I keep forgetting how easy this is to make.
A few years ago, my Sweet Lady Wife and I went to a small French cafe in PHoenix. For dessert my wife ordered the Creme Brûlée. As she finished it she said, “This is good, but not as good as yours.” I believe the difference is that I use a very high quality Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla from Nielsen-Massey. Even at Wal-Mart a 4oz bottle is $18. Unless it’s a fine-dining restaurant, no restaurant is going to spend that much money on Vanilla.
This recipe was given to me by the French chef who owns the culinary school I attended.
Ingredients
- 4 Egg Yolks
- 2 Cups Heavy Cream
- Pinch of Salt
- 1 1/2 oz (by volume) Sugar
- 2 Tablespoons Vanilla Extract
Method
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.
In a medium sized saucepan, bring the cream, vanilla, and salt to a boil.
Beat the sugar into the egg yolks. Continue beating until the mixture has turned a pale yellow.
Add 1/2 cup of the cream mixture to the eggs while furiously whisking the eggs. This is called ‘tempering’ the eggs with the hot cream. The purpose is to warm the eggs. If you dump all the hot cream into the eggs you will cook the eggs. Continue adding the hot cream to the eggs in this manner, 1/2 cup at a time until you’ve done it 3-4 times. At this point the egg mixture should be warm enough to add the remainder of the hot cream all at once while whisking.
It is almost impossible to keep a few little bits of egg from cooking, so strain the mixture. Pour the mixture into shallow creme brûlée ramekins. I’ve tried using deeper ramekins and the custard would not set up.
Place the filled ramekins in a shallow baking dish or rimmed sheet pan. I used a half-sheet pan similar to this one, Place it in the oven, then pour water into the dish or an so that it comes about half way up the sides of the ramekins.
Bake for 30-35 minutes until the custard has set. Remove from the oven and let cool.
When they have cooled, wrap each one in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for several hours.
When it’s time to serve them, remove the plastic wrap, sprinkle sugar on top of the custard, and lightly carmelize the suguar with a small blowtorch.
This recipe makes six servings
