Crème Brûlée
- 12 egg yolks
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 3 pints heavy cream, hot
- 1-1/2 tsp vanilla
- 3/4 tsp salt
1- Heat heavy cream in sauce pan until hot, do not boil
2- Seperate egg yolks from whites
3- Add sugar into egg yolks, whisk together until pale in color and egg mixtures looks ribbony when whisk is pulled out and egg mixture drizzles down
4- SLOWLY temper in hot heavy cream a little at a time
5- When heavy cream and eggs are fully mixed, add in vanilla and salt
6- Carefully pour into ramekins
7- Bake at 325°f until custard is set, this can take 30-60 minutes
Over the last ten years, the question I have been asked the most is “what is your favorite thing to cook?” when someone hears I have a culinary degree. My answer is always homemade pasta if it’s savory, or crème brûlée if it’s dessert.
I will never forget getting out of classes one day and my mom saying that my Nan and Pap had went to a casino and they wanted me to make them crème brûlée. I don’t know what the chances were, but my response was “oh my god, we JUST made that today!”
I think sometimes God really prepares us for loss in such small ways we could never see it at the time. But looking back, it seemed like such a small serendipitous act of God to align our lives at that very moment, to prepare me for one small act of service that could bond me with my Nan and Pap.
After finding out I knew how to make crème brûlée, my Pap bought me a crème brûlée set. Four beautiful white fluted ramekins and a torch. Of course I made them crème brûlée, I couldn’t not show off my newly learned skill. This dessert quickly became a family favorite saved for special occasions, and one we knew without a doubt I’d have to make for my Nan and Pap’s 50th wedding anniversary.
Out of all of the recipes I have, all of the ones I have made in my short 30 years on this earth, no other recipe or dish makes me as emotional as this simple baked custard. I think most of us have some food that reminds us of memories, good or bad. But for me, crème brûlée feels so intertwined with who my family is and the things we have been through. It sounds so silly, getting emotional over a simple dessert, but I think if you’d ask my family to name a dish that feels so specific to us, most of us would say it’s crème brûlée.
I really put off writing this blog post because I knew I’d cry. I literally cannot think about it without memories of my Pap flooding in. Funny childhood memories, his booming voice, how he towered over me as a kid. The time he got so fed up with me talking that he opened the window, picked me up, and set me outside. Sitting outside at the fire pit at his house for a cookout, watching the wind blow a leaf down onto his plate and him saying “oh, I didn’t know I ordered a salad.” Working at a small little restaurant here in town on my externship and the dinning room manager coming into the kitchen to tell me my mom was there. My pap being determined to read the entire bible.
Life is funny that way, a small new skill learned in college turns into an innocuous dish that somehow triggers both joy and happy memories, but also a deep pit of grief for my family.
We lost my Pap to anaplastic thyroid cancer on May 10th, 2014.
My Pap was a good man. That’s the most simple definition. A good, genuine, hardworking man who put his family first. He lived bravely, he faced everything head on, and he could fix just about anything. He had no shortage of love or advice to give. He truly was the glue that held our family together.
I know my family isn’t a stranger to loss, but the loss of my Pap is truly the hardest I have ever been through. None of us were prepared. Not even with knowing the diagnosis before hand, not even with the timeframe given by doctors. We just simply weren’t prepared to accept the coming loss of the person we couldn’t fathom living without. And maybe that’s how it circles back to crème brûlée for me. It’s like having a small, fleeting, tangible bit of my Pap to hold on to. Just a tiny moment as if he were saying “I am still here. I am here in the wind in the trees, the deer early in the morning, the cardinals flying by. I’m still here, enjoying dinner with my family.” That exact feeling is why I am sharing our recipes.
If you have never made crème brûlée before, I really encourage you to try. It’s an easy dish that is light and delicious, and one that will impress most people.
