In a French cafe, in Saigon, in 1956,

[Jaymes]

I knew the word "scrambled"  rang a distant gong, so I pulled out "Mastering the Art, Vol.I".  Madame Child had it right there: Omelette Brouillee [scrambled Omelet]

The eggs, says Julia "will become a light broken custard."

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Oh my. So I should have just consulted the "bible."

Edited December 28, 2004 by Jaymes (log)

[stovetop]

Thanks james for starting this very interesting post, Do you have more posts on site about your fathers culinary adventures??

I am amazed of the food theory and history knowledge here at EG, there is nothing that slides by the readers here at EG.

thanks again

steve

[menton1]

A look at old Gourmet Magazines turned up a blurb in November 1979 about a Frenchman who grew up in Vietnam and opened a restaurant in Paris, Tan Dinh. One of the first French-Vietnamese fusion restaurants. They give the recipe for Crèmes Caramels au Gingembre a combination of French and Vietnamese touches for this dessert. I won't post the recipe here without the OK of the site managers, (copyrights) but it uses milk instead of cream, crystallized ginger, and lots of beaten eggs. Sounds like it could be close to what you are searching for here!

Wonder if Tan Dinh still exists-- (doubtful!)

Edited January 11, 2005 by menton1 (log)

[Jaymes]

I won't post the recipe here without the OK of the site managers, (copyrights) but it uses milk instead of cream, crystallized ginger, and lots of beaten eggs. 

Wow. Do you have Gourmet magazines that go back that far?

Re posting the recipe here, it's my understanding that you can post recipes.....ingredient lists, method, etc....if you simply change the wording. I'd love to see that recipe, and I'm betting other folks would as well.

[John Talbott]

A look at old Gourmet Magazines turned up a blurb in November 1979 about a

Wonder if Tan Dinh still exists-- (doubtful!)

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It does but I haven't eaten there in a couple of years.

[menton1]

It does but I haven't eaten there in a couple of years.

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Yes indeed! A search on the annuaire turned up:

Tan Dinh

60, rue de Verneuil

Paris 7th

01 45 44 04 84

And to think, rue de Verneuil is where I stayed on my first visits to Paris! Runs parallel to rue Jacob and the Quai...

Maybe someone in Paris can drop in to this restaurant and inquire about these "Cremes Caramels"!

[menton1]

Here is a recipe adapted from the one in Gourmet November 1979:

Crèmes Caramels au Gingembre

Serves 4

1/4 cup water

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup chopped peeled fresh ginger

4 egg yolks

2 large whole eggs

2 cups whole milk

The first step is making the caramelized ginger, combining the water and 1/2 C sugar and ginger in a saucepan and boiling for 6 minutes. Remove the ginger and keep cooking the syrup until it turns a deep caramel color. Then coat 4 ramekins with the syrup.

Beat up the yolks and the eggs together. Combine milk, 1/2C sugar and cooked ginger in a pan. Bring to a boil. Carefully fold milk into the eggs, whisking as you go. Then put the mix into a fine sieve, throwing out the solids. Pour into the ramekins and bake in a water bath at 325° for 40 mins. Let cool, invert on a plate and garnish with the crystallized ginger.