What Can You Use a Ramekin For?

Ah, the ramekin—the right baking dish for an individual soufflé or crème brûlée. Solely, you understand, how typically are you making personalised French desserts? In my kitchen, the reply isn’t. As a substitute, I exploit my 14-year-old ramekin set every day for weighing out my coffee and a drip catcher for my pourover brewer. When you’ve ever needed to run to the garbage can whereas your dripper retains, effectively, dripping espresso on the ground, take heed.

However, clearly, ramekins aren’t simply helpful for espresso. As a work-from-homer, I spend most of my writing time resisting wandering to the kitchen for snacks. Once I lastly acquiesced (and naturally I all the time do, who’re we kidding?), I shortly realized {that a} fistful of cheese crackers is an effective way to get crumbs throughout your keyboard. A 4-ounce ramekin is the right snack holder, letting me moist my whistle and conserving my workspace clear. Plus, it’s an awesome vessel for making your individual snack combine (salted pecans and chocolate chips, anybody?).

A traditional ramekin is often made out of white, glazed ceramic with ridges on the skin to provide you a greater grip. They often characteristic a barely fluted lip for simple stacking. However in the event you’re not baking conventional desserts in your ramekins, there are many different dishwasher- and oven-safe choices out there. 

A Few Ramekin Choices

Ornamental choices are nice for the desk, too. Nothing makes green bean casserole extra thrilling than a bonus sidecar of fried onions. And in the event you hung out making the perfect fries, the very last thing you need is wandering aioli on the plate sogging up the perimeters. A good-looking set of ramekins can preserve your eating desk tidy and your friends glad whereas mixing in with your dinnerware.

However the cause why you may want an entire fleet of ramekins is for prep work—every ramekin holding a separate part of your mise en place, like, say, minced garlic. I personally love utilizing mine for separating scallions for stir-fries, measuring out spices, and having liquids on the prepared for essential moments. They’re additionally nice as mini-waste bowls for issues like ginger peels or garlic pores and skin. And since most are dishwasher-safe, clean-up is a breeze. When you’re a panic prepare dinner like me who flails their method by way of each recipe step, your finest probability at success is having every part specified by simply washable dishes. 

I don’t suppose ramekins have ever improved the precise meals I’m cooking, however counting on my trusty set has actually made me a greater prepare dinner. They’re small, straightforward to retailer, easy to wash, and customarily cheap—however most of all, they preserve me organized and my counters clutter-free. And if I’m really being sincere? I by no means would have made it by way of penning this piece with no snack-filled ramekin on the prepared. Or an additional espresso.

FAQs

What’s the objective of a ramekin?

A ramekin is a small ceramic dish that’s designed for baking conventional French desserts like soufflé or crème brûlée. They’ve many different makes use of as effectively—they are often full of condiments for dipping, maintain snacks, and be used to measure out components for a recipe earlier than cooking. 

What’s the distinction between a ramekin and a small cup or bowl?

Technically talking, there isn’t a lot distinction between a ramekin and a small cup or bowl. Historically, nevertheless, a ramekin was used as a baking dish, so the round form and ridged exterior had been designed to help in baking particular person desserts. Whereas more often than not a ramekin and a small cup are interchangeable, it’s extremely really useful to make use of a ramekin for baking small soufflés or crème brûlée.

Can all ramekins go within the oven?

Historically, ramekins had been used as a baking dish, however there isn’t a strict definition for what’s and what isn’t a ramekin nowadays. When you’re in search of a set, make sure to double-check if it’s oven-safe earlier than shopping for, although most conventional ramekins are made out of oven- and dishwasher-safe ceramic.

Why We are the Specialists

• Jesse Raub is the commerce author at Severe Eats. He is labored for the positioning since 2022.
• Beforehand, Jesse labored for 15-plus years within the specialty espresso trade.