By JEAN DOHERTY/LE PATIO

Crème Brûlée

Crème Brûlée, French for “burnt cream”, is a dessert consisting of a rich custard base topped with a contrasting layer of hard caramel. Most people assume that Crème Brûlée is a French dish. After all, the name is French. However, the name Crème Brûlée didn’t become popular until the 19th Century. Chances are that Crème Brûlée is simply another version of a custard recipe that was passed around during the Middle Ages. Due to its popularity, it’s almost impossible to trace the exact roots to a specific country or origin, so the battle of the “Crème Brûlée” continues.

The custard base is traditionally flavored with vanilla, but it is also sometimes flavored with lemon or orange zest, chocolate, coffee, liqueurs and even lavender. So Crème Brûlée is a symphony of tastes and sensations. The hard, warm, almost bitter tasting caramel top contrasts with the cool,

smooth, sweet cream custard on the bottom. Your mouth is pleased in so many different ways! Cum’on boys, don’t let your minds wander…

The only hard part about making this Crème Brûlée recipe is that it requires caramelizing the sugar topping just before serving. The aim is to get a hard shell caramelized finish without warming the cream underneath, and this can be difficult without the right tool. So, I suggest you should splurge on a blow torch. It costs very little and is well worth the price because Crème Brûlée is so easy and delicious it’s worth making again and again. Also, you can use the culinary torch for a lot of future recipes I’ll be giving you.

Makes 6.

You’ll Need:

Preheat the oven at 200°F

10 egg yolks

8 ounces sugar

1 liter of heavy cream

1 vanilla pod

Brown sugar

Instructions:

1. Open the vanilla pod. Take the grains out and put them in the cream. Start heating slowly.

2. Mix the egg yolks and sugar in a large bowl beating like mad until the mixture becomes a light yellow color.

3. Add the boiling vanilla cream as you mix making sure that the mixture does not become too bubbly.

4. Delicately pour this new mixture into small individual porcelain or terracotta molds.

5. Preheat an oven to about 200oF.

6. Cook for 1 hour and 15 min; the crème should come out wobbly.

Leave to cool. Before serving cover with brown sugar and get the blow torch out. C’mon baby light my fire!

If you try my recipe, please give me feedback at lepatiowiltonmanors@gmail.com or on facebook