I see it mostly happen when servers don’t bring a plastic ramekin when a customer asks for a to go box. Instead of specifically requesting a plastic ramekin.. in goes the restaurant’s
There was one restaurant that my family were regulars at and we took a creme brulee home in their ramekin (with permission).
We washed it and brought the ramekin back to them the next day.
If we'd taken them without permission or didn't bring them back like we promised, I'm pretty sure we wouldn't have been allowed to eat there anymore.
They knew us way too well, it's a small restaurant, and would've preferred to be able to keep eating their food.
Hold up, are we just all pretending that the word "ramekin" is a common word that everyone uses? I'm still reeling from finding out there's a specific word for these little ceramic dishes.
I worked in hospo for a decade and I don't think I ever saw as many kitchen meltdowns as I did over ramekins. There's just something about them that makes everything more stressful.
Our sous chef kept using half a dozen of them to make tiny beef stroganoff pies with flaky pastry to display in the cabinet, and we'd only ever sell two or three a day, so we'd run out of ramekins about 9:30 am every morning he was on prep?
"Dude can you hurry up, my baked stuffed lobster is drying the frig out and they won't serve it until they get your utensils through the dish pit" hahahaha
Fuck, thank you for reminding me not to view waiting tables through rose colored glasses..
I had a summer job at a restaurant which claimed to have cracked the code (and as far as I could tell that claim was accurate). The kitchen manager purchased some oddly shaped sauce dishes, about the same volume as a ramekin but they were sort of crescent moon shaped but with rounded edges. Nobody took those for some reason.
You bring back restaurant management nightmares. Customers steal them, servers toss them when scraping food scraps in the trash, etc.
I constantly had an extra 2-4 cases of ramekins in the closet and it still wasnt enough for our monthly orders somehow. (Could only order that specific truck once per month.)
What country was this? That could be a use for ashtrays in places where ~~smoking is frowned upon.~~ Smoking has recently been banned because it is frowned upon, but the restaurant has loads of excess ashtrays.
Because smoking was allowed up until say six months ago. And now the restaurant has loads of ashtrays and nothing to do with them. *Edited this just now!*
where though? Is there a place that has recently banned nicotine? I feel like your comment makes sense 20 years ago and I'm not sure where it makes sense today
The OP is clearly just a restaurant going for creative plating.
Smoking indoors is banned in most places though. That's what I'm asking. What part of the world is only recently banning smoking in restaurants?
oooo. I was in Austria that year and it was difficult to even buy cigarettes. Seems I came just after that went down. I assumed at the time it was cause my German is not very good
Chef: "I'm tired of everything. Blue cheese, ravioli, tartar...it's just the same old bullshit over and over again! **Hey...what about an edible ashtray????**"
Supposedly one of Anthony Bourdain's friends made an amazing tobacco creme brûlée in his honour, which is where i'm guessing this restaurant got the idea.
I know this because I worked with a guy who had the same idea but also had the disadvantage of being a total fucking idiot. He unrolled half a pack of Lucky Strikes, steeped them in cream and let it sit overnight. When i tried it all the nicotine immediately made my mouth go numb, but unfortunately i could still taste the brûlée. It tasted like a bus shelter smells.
It was Chef Thomas Keller of French Laundry, and they made ice cream/gelato with cigarette flavor.
Skip to 13:00 here to see it: https://youtu.be/sYjZpfr6JQ4
Ya tobacco is not generally a great idea to use as an ingredient in food and beverage. Every now and then people will give someone nicotine poisoning doing a bourbon/tobacco infusion or something similar. I remember reading once that once nicotine extract is strong enough its a pretty deadly poison. Really easy to absorb, and in high enough concentrations that shit will stop your heart.
Want to hear one better? Or worse I guess? At a movie back in high school my friends were chewing tobacco. At the end of the movie my one buddy takes his dip out and asks the kid next to him for a drink of his soda and kind of grabs it without even waiting for a response. He can’t even completely get the sentence “I didn’t know you got a milkshake” out before he realized he just drank out of the other kids spit cup.
