Serves 4
Ingredients
Crispy Bacon
4-8 rashers of streaky bacon, depending on size
Choux
165ml water
40g butter, unsalted
95g flour
2 large eggs
Chive Custard
250ml milk
½ cup of chives, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon flour
1 tablespoon cornflour
3 egg yolks
50g butter
¼ cup chives finely sliced
Bacon Fat Craquiline
1 cup of trimmed bacon fat
brown sugar
flour
Hash Brown
2 crème royal potatoes
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tbsp cornflour
1 egg
grapeseed oil
Nitrous Eggs
3 eggs
75ml cream
1 tbsp oil
10g butter
salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
Preheat oven to 200°C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
For the Crispy Bacon, place bacon between two pieces of baking paper, and between two baking trays.
Bake at 200°C for 20-30 minutes or until golden and crispy.
For the Choux, place water, butter and pinch of salt in a saucepan on high heat. When it comes to a boil, take off the heat and add the flour. Mix with a spatula.
Return pan to a medium heat and continue to stir the dough until it forms one mass, it doesn’t stick to the sides, and it forms a film on the bottom of the pan.
Transfer to a stand mixer and mix on medium speed to cool the mixture down. If you don’t have a stand mixer, mix by hand with a spatula in a metal bowl.
Once there is little or no steam and the mixture has cooled down, add one egg at a time to mix. The dough will ‘split’ into chunks, keep mixing until it comes back together then add the next egg. The mixture should form a V when it falls off the spatula.
Put the mixture into a piping bag fitted with 3cm round nozzle and place into the fridge to chill for 15 minutes.
For the Bacon Fat Craqueline, place bacon fat in a cold pan with a tablespoon of water and then place on a medium heat. Cook fat until it renders out, lowering the heat if needed to avoid burning. Strain off the bacon and weigh your rendered fat.
Measure and add equal parts of brown sugar and flour to the weight of the fat. For example if you ended up with 50 grams of fat, add 50 grams of brown sugar and 50 grams of flour. Mix well to combine. Add up to 1 tablespoon more of flour if required.
Roll the craquiline mixture out between two sheets of baking paper and place in the freezer for 10 minutes.
For the Chive Custard, heat the milk and the roughly chopped chives until just simmering, being careful not to boil. Keep on low heat for 3 minutes and then remove from heat and let infuse. Season with salt to taste.
Whisk the sugar, flour, cornflour and egg yolks in a medium bowl until pale and aerated.
Strain the milk and discard the chives. Add a small amount of the hot milk mixture to the eggs, constantly whisking. Slowly combine the remaining milk. Once all the milk has been added, return to the saucepan and whisk over medium heat until the custard has thickened. This will happen very quickly, if you take your eye off it or stop whisking you will end up with lumps.
Once the custard has thickened, transfer to a metal bowl and use cling wrap to give it a protective film. Cool in the fridge.
Once cooled, add the butter and use an immersion blender to emulsify. Add the finely sliced chives and stir to combine.
Meanwhile, onto the lined baking tray, pipe 3cm buttons of cooled choux mixture. Pipe at least 12.
Use a 3cm ring cutter to cut the same amount of disks from your chilled craquiline sheet. Place a disk on top of each choux button.
Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes at 200°C, or until choux buns have risen completely and are a light golden brown in colour. At this point turn the temperature down to 150°C and bake for a further 15-20 minutes.
Use a chop stick to poke a small hole in each choux bun, and return to oven for another 5 minutes. This will help to dry them out and cook them through.
Meanwhile, for the Hash Brown, use a cheese grater to grate potatoes into a double piece of cheese cloth. Squeeze the mixture and wring into a tight ball to remove as much moisture as possible. Dry a second time with paper towel.
In a medium bowl combine the potato, smoked paprika, cornflour, egg, and salt and pepper.
Heat oil in fry pan over medium heat and add a flat disk of hash brown, 3cm in diametre. Fry slowly and then finish at a higher heat for a crisp golden brown result.
For the Nitrous Eggs, whisk the eggs and cream and season with salt and pepper.
Transfer egg mixture to a cream syphon gun and charge with two nitrous cartridges.
Heat a frypan with oil and butter and syphon directly onto a hot pan. Gently cook like scrambled eggs, using a silicone spatula. Set aside.
To assemble, cut each choux bun in half, add a scoop of chive custard to the inside of the top and bottom buns. Then from the bottom up, layer hash brown with egg and finish with bacon. Place the top back on and serve.
For other delicious recipes, click here.