Discover the Affordable Secret Ingredient That Transforms Desserts Like Vanilla!

Even though its price has stabilized in recent years, vanilla remains a costly ingredient. To save money on sweet recipes, you innovate. Typically, you might opt for liquid vanilla extract from the grocery store, or just a packet of vanilla sugar. When you do splurge on vanilla pods, you carefully scrape out every seed. Then, you place the spent pod in a jar of white sugar, where it slowly releases its fragrant essence. You’ve even experimented with sweet clover, an herb with caramel undertones used by some pastry chefs to flavor custards and sweet pies. But did you know there’s another readily available supermarket product that can substitute vanilla in your favorite desserts? Indeed, Laurent Mariotte swears by it in his crème brûlée recipe.

To prepare this dessert, the food columnist starts by whisking together 5 egg yolks and 100 grams of white sugar in a bowl until the mixture turns pale. He then warms up 50 centiliters of liquid cream slightly, to which he adds 2 to 3 tablespoons of his secret ingredient to infuse. Next, he blends this flavored cream into his egg yolk and sugar mixture. All that’s left is to pour the mixture into 4 individual ramekins and bake for 1 hour at 100°C (212°F). After baking, he lets the crème brûlées cool in the refrigerator for 4 hours. Finally, he sprinkles them with brown sugar and caramelizes the top using a torch.

So, what is Laurent Mariotte’s secret ingredient? It’s actually chicory! Derived from the roots of the chicory plant (or coffee chicory), it adds a mild bitterness and caramel notes to sweet dishes. He also uses it in his egg custard recipe. The method is similar to that of crème brûlée: infusing the chicory in milk, then mixing it into the sugar and egg yolks before baking in a water bath in the oven.

Benjamin Canois, the head pastry chef at Texture(s) in Lille, also creatively uses chicory in a classic dessert: the custard tart. He incorporates 13 grams of liquid chicory, infusing the dessert with rich caramel flavors. This tip is definitely worth trying.