Canelé de Bordeaux

Combine the milk, butter, and the split vanilla bean with its scraped seeds in a saucepan. Warm over medium heat until the mixture just reaches a simmer — small bubbles around the edge and steam rising, but not a full boil. Remove from heat and allow to infuse for 10 minutes, then remove the vanilla pod. The milk should be warm to hot — it will be whisked into the egg-flour mixture and the heat helps hydrate the flour and temper the eggs simultaneously.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt. Add the whole eggs and yolks and whisk to a smooth, thick paste — no lumps. Pour the warm (not boiling) infused milk into the flour mixture in a thin, steady stream, whisking constantly as you go. The batter will loosen from a paste to a fluid, thin liquid as the milk is added. Finally, whisk in the rum. The critical technique: do not incorporate air — stir rather than whisk aggressively. Air creates an uneven, bubbly interior rather than the dense custard the canelé is famous for. Cover and refrigerate for 48 hours minimum — 72 hours is better. The flour absorbs the liquid and the batter settles.

Melt the beeswax pellets and butter together in a small saucepan over very low heat until fully liquid. The mixture should be around 70 C / 160 F — liquid but not so hot it burns the hand on contact. Using a small brush or by pouring and swirling, coat the inside of each copper canelé mould with the wax-butter mixture — a thin, even film. Place the moulds on a baking tray and allow the wax to set slightly — 1-2 minutes in the freezer. The beeswax creates the dramatically dark, shatteringly crisp shell that defines the canelé; butter alone gives a softer crust. Preheat the oven to 250 C / 480 F with the mould-lined tray inside.

Stir the cold batter very gently — no whisking — and ladle or pour it through a fine-mesh sieve into the waxed moulds, filling to 1 cm below the rim. The batter must be cold from the refrigerator. Place immediately in the preheated 250 C / 480 F oven. Bake at this high temperature for 10 minutes, then reduce to 180 C / 355 F without opening the oven door and bake for a further 50-60 minutes. The high initial heat sets the shell instantly and creates the dark crust; the lower temperature cooks the custard interior through without burning. The canelés are ready when they are a deep mahogany — almost approaching black — and have pulled away from the mould edges slightly. Unmould immediately onto a wire rack.