To start off, I get my heavy cream heating in a sauce pan on the stove. I like to keep it at medium heat to avoid scorching or boiling. While it’s heating up, I begin separating my eggs and mixing the yolks with sugar.
When making crème brûlée, the two most important things to know are to whisk your eggs to the right texture, and to slowly incorporate the heavy cream. The above two pictures are before and after whisking the eggs. Both of these pictures were taken in natural light so you can see the change in color. When whisked enough, your egg and sugar mixture should lighten significantly. Egg yolks contain lecithin, a natural emulsifier, that will bind with tiny air bubbles the more you mix which in turn makes the mixture lighter and fluffier.
If you aren’t sure if the color is light enough, another way to check to make sure you’ve reached the right texture is to lift your whisk up and let the mixture drizzle back into the bowl. The first picture above is before several minutes of serious mixing, and the second is after. In the first picture you can see how the yolk mixture drips on top of itself and is quickly pooled back into what’s in the bottom of the bowl. The second picture you can see how the mixture reaches a ribbon-like stage, where it folds over on itself and doesn’t quickly pool back.
You can really see this ribbon-like stage if you drizzle the whisk around. See how it lays on top of itself very clearly? That’s the stage you want to reach. I think this is easier to see than it is to explain. Once your eggs reach this stage, you are ready to add your cream as long as it’s hot.
The next step does require some care. Your egg yolks are still raw, and if your cream is too hot and added too fast, you’ll end up with scrambled eggs. Which is fine for breakfast, but not ideal when we’re aiming for baked custard. The goal here is to pour a little at a time, very slowly, making sure to keep whisking to incorporate the hot cream before adding more. The process is called tempering; bringing up the temperature of the eggs slowly. This can take a few minutes, but just keep going to ensure you have a silky smooth dessert at the end!
Once the heavy cream is fully mixed in, add the vanilla and salt. Then it’s time to pour into ramekins and bake. I prefer to use a ladle to full the ramekins. This recipe makes a dozen 8oz ramekins. I use a roasting pan to put them in a water bath. You can use a standard 9”x13” cake pan, but it will only hold about 6 ramekins.
It is essential to bake crème brûlée in a water bath. This is going to help ensure the custards bake slow, and evenly, while keeping moisture in the oven. I prefer to set the pan on the rack, remove one ramekin and used our designated Kool-Aid pitcher to add warm water slowly. You’ll want to make sure the water reaches the same level on the outside of the ramekin as the custard on the inside. If you are removing a ramekin to make pouring the water easier, fill the water slightly under where it should as putting the final ramekin in will displace the water. You do not want to accidentally splash water into the crème brûlée or it will not set.
Unfortunately, the bake time of crème brûlée differs greatly on the size of your ramekins and how full they are. Smaller or shallower dishes may only take 30 minutes. Mine, if full, usually take about an hour. When they are done they will still be slightly jiggly, similar to set instant pudding, and may be slightly golden on top. Once they are done in the oven, carefully remove the entire pan. Then remove the ramekins from the water and set them on a cooling rack. I use tongs to grab them out of the water bath, and set the ramekins on a towel just to absorb any water still on the bottom of the dish, and then use an oven mitt to move the dishes to the cooling rack. Let the custard cool to room temperature before refrigerating, and keep refrigerated.
When it’s time to serve, sprinkle sugar on top and use a torch to caramelize the sugar. How much sugar you use is up to you, I usually do around 2tsp. The more caramel you prefer, the more sugar you will add. Keep in mind, that you cannot torch these in advance or the caramel will turn to a watery goo in the fridge. Which… is really gross.
And that’s it! Time to sit back and enjoy your smooth custard with a crunchy caramel top. Truly the best dessert there is.
Here is a picture of the dessert spread from my Nan and Pap’s 50th wedding anniversary. You can see the crème brûlée on the left side of the picture. :)
And here I am with my sweet Nan and Pap at their anniversary party. They may not be the best pictures, but today I am extra thankful they exist.
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