set
[17:18]: throughout so that's my plan so I'm
[17:24]: gonna just put these in the oven and
[17:26]: we'll check in on when they're done it
[17:28]: has been exactly 60 minutes and I just
[17:31]: took these out of the oven and they have
[17:34]: because they have basically no jiggle at
[17:37]: all see I don't see any jiggle so I
[17:41]: think that that is done I didn't check
[17:43]: them at all before 60 minutes but I
[17:46]: think we're good I'm gonna take these
[17:47]: out
[17:48]: puppy hot water bath and let them cool a
[17:50]: little bit and then they go in the
[17:52]: refrigerator for at least two hours
[17:54]: [Music]
[18:02]: on this episode of cooking the books
[18:05]: with Heather you watch me make roasted
[18:07]: banana creme caramel from the pool's
[18:10]: diner cookbook now I measured everything
[18:16]: correctly and I followed the directions
[18:22]: almost perfectly but I feel like there
[18:25]: were maybe some measurement problems
[18:28]: with this recipe so it was supposed to
[18:31]: make 6 4 ounce custards I pretty sure I
[18:35]: didn't get 4 full ounces in any of my
[18:37]: custards
[18:38]: and adding up all of the ingredients
[18:42]: that didn't seem like it would be three
[18:46]: cups of stuff 6 4 ounce yet that'd be 3
[18:49]: cups I don't think there was three cups
[18:51]: of stuff there um but and we would have
[18:57]: preferred I think for the custard to be
[18:59]: a little bit thicker because it kind of
[19:02]: turned out thin we turned it over you
[19:04]: know it wasn't as beautiful as expected
[19:08]: now I think my custard cups do hold 6 to
[19:14]: 8 ounces they weren't full so a thinner
[19:19]: cup you know a less volume Cup would
[19:24]: have made it thicker but anyway I feel
[19:26]: like that wasn't quite right I also feel
[19:29]: like one banana wouldn't have given me a
[19:33]: half cup of banana puree maybe if the
[19:37]: bananas have been less ripe maybe I
[19:41]: still don't think so but my husband does
[19:45]: want to try it again with less ripe
[19:47]: bananas and maybe making them thicker
[19:52]: making me before instead of 6 and the
[19:58]: caramel I should have trusted my
[20:00]: thermometer it was definitely really
[20:02]: really really close to burnt didn't
[20:06]: taste horrible but I should have trusted
[20:10]: the instructions and taking them off
[20:12]: taking it off of the heat
[20:14]: it's world it I think that probably
[20:15]: would have brought it up to a the color
[20:20]: I was looking for because when I got to
[20:23]: the temperature it certainly wasn't the
[20:25]: darker color that I was expecting and so
[20:28]: that's why I left it on longer anyway
[20:30]: trust those instructions caramel
[20:33]: caramelized sugar usually follows the
[20:36]: the temperature pretty well and that was
[20:40]: my bad
[20:42]: but everything else it was a you know
[20:46]: it's a pretty presentation when you do
[20:48]: it correctly when you uh when you turn
[20:50]: it over and you get it all out perfectly
[20:53]: it's beautiful it could be a very
[20:55]: impressive dish if you really like
[20:57]: bananas the banana flavor I'm not a
[21:01]: super fan of bananas banana fat flavor
[21:03]: was pronounced but not not overwhelming
[21:08]: I like bananas but I'm not a super fan
[21:11]: of especially really really ripe bananas
[21:14]: but even though it wasn't a super fan I
[21:17]: really liked it my husband liked it I
[21:19]: don't think we even let the kids try it
[21:23]: because timing didn't work out I don't
[21:29]: know anyway so that's it for this
[21:33]: episode of cooking the books with
[21:35]: Heather if you enjoyed it please give me
[21:37]: a thumbs up subscribe and come back next
[21:40]: week to watch me cook something else
[21:44]: [Music]