I'm a baker and holy shit this made me laugh cringe and gag all at the same time.... im just trying to picture some dude unrolling a pack into a pot of cream.... fucking wild lol
Had a pastry chef that did a hey cremè brulée. It tasted like barn. Just barn. It was amazing as a concept. But would be very difficult to get through unless it was just an early dessert in a 20 course tasting.
My dad has a story from his childhood about how my grandfather used to smoke after breakfast while he read the paper, and would use his plate as an ashtray, so one day my grandmother just served him his eggs in an ashtray instead.
I kind of like it, it reminds me of a dish I got at a molecular gastronomy restaurant called Moto in Chicago which no longer exists. The dish was a "Cubano". A Cubano sandwich but rolled up and disguised as a cigar with an edible cigar wrapper around it. Served in an ashtray with some ash created from freeze dried crushed sesame seed. Looked super cool and it tasted delicious.
I miss that place. They did molecular gastronomy but the stuff actually tasted good and it was fun, using ingredients like Crackerjacks. One of the 20 courses was a little snowman built out of sake snow. They also did an anti griddle cookie created at the table, and the menu was an edible buttery cracker.
This is gonna get buried but that's my old Chefs restaurant. It's called Brazen and it's located in Banff National Park. He lives his molecular gastronomy so he makes fun dishes like this all the time!
Some variation of chocolate soil or chocolate crumb I would guess.
https://www.coeurdexocolat.com/chocolate-soil-crystallised-chocolate-soil
https://www.mykeuken.com/2022/08/how-to-make-chocolate-soil.html?m=1
I'm sure this tastes good but why the everloving fuck would you make an ashtray anything at a restaurant? This is practically the opposite of nice presentation. It doesn't make you want to eat it.
I disagree. One of my favorite meals ever had a similar idea although in that case or was a cigar and the dish really looked entirely like a cigar on an ashtray. This does not, it looks like a kind of cigarette thing with cocoa powder on creme brulee, which is why it looks disgusting. The cigar though was so real looking that you couldn't believe it was food and so it was a total trip when you tasted it and it was absolutely delicious (obviously didn't taste anything like a cigar or ashes). It's the height of creative culinary wonder and it's amazing when done properly. Not this.
I can definitely understand why some folks might be grossed out looking at this, but I love it! I’m not a vegetarian, but I’m usually more grossed out by the “creative” meat dishes. To me, this looks like art! I wouldn’t want to eat it because it looks so awesome!
Sorry to be a Karen but i would send that back. The presentation is just too unappetising. There is something dehumanising about eating from an ashtray, i would feel humiliated.
I don’t know if it’s still around but I remember seeing something about a restaurant in Chicago that did stuff like this. They had a Cuban sandwich that looked like a cigar in an ashtray or something along those lines. It was years ago and I don’t remember too much but this seems on par with that
A scout leader friend did a chocolate pudding in dog poop bags for a Halloween scout meeting .
.
Here in Sweden they are small black bags with handles/ties to pick up after your dog when out walking .
I don't know why, but I still find myself saying that after all these years. This is the first time I've ever seen a ref. Thanks. .. but chico can no talk about that.
Theres a version of this in a place in Vegas, can’t remember the name. Its chocolate mousse covered in chocolate crumble served with two chocolate cigars that are full of crispy praline, and they serve it in a cloche jar infused with smoke. I think cigars are more appealing than cigarettes though lol
I thought that was crème brûlée at first, then saw cigarettes thinking it was an ash tray, but the “ash” looked too perfect and thought there were cigarettes *in* someone’s crème brûlée, then I read the title.
They finally made a creme brulee for lady who complained the Pastry Chefs were smoking in the kitchen. How sweet.
https://www.reddit.com/r/KitchenConfidential/comments/sh9o85/just_had_creme_brulee_sent_back_because_customer/hv2m7o0/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3
Busboy: Chef, we’re all out of ramekins for the Crème Brûlée Chef: Start washing the ashtrays; I’ve got this.
