White truffle oil infused custard

If you ever get a chance to dine at the French Laundry the White Truffle oil-Infused Custard with Black truffle Ragout dish is one of the first Amuse Bouche that will be served from the chef's menu. I always wanted to make this dish for quite some time and for some reason never had the right occasion or the right time to make it. But tonight I am having friends over for a fancy dinner so this is a perfect time to whip out the French Laundry cookbook and hopefully I will make Tomas Keller proud by adapting this recipe. Click on link to see our dinning experience at the French Laundry

White Truffle-Infused Custard is served in an emptied egg shell. The custard is fine and rich, perfumed with white truffle oil and topped with a layer of veal stock ragout and black truffle oil, and served with a crispy chip partly submerged in the custard.

The custards themselves are fairly simple to prepare but preparing, cutting and cleaning the egg shells to save for a beautiful presentation takes lot of time. to me in the end the effort is totally worth it! The dish came out looking stunning and the flavor of the custard is simply wonderful. This dish is a great prelude to a great meal. The portion is tiny so once you finish the custard you still want more....

Thomas Keller used chives in this chips, I used parsley because I think it looks a bit fancier but it really does not affect the taste of the chip.

the ragout is very flavorful but I barely made enough so the next time I will increase the portion.

By the way this dish looks deceptively simple...It is not so allow at least a few hours to prepare it.

Ingredients: for 8 eggs (note: I doubled the recipe for 18 people)

Chive Chips

1 large russet potato

2 tsp Clarified Butter

Kosher Salt

About 20 Chive tips

Custards
8 large eggs

2/3 cup milk

2/3 cup heavy cream

1 1/2 Tbsp White Truffle Oil

Kosher Salt

Freshly ground White Pepper

Ragout

1/3 cup Veal or Beef Stock
dash of white wine vinegar)
1 tablespoon unsalted Butter
1/2 tablespoon Truffle Oil

Crack the top of the egg. Don't make a large hole, just enough to pour out the inside of the egg. Pour 2 of the eggs into a bowl to reserve for the custard, and the others you can save for any other kitchen uses.

Set the empty shells in the egg carton

Use a sharp knife to cup off the top of the egg. Clean the inside of the shells with running water.

Using your fingers, carefully remove the membrane and clean up any loose shell pieces from the edges of the shell cavity.

Clean them one more time and set them on the egg carton.

In a saucepan, heat the heavy cream and milk.

As soon as it reaches a boil, transfer to a blender. Carefully pulsing, slowly build speed of blender to prevent extreme splattering. Add truffle oil...

.. add the 2 reserved eggs, truffle oil, salt and pepper to taste.

Strain the custard through a fine mesh strainer. Allow to sit for a few minutes, then skim foam from top of custard

Place shell bodies upright into reserved egg carton. Carefully pour custards into shells, filling about 2/3 full.

The eggs are now filled up.

Preheat oven at 275 degrees.

Using a pan that is a least 3 1/2 – 4″ deep, fill about 1″ of hot water into the pan. Place custards (carton and all) into the water, and top off with more water if necessary to have water level reach 3/4 up the sides of the eggs. Place pan into oven, cover with a lid or baking sheet, and bake for 40-45 minutes, or until custards are set. Remove from oven and set aside.

Peel the potato & use a paring knife to trim it into a band-aid shape, about 4" long & 1" wide.

Close look on how I trimmed the slice of potato into a band-aid shape.

Put the stock into a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Simmer for about 3-4 minutes, or until it coats the back of a spoon. There should be about 3 Tablespoons of sauce.

Finishing: Swirl butter and truffle oil into reduced stock. Season to taste. Place each egg in a cup, and spoon about 1 teaspoon of ragout on top of the custards and then place a crisp chip in each egg.