It’s a song from the 90s and it’s come back to haunt you. Well….  not really. The folks at CinCin put together a crème brulée with a type a cherry that sounds kinda like it. What’s better is the crème brulée is pretty kickass and when the food is kickass, through some mystic power, my thoughts get published in the Friday edition of Vancouver’s 24hrs newspaper. This week we’re talking about the Amarena Cherry Crème Brulée prepared by Thierry Busset.

You can download this week’s version in PDF format HERE (or grab the full newspaper HERE,) or just keep reading (the unrated version) below.

Episode 3 – Hey Amarena

If hearing the name ‘Amarena’ isn’t cause enough to get up and dance to a familiar and similarly named 90’s tune, the tale of this crème brulée will.

On a recent pilgrimage to France, seeking to discover the Country’s nascent cocktail culture, what consistently evaded me was a drink composed of the world’s finest sweet vermouth – the Italian made Antica Carpano. What I discovered was that the highly nationalistic French don’t necessarily look outside their borders for excellence, even if you are drinking at what’s supposed to be an authentic Italian spot.

When I heard that French pastry chef Thierry Busset from CinCin Ristorante was using Italian amarena cherries in his crème brulée, I thought of the move as an enlightened one. These wild cherries, soaked in amarena syrup using a secret 80 year old technique, have made them the most sought-after cherries in Europe, and for good reason: the small, dark, slightly sour cherries, grown mostly in Bologna and Modena resemble olives in texture and are addictive, delicious and bursting with flavour.

Back to the brulée, Chef Busset undoubtedly experimented long and hard to get the right mix – three halved amarena cherries, masterfully inserted into the dessert gives ample opportunity for all good things crème brulée to stand out – a crisp caramel crust, the perfectly consistent custard and the cherries, the sweet sweet cherries, will make for you to want to kick your chair back and yell “Hey Amarena!”

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Image cutline: Pastry Chef Thierry Busset’s Amarena Crème Brulée is so popular that he’s seeking to open up his very own bake shop on Alberni Street within the next year. The crème brulée will definitely be on the menu.

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Raj Taneja is part technologist, part entrepreneur, part social media thought leader and part foodie. He runs urbanmixer.com, publishes a miscellany of his musings at raj.jp and can be found on twitter with the username ‘tinhead.’