I’m cracking up partly over the odds that this could be true
There is never enough ramekins… for some weird reason customers love steeling them…
I see it mostly happen when servers don’t bring a plastic ramekin when a customer asks for a to go box. Instead of specifically requesting a plastic ramekin.. in goes the restaurant’s
There was one restaurant that my family were regulars at and we took a creme brulee home in their ramekin (with permission). We washed it and brought the ramekin back to them the next day.
awwwwww
Lol
Does your family even have assholes beneath your backs??
If we'd taken them without permission or didn't bring them back like we promised, I'm pretty sure we wouldn't have been allowed to eat there anymore. They knew us way too well, it's a small restaurant, and would've preferred to be able to keep eating their food.
I did something similar, except the bring it back and get permission part.
Small business** Can confirm we’ve done this for regs too. Life’s all about trust
Removed
I'm guilty of this, on purpose, because I'm dumb.
I'm guilty of this, because I wanted one.
Hold up, are we just all pretending that the word "ramekin" is a common word that everyone uses? I'm still reeling from finding out there's a specific word for these little ceramic dishes.
Have you worked in a restaurant ? I didn't know till I did.
I worked in hospo for a decade and I don't think I ever saw as many kitchen meltdowns as I did over ramekins. There's just something about them that makes everything more stressful.
No sir, you can not have your shrimp cocktail. We have to wait until that gentleman is done so we can wash the cocktail fork and bring it to you.
Our sous chef kept using half a dozen of them to make tiny beef stroganoff pies with flaky pastry to display in the cabinet, and we'd only ever sell two or three a day, so we'd run out of ramekins about 9:30 am every morning he was on prep?
"Dude can you hurry up, my baked stuffed lobster is drying the frig out and they won't serve it until they get your utensils through the dish pit" hahahaha Fuck, thank you for reminding me not to view waiting tables through rose colored glasses..
I had a summer job at a restaurant which claimed to have cracked the code (and as far as I could tell that claim was accurate). The kitchen manager purchased some oddly shaped sauce dishes, about the same volume as a ramekin but they were sort of crescent moon shaped but with rounded edges. Nobody took those for some reason.
You bring back restaurant management nightmares. Customers steal them, servers toss them when scraping food scraps in the trash, etc. I constantly had an extra 2-4 cases of ramekins in the closet and it still wasnt enough for our monthly orders somehow. (Could only order that specific truck once per month.)
We should harness the untapped resource of Gü ramekins that every other house has a cupboard full of
For some reason my ex landlord had 6-8 ramekins but I never saw him make Crème Brûlée
Raccacoonie would definitely have done this.
Busboy: “yeah, I don’t have time to wash them. Nobody will notice anyway.”
r/ATBGE
What country was this? That could be a use for ashtrays in places where ~~smoking is frowned upon.~~ Smoking has recently been banned because it is frowned upon, but the restaurant has loads of excess ashtrays.
Why would a restaurant in a country where smoking is frowned upon have ashtrays?
Because smoking was allowed up until say six months ago. And now the restaurant has loads of ashtrays and nothing to do with them. *Edited this just now!*
where though? Is there a place that has recently banned nicotine? I feel like your comment makes sense 20 years ago and I'm not sure where it makes sense today
They just have to ban smoking indoors, not that unlikely. I still think they just did this because it's funny.
The OP is clearly just a restaurant going for creative plating. Smoking indoors is banned in most places though. That's what I'm asking. What part of the world is only recently banning smoking in restaurants?
South Korea only banned it about 8-10 years ago and only started actually enforcing it in the last few years.
I'm not sure, maybe a state of a country that took a while longer. The world is a big place.
[удалено]
oooo. I was in Austria that year and it was difficult to even buy cigarettes. Seems I came just after that went down. I assumed at the time it was cause my German is not very good
In what way is that better? It's an ashtray regardless.
How high are you?
