Chawanmushi
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Lobster poached in beurre monté, served with kaiseki-style egg custard
This is the third recipe from Cooking Space.
Today, we’re going to one of my favorite food cultures for inspiration: Japan. If you’re not familiar with chawanmushi, it’s a beautiful savory steamed egg custard, typically served as a single course of a kaiseki dinner. I love chawanmushi because it truly embodies the delicacy and luxurious nature of Japanese cuisine. And best of all, in the case of this chawanmushi, it’s so simple to make.
This chawanmushi recipe is traditional, and includes soy sauce, mirin, and shiitake mushrooms along with the eggs and other ingredients. From there we’re going to enhance it with lobster poached in beurre monté, a French technique for creating a butter fondue.
We’ll add lemon vanilla extract from vnlla Extract Co., smoked trout caviar, fried shallots, and shiso leaves, helping to take this already powerful combination yet another step further. If some of these techniques are new to you, don’t be afraid of them! Follow along as I cook chawanmushi on episode 3 of Cooking Space, and I guarantee you’ll impress your guests and have them asking you to cook a full 24-course kaiseki the next time you have them over!
Ingredients
Main ingredients
6 dried shiitake mushrooms, whole, rehydrated, then julienned
1/2 cup dashi
4 Pete and Gerry’s Organic Eggs
2 tbsp. carrot, diced
2 tbsp. scallion, thin chiffonade
2 tbsp. mirin
2 tbsp. soy sauce
2 shiso leaves, julienned
2 tbsp. shallots, fried
4 tsp. smoked trout caviar
2 whole lobsters, steamed and shelled
For the beurre monté
1/4 cup water
1 bay leaf. whole
1 lb. cold butter, cubed
1 tsp. vnlla Extract Co. lemon flavored vanilla extract
Special equipment
This recipe requires lidded ceramic ramekins that can handle 145 to 165 degrees F of heat, or comparable small, 12 oz. lidded cooking containers.
Preparation
We’ll be working with cooked lobster later on in the recipe, so you’ll want to cook yours before you start preparing anything else:
Boil your lobster tails in salted water for about four minutes, and claws for about seven minutes. Remove the meat from the shells, dice, and set aside.
We’re also working with dried shiitake mushrooms that you’ll need to rehydrate whole, then julienne before you add them to the recipe.
Finally, we’ll want to use fried shallots for this recipe, and it’ll be a good idea to prepare them ahead of time.
Prepare the egg custard
Whisk two eggs in a large bowl. Add soy sauce, dashi, mirin, scallions, diced carrot, and julienned shiitake mushrooms. Continue to whisk until everything is well-combined.
Ladel the mixture into your ceramic ramekins, filled about halfway, and place the lids on. Place in a water bath (in a large saucepan), with the water held between 145 and 165 degrees F. Cook for 25 to 30 minutes.
Later, when you pull the ramekins out of the water, you’ll know it’s done if the custard is nicely set, and the mushrooms drawn toward the top.
Prepare the beurre monté
Prepare this while the egg custard is cooking.
Add 1/4 cup of water and one bay leaf into a saucepan, and bring to a boil. Whisk in the cold butter, a few cubes at a time, slowly adding more and more.
Once all the butter is whisked in, hold the sauce at a steady temperature, but not boiling or simmering. Add vanilla extract.
Add cooked, chopped lobster and stir into the beurre monté.
Finish the dish
Pull the ramekins containing the egg custard out of the water bath, and remove lids. Add poached lobster on top. Add smoked trout caviar, fried shallots, and julienned shiso leaf.
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