Crème Brûlée

Vanilla custard baked in a water bath, chilled, and finished with a burnt sugar crust. The custard should be rich and just set — it should wobble when you shake the ramekin, not slosh. The sugar crust should be thin, even, and crack cleanly.

Split the vanilla pod and scrape out the seeds. Heat the cream with the pod and seeds until steaming but not boiling. Leave to infuse for 15 minutes. Remove the pod.

Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together until pale. Pour the warm cream over the yolks slowly, whisking constantly. Strain through a sieve into a jug. Skim any foam from the surface.

Place four ramekins in a deep baking tray. Pour the custard into the ramekins. Fill the tray with boiling water to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins.

Bake at 140°C for 30–35 minutes until the custard is just set at the edges with a slight wobble in the centre. Remove from the water bath and leave to cool. Refrigerate for at least two hours.

To serve: scatter a teaspoon of caster sugar evenly over each custard. Caramelise with a blowtorch held about 3cm above the surface, moving in circles until the sugar is an even amber caramel with a few darker patches. Serve immediately — the crust softens within minutes.

Method

The custard is the whole dish. It must be smooth, dense, and just barely set — the wobble is the point, not a flaw. egg-cookery demands restraint: you're cooking egg yolks until the proteins denature and bind the cream into a gel, but overshoot by even five degrees and you'll fracture the emulsion into grainy scrambled egg. A water bath regulates this. Split the vanilla pod lengthways, scrape the seeds into the double cream, then add the scraped pod itself and heat until steam rises steadily — don't let it boil. Infuse for 15 minutes off the heat; the pod softens and releases its aromatics slowly in the residual warmth.

Whisk the egg yolks with 80g caster sugar until the mixture turns pale and thick — this takes about three minutes by hand — because you're aerating the yolks and the sugar dissolves into a smooth custard base. The pale colour matters; it's your signal that the sugar has fully incorporated. Pour the warm cream onto the yolks in a thin stream whilst whisking hard. This tempering prevents the eggs from scrambling. Strain through a fine sieve twice — once to catch any cooked flecks or undissolved yolk, and again after the first pass. Skim any foam from the surface with a spoon; it will scorch and mar the crust.

Arrange four ramekins in a deep baking tray and pour the custard to just below the rim. Fill the tray with boiling water to halfway up the ramekin sides — the water conducts heat evenly and slows the cooking. Bake at 140°C for 30–35 minutes. The custard is done when the edges are set but the centre still trembles when you nudge the ramekin. The residual heat will continue to cook the middle as it cools. Lift the ramekins out, cool to room temperature, then refrigerate for at least two hours.

To serve, scatter 1 teaspoon of caster sugar evenly over each custard — a thin, even layer is crucial for a clean caramelisation. Hold a blowtorch about 3cm above the surface and move it in slow circles. The sugar will soften, then melt into an amber liquid, then deepen to burnt orange. Watch for the edges to darken first; stop when the whole surface is caramel with a few darker patches. Serve within two minutes — the crust softens as the custard warms beneath it and the contrast collapses.