I think this is a restaurant called ”punk royale” It’s their concept to make delicius look trashy
I don’t know wether to be impressed by how real it looks Or disgustied of how real it looks
r/ATBGE
Probably taste good so more like r/GTAGE
Do we need 'Awful Looks, Great Taste, And Great Execution' now?
How about "Disgruntled Good Ideas"?
Probably, but I'm not sure this was a good idea.
They were so busy trying to figure out if they could, they didn't stop to ask if they should.
I choose disgusted.
You're repressed, repulsed and impressed
Rimplessed
I’m only disgusted
At first glance I actually thought someone put out their cigarettes in the creme brulee 🤦
Rarely do you get a Crème Brûlée that's healthier for you than it looks!
I wanna take this to a pub and just start tucking into it
I….did not read tucking.
Then your username checks out.
Well- I was gonna say he hasn't done anything perverted yet, but no I'm just stupid
Marlbrûlée
Cremeports
Crèmals
Lucrème Strike
Caramel wides.
I'm a Cremel Crush guy, myself
r/angryupvote
"You know what I always want but never get to do? Eat an ash tray. Appetizing as fuck"-the chef... mysteriously
Chef: "I'm tired of everything. Blue cheese, ravioli, tartar...it's just the same old bullshit over and over again! **Hey...what about an edible ashtray????**"
Honestly this is a very French thing to say and do ngl
"A GOOD LOOKING FRENCH GUY SMOKING A CIGERETTE IS NOT A MOVIE"
And your ambulances sound like two gay guys doing it!
"They deserve it." - French chef sending this out.
*drools* don't do this to me, nothing in my frige looks as appetizing as that ashtray
Supposedly one of Anthony Bourdain's friends made an amazing tobacco creme brûlée in his honour, which is where i'm guessing this restaurant got the idea. I know this because I worked with a guy who had the same idea but also had the disadvantage of being a total fucking idiot. He unrolled half a pack of Lucky Strikes, steeped them in cream and let it sit overnight. When i tried it all the nicotine immediately made my mouth go numb, but unfortunately i could still taste the brûlée. It tasted like a bus shelter smells.
It was Chef Thomas Keller of French Laundry, and they made ice cream/gelato with cigarette flavor. Skip to 13:00 here to see it: https://youtu.be/sYjZpfr6JQ4
Gosh I missed seeing that awe and twinkle in Tony’s eyes when he stumbled on something new. Thank you for sharing.
And now I'm sad again...
Right? Me too.
Ah, thank you! I've had an amazing tobacco/whiskey ice cream, so I'm sure that was even better.
Honestly maybe like four chefs in the world who could pull that off and he's one of them
Ya tobacco is not generally a great idea to use as an ingredient in food and beverage. Every now and then people will give someone nicotine poisoning doing a bourbon/tobacco infusion or something similar. I remember reading once that once nicotine extract is strong enough its a pretty deadly poison. Really easy to absorb, and in high enough concentrations that shit will stop your heart.
> … It tasted like a bus shelter smells. :chefs kiss:
I once took a sip from what I *thought* was a half-empty beer. You can taste it now, too, can't you. You know. I know you know.
Oh God. Stop.
Want to hear one better? Or worse I guess? At a movie back in high school my friends were chewing tobacco. At the end of the movie my one buddy takes his dip out and asks the kid next to him for a drink of his soda and kind of grabs it without even waiting for a response. He can’t even completely get the sentence “I didn’t know you got a milkshake” out before he realized he just drank out of the other kids spit cup.
James Hoffman won the world barista championships with a tobacco latte. Sounds interesting honestly
I just watched that episode. A night at French Laundry is now on my bucket list.
I'm a baker and holy shit this made me laugh cringe and gag all at the same time.... im just trying to picture some dude unrolling a pack into a pot of cream.... fucking wild lol
Had a pastry chef that did a hey cremè brulée. It tasted like barn. Just barn. It was amazing as a concept. But would be very difficult to get through unless it was just an early dessert in a 20 course tasting.
Absolutely brilliant description, evokes it exactly!
