The fact of the matter is there are only a few words that describe Crème Brûlée so I can’t say much. Beyond lush, creamy, and decisively delicious the thing I always want to say is “more PLEASE”!
Honestly, the key to the best ever crème brûlée is to get the cream to egg ratio dialed in. Even overly done sugar (as shown in the photo above) can’t ruin a perfect one. Too many egg yolks and you wind up with a thick egg-y custard which is not what we are going for with crème brûlée. Too few egg yolks and you’ll be sipping vanilla-flavored cream through a straw. I’ve experimented with a few recipes and in the end found that 1 quart of heavy cream to six egg yolks is the ticket to perfection in a ramekin!
To keep the crème brûlée from cracking, they are baked in a bain-marie (pronounced bane mah-REE) which is simply a container filled with hot water. The science behind it is that the steam from the water fills the oven and keeps the custard moist, thereby preventing cracks.
Once out of the oven and cooled properly let the torching begin! Sprinkle superfine sugar in a thin even layer on top of custard.
And then simply move the torch over the sugar until it is melted and caramelized.
A beautifully finished specimen looks like this…
What can I say… thanks for visiting Palatable Life.
Be inspired,
Diane
P.S. Oh and don’t toss those egg whites… save them for a meringue or make marshmallows! Or if you must an egg white omelet.