Crème Brûlée
Vanilla Custard with a Burnt Sugar Crust
A custard so rich it is barely set, under sugar burnt to a brittle sheet. The pleasure is in the contrast, and in the crack of the spoon going through. This is a chef's method: the custard rests overnight and bakes very slowly, which gives a texture like thick cream.
The chef's recipe read boils 375 g of cream and 125 g of milk with 75 g of sugar and vanilla, pours it over 150 g of egg yolks, and leaves the mixture to infuse overnight. It is baked in ramekins at 85°C for 85 minutes without a water bath, cooled, then dusted with sugar and burnt with a torch.
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 375 ml double cream
- 125 ml whole milk
- 75 g caster sugar
- 1 1/2 vanilla pods, split and scraped
- 150 g egg yolks (about 8 large)
- About 6 tbsp caster or demerara sugar, for the top
Method
- Infuse Bring the cream, milk, sugar, vanilla seeds and pods just to the boil. Whisk the yolks lightly in a bowl and pour the hot cream over them, whisking. Cool, cover and refrigerate overnight.
- Bake Heat the oven to 85°C, checking with an oven thermometer. Strain the custard into six shallow ramekins. Bake for 85 minutes, until set at the edges with a slight wobble in the centre. If your oven will not hold so low a temperature, stand the ramekins in a roasting tin of hot water and bake at 140°C (120°C fan) for 30 to 35 minutes.
- Chill Cool to room temperature, then cover and chill for at least 3 hours, until cold and fully set.
- Burn the sugar Blot any moisture from the surface. Sprinkle each custard with an even tablespoon of sugar and melt it with a blowtorch, moving the flame constantly, until dark amber. Leave for 2 minutes to harden and serve within the hour.
Food safety
Melted sugar is far hotter than boiling water and sticks to skin. Stand the ramekins on a metal tray and keep fingers clear.
A shallow dish gives more crust to custard, which is the point.