There is nothing quite like the dichotomous joy of crème brûlée: crunchy and warm on the outside with a creamy, cool interior that titillates the senses like no ice cream, cake or brownie could do . . . unless they were surrounded in crème brûlée. Jim James and M. Ward know what I'm talking about, and they have started a blog dedicated to rating and describing the delicious dessert as they come across it in their travels.
Ward is a little dry in his description, but James fully embraces the poetry of crème brûlée and takes the reader on flights of fancy inspired by his experience with the taste. For example, he wrote an intricate piece set in Cuba in 1957, detailing an imaginary(?) experience:
i dont normally go with strangers but i follow and oh the smells…garlic and olive oil and black beans in a pot and frying pork…but these are not what she wants me to see…somehow she is onto me and knows my true passion…”i know theese is not the brulee…” she says…”but perhaps is close enough?” close enough and miles beyond though not much to look at at first the cream of her enchanted flan fills my mouth- tastebuds and tearducts flood with joy and i feel the eggs in their primitive state, knowing both at once the potential that is carried in any egg, and the full realization of what an egg, whipped into shape, can become…i carry the egg in my mouth for awhile like an expectant mother…then send it down with the pride of a parent watching their little egg pass the bar exam..i know i am safe with this flan… here in this kitchen with this lovely woman such a fine cook smiling with the knowledge of those who have come before her…and her husband lights a cigar and passes it to me and we lean back in our chairs with a little rum in the bottom of our glasses and just let it be is are was were in heaven havana again.
They rate their crème brûlées with logs, but so far the system has no limitations, therefore not much weight. Hopefully it will just propel readers to eat more of this fantastic dessert. Yes, I admit to being horribly biased, but that doesn't mean it's not DELICIOUS!
(via Stereogum)