“A Place at the Table” is a commemorative project that documents the favorite dishes of those lost on October 7 with the help of their families.
This is the first time Maor Shalev has made crème brûlée since her best friend Raz Mizrahi was murdered on October 7, 2023. She carefully pours the crème anglaise into individual ramekins, which are placed on a baking dish filled with water and carefully tucked into the oven.
“It was Raz’s favorite dish,” Maor says. “She was kind of a picky eater, but if there was one food she loved, it was crème brûlée. Whenever we planned to meet, she’d say, ‘I’ll come, but only if you make me crème brûlée.'” As Maor prepared the dessert and indulged her friend, Raz would keep her company and use the time to catch up on everything new in Maor’s life.
When Maor would sprinkle the demerara sugar on top and use a blowtorch to caramelize it, Raz would pull out her phone, take a video, and post it to her Instagram stories.
Raz loved documenting everything — food, parties, even a simple get-together with a bottle of wine. But once the conversation began, Maor recalls, Raz would put her phone aside and they would dive deep into the kind of conversations shared between best friends.
Maor and Raz first met during their Magav (Israel Border Police) recruit training, and initially, they didn’t get along at all. They were opposites with very different opinions, Maor recalls. Despite their differences, Raz helped Maor get through the training, and although they stayed in touch intermittently afterward, it wasn’t until Raz was injured during the 2021 Guardian of the Walls Operation that their friendship was truly forged.
During the operation, a terrorist attacked a checkpoint Raz was guarding in Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem, running over her and five others. Raz was injured. When Maor learned about the attack, she immediately went to support her friend, even though they hadn’t been in touch. “At that time, we weren’t in touch at all,” Maor remembers. “I didn’t even have her mother’s phone number, so I just came to see her. From that moment on, we were inseparable.”
“Raz was a warrior at heart,” Maor says. Even during her training, her commanders quickly recognized her potential, and she was soon selected for a commanders’ course. After being injured in the attack, Raz underwent four months of rehabilitation. She was determined to return to service and went on to complete an officers’ course. And she also volunteered with Belev Echad, the nonprofit organization that supported her recovery.
Maor recalls a time early in their service when they went to a hair salon in Bat Yam and were caught in a shooting incident. Raz took charge of the situation, calmly calling the police and managing the incident with composure. “That was exactly how she handled things on October 7,” Maor notes.
That Saturday, Raz was at the Nova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im with friends. When the sirens sounded at 6:30 a.m., they rushed to a shelter with several dozen others. As soon as Raz realized there were terrorists outside, she took charge of the situation. She attempted to reach Magav and the police call center to request assistance. But help did not arrive in time. Tragically, Raz was killed along with others in the shelter.
Raz was born in 2001 to Gal and Nirit Mizrahi and grew up in Gedera as the eldest of three siblings. Maor describes Raz as a strong and very smart person, who took on the role of big sister not only to her siblings but also to her friends. She always knew what she wanted, and her opinions carried significant weight. Even now, Maor finds herself considering what Raz would have said or done when making decisions.
Many of Raz’s family members and friends have come together to honor her memory. They give lectures and share her story in schools and on military bases, maintain a website and Instagram account dedicated to her, and events to commemorate her life.
Did you prepare this recipe? Share a photo of it and tag it #A_Place_at_the_Table to honor the memory of the late Raz Mizrahi.
For the base:
500 ml (16.9 fl oz) heavy whipping cream
½ cup (100 grams) sugar
½ vanilla pod
5 egg yolks
For the top:
Demerara sugar
- Preheat the oven to 140C (300F).
- Place the cream and ¼ cup sugar in a small-medium pot.
- Use the tip of the knife to scrape out the seeds from the half of the vanilla pod and add them to the cream.
- Cook over medium heat until the sugar melts and the mixture reaches the boiling point, but do not let it boil.
- Meanwhile, beat the egg yolks and the remaining ¼ cup sugar in a separate bowl.
- Slowly pour the hot cream into the beaten egg yolks while stirring constantly with a whisk, scraping out the seeds from the pan. Make sure to do this slowly and continuously to prevent the yolks from cooking.
- Set a fine sieve over a large wide jug or bowl and pour the hot mixture through to strain it. Using a spoon, scoop off all the foam sitting on the top of the liquid.
- Pour the hot cream into 5 or 6 ramekins, filing them to the top and place them in a large, deep baking dish.
- Fill the baking dish with boiling water about halfway up the sides of the ramekins and bake for 30 minutes. Remove and cool to room temperature and transfer to the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
- When ready to serve, sprinkle sugar evenly on top and use a blowtorch to caramelize it.
* This recipe remains faithful to the original. Nomodifications were made.