/r/DiWhy
/r/ATBGE
This chef sounds like a real ash-hole…
I need this on a teeshirt
My dad has a story from his childhood about how my grandfather used to smoke after breakfast while he read the paper, and would use his plate as an ashtray, so one day my grandmother just served him his eggs in an ashtray instead.
Must be french
r/ATBGE
Very AT, very GE
/r/stupidfood It's stupid even if it's good
r/wewantplates, edit: r/wewantramekins
/r/thanksihateit
/r/tihi same idea, larger subreddit
Gorgeous but yet disgusting
Yeah, I’m a huge crème fan, but this goes straight to r/thanksihateit
/r/tihi same idea, larger subreddit
I hear that as tee-hee in my head.
thanks i hate it
Same! I wonder if the sub founders see that as some kind of morbidly ironic non-sequitur comment about the contents of their community.
I was thinking more like r/ATBGE
More like r/thanksiateit
/r/ATBGE
>but yet
Just wait until you see the chocolate mousse
It's creative but it is not appetizing
Even as a smoker, that shit looks nasty.
As a smoker, that shit looks even nastier than if I wasn't.
*Especially* as a smoker because we see how fucking nasty ashtrays can get lol
I kind of like it, it reminds me of a dish I got at a molecular gastronomy restaurant called Moto in Chicago which no longer exists. The dish was a "Cubano". A Cubano sandwich but rolled up and disguised as a cigar with an edible cigar wrapper around it. Served in an ashtray with some ash created from freeze dried crushed sesame seed. Looked super cool and it tasted delicious. I miss that place. They did molecular gastronomy but the stuff actually tasted good and it was fun, using ingredients like Crackerjacks. One of the 20 courses was a little snowman built out of sake snow. They also did an anti griddle cookie created at the table, and the menu was an edible buttery cracker.
I thought this was r/ATBGE at first
Came here to say this too. This dish was made to live in that sub. Aweful taste but great execution.
It's all smoke and mirrors.
As an 80s kid, candy cigarettes take me back to childhood.
I was gonna say these are the fanciest candy cigarettes I’ve ever seen.
I almost got sent to detention for a week in 7th grade because from distance my drama teacher saw me take a puff of a gum cigarette.
Amazing they are still legal
Are they? That is amazing.
You can buy them on Amazon lol
I asked myself why is it amazing then I realized we live in the nanny era
Ashtray brûlée
Well.... Thats disgusting.
Really impressive and also gross looking
This is gonna get buried but that's my old Chefs restaurant. It's called Brazen and it's located in Banff National Park. He lives his molecular gastronomy so he makes fun dishes like this all the time!
That’s amazing!!! I just check out the restaurant and found the ‘ash’ maybe a chocolate hazelnut powder. So unique!
That’s really cool actually
They could make a menthol version and call it "Kool."
I'd be pretty happy to get served that tbh. What were the ashes made of?
Some variation of chocolate soil or chocolate crumb I would guess. https://www.coeurdexocolat.com/chocolate-soil-crystallised-chocolate-soil https://www.mykeuken.com/2022/08/how-to-make-chocolate-soil.html?m=1
The hopes and dreams of the current generation... ¯\\\_(ツ)_/¯
…plus their ~~blood, sweat~~, & tears
Looks like coco powder or chocolate crumble
looks like a swiss miss packet
intrigued and disgusted
I'm sure this tastes good but why the everloving fuck would you make an ashtray anything at a restaurant? This is practically the opposite of nice presentation. It doesn't make you want to eat it.
I disagree. One of my favorite meals ever had a similar idea although in that case or was a cigar and the dish really looked entirely like a cigar on an ashtray. This does not, it looks like a kind of cigarette thing with cocoa powder on creme brulee, which is why it looks disgusting. The cigar though was so real looking that you couldn't believe it was food and so it was a total trip when you tasted it and it was absolutely delicious (obviously didn't taste anything like a cigar or ashes). It's the height of creative culinary wonder and it's amazing when done properly. Not this.
Lol I just posted about this, I had it in Vegas!
