Recommendations

Crème brûlée with Graham’s 20 Years Old Tawny Port

On the plate is a cold vanilla cream under a thin, just-burnt layer of caramel that cracks under the spoon. The twenty-year-old tawny sets nuts, ripe fruit and orange peel against it, with the same caramel tone as the plate.

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From the shelf

The bottle

According to the house's technical sheet, Graham’s 20 Years Old Tawny matures for more than twenty years in wood and is 20 percent alcohol, with a total acidity of 4.7 grams per litre of tartaric acid; the residual sugar is given as Baumé 4.0. The house describes an amber-coloured, golden-glowing wine with a nutty tone, ripe fruit and a hint of orange peel, and a rich, softly sweet and long finish. The house itself pairs the wine with nuts, dried fruit, fruit cake, vanilla ice cream or crème brûlée. According to the Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto, a tawny with an age statement is a blend of different harvests in small oak casks; at twenty years the institute mentions aromas of roasted vanilla and dried fruit. The bottle holds 75 centilitres and should be served between 10 and 14 degrees.

Graham’s 20 Years Old Tawny Port

The combination

Why this works together

Crème brûlée and an old tawny share the same aroma, because both contain caramelised sugar and vanilla; that is the reason the house itself names this dessert. It is therefore a pairing of similarity rather than contrast, and it only works if the wine is at least as sweet as the plate. That is the case here: a twenty-year-old tawny retains a clear sweet core after that ageing, so the cream does not turn flat. The burnt layer on top is slightly bitter, and the 2010 taste research by Green and colleagues shows that sweetness strongly suppresses bitterness in a mixture, so that this bitterness falls back to a roasted note instead of overpowering. At the same time the cream has a lot of fat from cream and yolks, and between two bites that fat is cleared away by the alcohol and the acidity of 4.7 grams per litre. The weight is right too, because a small but rich dessert calls for a glass of which you take small sips.

At the table

The dish

  • For 4 people
  • Ready in 50 minutes, plus at least 4 hours of chilling
  • Type dessert

What you need

  • 5 egg yolks
  • 125 g fine granulated sugar, of which 75 g for the custard and 50 g for the caramel
  • 450 ml whipping cream
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla paste
  • a pinch of salt

How to make it

  1. Preheat the oven to 150 degrees. Place four roomy ramekins in a deep roasting tin and put water on to boil in the kettle.
  2. Beat the egg yolks with 75 g sugar and the salt in a heatproof bowl to a light, airy mixture.
  3. Heat the cream with the vanilla paste in a saucepan over low heat until it just begins to tremble.
  4. Pour a third of the warm cream onto the yolks while whisking, then add the rest and whisk until everything is bound.
  5. Strain the custard through a fine sieve into a jug and skim off the foam. Divide the custard among the little dishes.
  6. Pour hot water into the roasting tray until it reaches halfway up the dishes. Cover the tray loosely with aluminium foil and leave one corner open.
  7. Bake the custards for thirty to thirty-five minutes, until they have just set and the centre still wobbles slightly. Let them cool a little and then put them in the fridge for at least four hours.
  8. Just before serving, sprinkle the remaining 50 g of sugar evenly over the crèmes and caramelise it with a kitchen torch, or very briefly under a hot grill.

In the glass

Serving

Serve the tawny between 10 and 14 degrees, the range the Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto uses for this style; the house recommends it lightly chilled. Use a small tulip-shaped glass and fill it one third, so that the nutty aromas can gather in the bowl. Decanting is not necessary, because a tawny with an age statement is bottled clear. After opening, this style stays good for one to four months according to the same institute; close the bottle after pouring and keep it cool and dark.

Everything about Graham’s 20 Years Old Tawny PortBack to Recommendations from ’t Bockje

Wij verkopen geen alcohol aan personen onder de 18 jaar. NIX18