Set the ramekins in a baking pan. Add just enough water so the ramekins are almost halfway submerged—a bain-marie. Using a ladle, fill the ramekins with the mixture. Gently place the baking pan in the oven, careful not to slosh water into the ramekins. Bake for 55 minutes. Take the pan out of the oven, again being careful not to get water in the ramekins. Let the ramekins cool, then refrigerate for a minimum of four hours.
Before serving, sprinkle each ramekin with brown sugar, covering the mixture (around ½ tablespoon). Caramelize the sugar topping using a kitchen torch.
TOPPINGS
In the spring or summer, top your crème brûlée with fresh sliced strawberries marinated in cognac. Garnish with a sprig of fresh rosemary or basil.
In the fall or winter, top your crème brûlée with spicy red wine–poached pear slices and garnish with a star anise.
acknowledgments
Sometimes it takes a “brigade” to write a book. I’m so very thankful for all of the people who believed in Sophie’s story and saw it come to fruition. Let’s get started, shall we?
Merci to the fabulous Eloisa James. Thank you for your friendship and for connecting me with my dream agents. I am eternally grateful for your kind referral.
Thank you to my dream agents (yep, I got two agents for the price of one!), Kimberly Witherspoon and Jessica Mileo at InkWell Management. Without your guidance and support, this book wouldn’t have hit the shelves. We really dug into this story, making it submission-ready. Thank you for believing in me and in Sophie.
Thank you to my dream editor, Cindy Hwang. Truth: when my agents put this book on submission, I Googled all of the requesting editors and found a video featuring Cindy. I fell in love with her. Along with a drawing of a penguin, I immediately wrote the following words down on my kitchen chalkboard: “Berkley. Penguin. Remain positive.” As I write this, my chalkboard still displays that drawing and the words in all their glory.
Thank you to the entire team at Berkley, especially Cindy’s incredible assistant, Angela Kim, copy editor extraordinaire Christine Masters, and the publicity and marketing teams. I am thrilled you welcomed me into the Berkley family with open arms.
Speaking of family, my mother taught me to write down my dreams and that if you work hard enough for them, perhaps they will come to fruition. Thanks, Mom, they did! Thank you to my father, Tony, who has given me much-needed writerly advice. Thank you to my sister, Jessica, who is my biggest book cheerleader. And thank you to my grandmother, who I’ve dedicated this book to. I miss her fiercely, but she still lives on in my heart and in the recipes she taught me.
A huge merci goes out to my army of sous chefs—my beta readers, especially Karen Burns, who read the book not once, but twice, and to Lizzie Harwood, Leslie Ficcaglia, Jo Maeder, Diane Stevenson, and Cassandra Firemark. Thank you to my chef friends: Mary O’Leary, Mardi Michels, Randall Price, and Didier Quémener, who guided me in the cooking world. Thank you to my Paris Author’s Group (PAG), especially Lisa Anselmo, for answering all of my questions. And thank you to my friends: Oksana Richie, Alicia Mattes Rourke, and Kate Elizabeth Redfern. Merci mille fois!
Thank you to all the chefs who have shared their stories, either on the page or on the docuseries Chef’s Table. You all inspired this story, especially Anthony Bourdain, Éric Ripert, Gabrielle Hamilton, Dominique Crenn, and Barbara Lynch. Thank you. By the way, a huge félicitations goes out to Chef Crenn, the first woman in the US to receive three Michelin stars. I applaud you. A standing ovation.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t thank my biggest inspiration, my French husband, Jean-Luc, and my stepkids, Max and Elvire. Thank you for correcting my French. Thank you for giving me a new lease on life. Thank you for dealing with all my crazy shenanigans. Thank you for being supportive, and thank you for teaching me how to cook French. Je vous aime. Beaucoup! Beaucoup! Beaucoup!
Finally, I’d like to thank you, dear reader, for choosing to read this book. Merci! Merci beaucoup! Merci mille fois!
Author photo by Susy Barrat
Samantha (Sam) Vérant is a travel addict, a self-professed oenophile, and a determined, if unconventional, at-home French chef. Over the years, she’s visited many different countries, lived in many places, and worked many jobs—always on the lookout for the one thing that truly excited her. Then one day, she found everything she’d been looking for: a passion for the written word and true love. Writing not only enabled her to open her heart, it led her to southwestern France, where she’s now married to a sexy French rocket scientist she met in Paris when she was nineteen (but ignored for twenty years); a stepmom to two incredible kids, Max and Elvire; and the adoptive mother to one ridiculously fat French cat, a Chartreux named Juju. When she’s not trekking from Provence to the Pyrénées, tasting wine in American-sized glasses, or embracing her inner Julia Child while deliberating what constitutes the perfect bœuf bourguignon, Sam is making her best effort to relearn those dreaded conjugations.
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The Secret French Recipes of Sophie Valroux Page 30