Crème Brûlée - the Wrong Way & the Right Way

Burnt cream is the direct translation of Crème Brûlée from French. Quite apt when my sister-in-law and I decided to make this delicious creamy dessert with its caramel crackle topping, as we took it to the next level by almost setting ourselves on fire, or burning the kitchen down! I'm exaggerating, of course, but we both got the fright of our lives when we did the final step without the right tool - a chef's blowtorch.
Not having one wasn't going to stop us, so Mandy went in search of my brother's diy blowtorch from his workshop. We checked, it was gas, not petroleum or other hazardous substances, so it would be safe for consumption. The flame looked a little big, but we thought we could control it. We initially could not when testing it!
That torch almost became a flame thrower when it suddenly tripled in size within seconds. We did not have any fire protection gear, so I went in search of a fire extinguisher before we continued caramelizing our Crème Brûlées.

Back to serious business!
I'm not a stickler for recipes; I often change, omit, or add what I think will work.
Different story when it's something as delicate as Crème Brûlée; I measure quantities and follow the steps with precision. All except that last vital step!

Ingredients required are simple - cream, eggs, sugar, and vanilla.

Recipe

• 600ml Cream
• 70ml White Sugar
• 4 Egg yolks
• 5ml Vanilla Essence (Vanilla pod would be even better)
• 125ml Brown Sugar for the caramel

The workshop blowtorch innocently waiting to frighten us!

Method

Place cream and sugar in a double boiler to heat the cream, stirring till the sugar melts. Remove from heat.

Beat egg yolks till frothy and light in colour, add essence.
Slowly pour hot cream into egg yolks, whisking to combine.

Pour into 6 ramekins, place into a large deep oven pan, half-fill with hot water to make a water bath to set the egg-custard without curdling.

Bake for 40 - 50 minutes at 140°C.
Leave to cool before placing in refrigerator till ice-cold and set - preferably overnight.

All was well at this stage, thanks to guidance from Mandy's sister!

Caramelizing the Wrong Way!

After our initial mishap when testing my brother's blowtorch, we set up safety gear, turning the kitchen into what looked like a disaster zone!
Brown sugar is evenly sprinkled on top of the cold desserts.

See the size of that flame? That's nothing compared to what it looked like when it became an instant flame-thrower, and had us screaming!

The flame obviously was too big, so the caramel burnt unevenly.

Caramelizing the Right Way

Mandy's sister brought her chef's blowtorch and set out demonstrating how to turn the brown sugar into a delicious caramel. A gentle flame created a much smoother caramel.

Back to the refrigerator they went, just to set the caramel to a hard, crunchy topping.

It passed the crackle test, but we did not sprinkle enough sugar on top, so the caramel was a little thin.

Do you like Crème Brûlée?
I love it, indulgence at its best!

BON APPETIT FRIENDS!

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