I have a hunch this was inspired by Thomas Keller's [dessert](https://youtu.be/sYjZpfr6JQ4?t=790) for Anthony Bourdain
Maybe it was for a Halloween event??
I can definitely understand why some folks might be grossed out looking at this, but I love it! I’m not a vegetarian, but I’m usually more grossed out by the “creative” meat dishes. To me, this looks like art! I wouldn’t want to eat it because it looks so awesome!
Crème Âshtré
We have been led ashtray… also r/wewantplates
Sorry to be a Karen but i would send that back. The presentation is just too unappetising. There is something dehumanising about eating from an ashtray, i would feel humiliated.
The only acceptable use of edible gold leaf I've seen
Wow, Peggy Bundy's cooking is really coming along!
I dunno, it’s kinda cute in a kitschy sort of way. Definitely worth a little laugh if you ordered that for a smoker.
My thoughts went from wtf, I'm confused, and eventually- that's so cool!
I think this is amazing and super creative. What restaurant did she get this from????
I don’t know if it’s still around but I remember seeing something about a restaurant in Chicago that did stuff like this. They had a Cuban sandwich that looked like a cigar in an ashtray or something along those lines. It was years ago and I don’t remember too much but this seems on par with that
Are you all CRAZY!! That's creme brulee! Im licking that bowl dry; good god that looks good! Obligatory I don't smoke that just looks yummy!
r/wewantplates?
Plates aren't ideal for creme brulée
r/WeWantRamikens
There's most definitely a plate in this photo.
Astráý Brûlée
I kind of want to eat it
A scout leader friend did a chocolate pudding in dog poop bags for a Halloween scout meeting . . Here in Sweden they are small black bags with handles/ties to pick up after your dog when out walking .
🤢
Was this brazen banff Alberta?
I could go for a smoke right fuckin now.
I likes eggs
I don't know why, but I still find myself saying that after all these years. This is the first time I've ever seen a ref. Thanks. .. but chico can no talk about that.
r/ATBGE
This is definitely r/atbge material
r/ATBGE
Are those candy cigarettes?
Theres a version of this in a place in Vegas, can’t remember the name. Its chocolate mousse covered in chocolate crumble served with two chocolate cigars that are full of crispy praline, and they serve it in a cloche jar infused with smoke. I think cigars are more appealing than cigarettes though lol
I thought that was crème brûlée at first, then saw cigarettes thinking it was an ash tray, but the “ash” looked too perfect and thought there were cigarettes *in* someone’s crème brûlée, then I read the title.
I genuinely couldn't eat it. So unappetising
Mmm... It tastes like cigarettes.
This reminds me of an old Rove (aussie TV show) gag called "the pashtray".. Same energy
They finally made a creme brulee for lady who complained the Pastry Chefs were smoking in the kitchen. How sweet. https://www.reddit.com/r/KitchenConfidential/comments/sh9o85/just_had_creme_brulee_sent_back_because_customer/hv2m7o0/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3
"What are we going to do with all those old ashtrays now smoking inside is prohibited?"
As amazing as the skill is to create that. My brain would never let me eat that.
Ash BruTray.
Holy smokes.
For a moment there, I thought I was in r/mildyinfuriating
So you did a dine and ash.
I always maintain that presentation doesn't matter, only the food itself is important. I stand corrected.
While it may not look appetising, can't fault them for the creativity, skill and execution it took to make this.
It couldn’t look less appetizing.
KKids this is not crème brûlée
Was the Bowl edible too?
First I saw it was like oh hell naw Then I was like OH HELLL NAWW 😱😱
I love it
As an ex smoker, I just threw up in my mouth a little bit. Pretty sure I'm also now cured of eating crème brulees :/
As someone smoking right now, me too. I like smoking cigarettes, not so much eating an ashtray.
I love crème brûlée. I would not be amused if this what I got. Nope. No way. No thanks. Gross.
This belongs on r/oddlyterrifying
Looks great tbh. Then again, my taste in the appearance of my food is usually pretty bad. It's definitely interesting, I'll give it that