Haggis-spiced Crème Brulee

By Scott Davies -

Haggis-spiced crème brulee with Atholl Brose ice cream by Scott Davies, Head Chef at The Three Chimneys

“For me, the true spices of haggis are coriander seeds, mace, nutmeg and black pepper. These flavours naturally work well with cream, caramel, whisky, and apple. The spices really make this dessert sing, giving depth of flavour and a warming spice – perfect for this time of year.

Atholl Brose is a Scottish liqueur, which is made of oats (brose), honey, whisky and sometimes cream. It’s usually drunk at Hogmanay. It is not known for how long Scottish folk have been drinking Atholl Brose but the earliest recorded recipe dates back to 1475. We have used the flavours and ingredients and adapted into ice cream.” – Scott Davies, Head Chef.

Serves 8

Haggis-spiced crème brulee ingredients:

500ml double cream

2g Isle of Skye sea salt

100g egg yolk

1 egg

100g golden caster sugar (plus 4 tsp for topping)

1 bay leaf

Pinch of thyme

3.5g cracked black pepper

5g toasted coriander seeds, crushed

Pinch of nutmeg & mace

Method:

Place the cream in a pan on a medium heat and bring to a simmer. Add the spices, thyme and bay leaf then remove from the heat and leave to stand for 20 minutes.
Whilst the cream is infusing, line metal rings with cling film 5cm by 5cm and place on a damp Jcloth on a flat, heavy based tray.
Whisk together the yolks, egg and sugar and put the cream back on the heat until boiling. Then pass over the egg mixture, whisk and leave to settle for 5 minutes.
Remove any foam and pass the mixture through a fine sieve. Split between the moulds and bake at 90 degrees Celsius (fan) for 45 minutes until just set. Leave to cool and then refrigerate.
To serve, remove the cling film from the bottom and place this side up. Sprinkle over the extra sugar and blow torch the outside until the cream falls.
Then remove the ring and blow touch the sugar until it turns a dark caramel. If you don’t have a blow torch, finish under a very hot grill.

Apple puree ingredients:

1 large Bramley apple (peeled, cored & roughly chopped, approx. 250g apple)

50g unsalted butter

20ml lemon juice

50g caster sugar

50ml apple juice

Method:

Place all of the ingredients together in a saucepan. Cook over a medium heat for 10 minutes. until the apple is softened and pureed.
Pass through a fine sieve and check the seasoning then place in a squeeze bottle or piping bag and leave to cool until serving.

Atholl Brose ice cream ingredients:

300ml double cream

300ml whole milk

75g heather honey

45g oats

½ vanilla pod split, pod and seeds separated

3 large free-range egg yolks

30ml Talisker 10 year old whisky

Method:

Place the oats in a bowl and pour over the milk. Cover and leave in the fridge overnight.
The next day, strain the milk off the oats and re-weigh the milk back up to 300ml, then discard the oats (use for your morning porridge).
Add to a saucepan the milk, cream and vanilla pod. Bring slowly to the simmer.
Whisk together the vanilla seeds, yolks and honey, until thick and pale. Pass over the hot milk, whisk together and then pour back into a clean pan.
Cook over a medium heat until thickened and the mixture coats the back of a spoon. Pass through a fine sieve, leave to cool, then churn in an ice cream machine and freeze.

Oat crumble ingredients:

100g malt brown flour

50g butter

50g dark brown sugar

25g rolled oats

25g pinhead oats

Pinch of salt

Method:

Rub together the flour, salt and butter, until it forms breadcrumbs.
Mix in the sugar and oats, then place on a baking tray in the oven at 170 degrees for 25 minutes.
Stir the mixture a couple of times whilst cooking until it becomes golden brown. Leave to cool.

*Garnish

1 granny smith apple, sliced into sticks

1 cox apple, cubed

Common sorrel