Buttermilk Pudding with Blood Oranges
When I received an invitation to spend a morning in the pastry section of Rocco Forte’s Brown’s Hotel in Mayfair with head pastry chef Fabien Ecuvillon I was delighted. Fabien is a very good friend of mine; we have known each other for sometime. I like to listen to Fabien as he knows what he’s talking about and I know that I will learn a thing or two.
While I was there Tony has turned out 360 miniature scones for the afternoon tea. Vernon baked a few apple cheesecakes and made a batch of individual Yorkshire Rhubarb pies. The rest was a blur as they all move so fast, I have about 300 blurry photos of them all dashing about. I had a great morning and felt privileged to be there, as I have not been in a pastry kitchen of that calibre for quite some time.
Fabien has made this incredibly delicious Buttermilk pudding with blood oranges. He has taken a lot of time to explain to me step by step how he makes this wobbly gorgeous and very sexy pudding. I love it when he speaks 
with his heavy French accent and the detail he goes into. Explaining that you should let the infused cream mixture cool down before adding it to the buttermilk. Reason for this is that the buttermilk has a fresh and slightly acidic taste, if the cream is too hot it will scorch the buttermilk and the beautiful fresh taste will be masked. Brilliant! I told you I love his explanations and reasoning’s. When I took my first mouth full, I completely understood what I was eating and it all made sense.
After Fabien made the buttermilk pudding he took me in to his “cellar”. I could not believe my eyes Fabien and his team has already made 85kg of mince pie filling, 95 Christmas cakes and 750 Christmas puddings for Christmas 2009. It’s impressive, considering it was all done by the first week of February 2009. Fabien unwraps each cake once a month to add a glug of brandy, that will be some happy drunken cakes come December! It’s a time consuming task and a lot of pride and passion goes in to it, but when I see how proud Fabien is about his Christmas cakes I completely understand.
The kitchens at Brown’s are immaculate, Fabien speaks with lots of passion and one can do nothing other than wanting to listen to every wise word.
Buttermilk Pudding
- 275g double cream
- 70g caster sugar
- 2.5 gelatine leaves
- 275g buttermilk
- lemon
Prepare 6 125ml size savarin moulds, wash them with hot soapy water and dry thoroughly. Place the moulds in the fridge to chill.
Soak the gelatine in cold water for 5 minutes.
Bring the cream, sugar and seeds from one vanilla pod to the boils, once the cream boil remove the saucepan from the heat.
Drain the gelatine and add to the warm cream, whisk to melt the gelatine. Pass the mixture through a fine sieve and let the cream mixture cool down to 37°C.
Fold the buttermilk to the cooled cream, add a few drops of freshly squeezed lemon juice to the mixture. Mix well.
Pour the mixture into the prepared chilled moulds, return to the fridge for 3 hours to set completely.
Blood Orange Compote
* 2 blood oranges
* 1tbs light home made marmalade
Peel the oranges and cut the segments out with a sharp knife.
Place the orange segments in a sieve, let the juices drain off for about 5 minutes.
Place the marmalade in a small saucepan, gently heat. Add some of the orange juice to let the marmalade down. Add a few drops of freshly squeezed lemon juice to taste. Remove the saucepan from the heat once the marmalade is melted with a coating consistency.
Gently fold the marmalade coulis in to the orange segments, do not mix too much as you do not want to break them.
Assembling the dish
Turn the buttermilk puddings out from the moulds by either dipping the moulds in hot water or use a blowtorch to heat the bottoms of the moulds lightly. Turn the buttermilk puddings out onto the chosen serving plates and arrange the blood orange compote in the centre of the buttermilk pudding.
Makes 6
Fabien's Food Fanatic Tips
Let the boiled cream chill before adding the buttermilk, this will prevent the buttermilk from loosing it's fresh and slightly acidic taste.
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am keen to try this recipe. can the gelatine quantity please be clarified for me? Does it mean 2 and ahalf leaves of gelatine and of what strength. Many thanks muriel
You are completely right Fabien is an inspiration and true professional. A complete French lunatic (with a wonderful accent!!)Fabien certainly knows his stuff, he worked for me in the city before moving on to Browns. He did a fantastic job throughout his time with me.
‘Passion’ that is an understatment. It is great to read and hear he is pushing boundaries and creating wonderful masterpieces. Pass on my regards, and may I say I’ve been following your site for a while now….a breath of fresh air FANTASTIC!!
MF.
I can’t wait to make this dish!