Crème brûlée

Crème brûlée(/ˌkrɛmbruːˈleɪ/;French:[kʁɛmbʁy.le]), also known asburnt cream,Cambridge burnt cream, orTrinity cream,and virtually identical tocrema catalana,is adessertconsisting of a richcustardbase topped with a layer of hardened caramelizedsugar. It is normally served slightly chilled; the heat from thecaramelizingprocess tends to warm the top of the custard, while leaving the center cool. The custard base is generally flavored withvanillainFrench cuisine, but can have other flavorings. It is sometimesgarnishedwith fruit.
The earliest known recipe of a dessert calledcrème brûléeappears inFrançois Massialot's 1691cookbookCuisinier royal et bourgeois,but its ultimate origins are unclear.
The recipe is based on egg yolks and milk, with a pinch of flour. Once cooked,François Massialotspecifies "that it must be sweetened on top, in addition to the sugar that is put in it: we take the shovel from the fire, very red at the same time we burn the cream, so that it takes a beautiful color of gold".
Some authors mention Bartolomeo Stefani'sLatte alla Spagnuola(1662) as describingcrema catalana,but it calls for browning the top of the custardbeforeserving with sugar on top.
The practice of browning dishes with a hot iron was already documented inLa Varenne'sCuisinier françois, published in 1651.La Varenne applies the process to hisOeufs au laict [sic]'eggs with milk',Oeufs à la crème'eggs with cream', as well as non-custard dishes such asoeufs au miroir de cresme'fried eggs in cream',ramequin de fromage'cheese toast', andramequin de roignon'kidney ramequin'.But none of these had a layer of hard caramel on top.
The name "burnt cream" was later used to refer to the dish in the 1702 English translation of Massialot'sCuisinier royal et bourgeois.In 1740, he referred to a similar recipe ascrême à l'Angloise, or 'English cream', which further cast doubt on its origins. The dessert was introduced atTrinity College, Cambridge, in 1879 as "Trinity Cream" or "Cambridge burnt cream", with the college arms "impressed on top of the cream with abranding iron".
Crème brûléewas generally uncommon in both French and English cookbooks of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.It became extremely popular in the 1980s, "a symbol of that decade's self-indulgence and the darling of the restaurant boom",probably popularised bySirio Maccioniat his New York restaurantLe Cirque. He claimed to have made it "the most famous and by far the most popular dessert in restaurants from Paris to Peoria". It also spread from France to other parts in Asia.
Crème brûléeis usually served in individualramekins. Discs of caramel may be prepared separately and put on top just before serving, or the caramel may be formed directly on top of the custard immediately before serving. To do this, sugar is sprinkled onto the custard, thencaramelizedunder a red-hotsalamander(a cast-iron disk with a long wooden handle) or with abutane torch.
There are two methods for making the custard. The more common creates a "hot" custard by whisking egg yolks in adouble boilerwith sugar and incorporating the cream, adding vanilla once the custard is removed from the heat.Alternatively, the egg yolk/sugar mixture can be tempered with hot cream, then adding vanilla at the end. In the "cold" method, the egg yolks and sugar are whisked together until the mixture reaches the ribbon stage. Then, cold heavy cream is whisked into the yolk mixture, followed by the vanilla. It is then poured into ramekins and baked in abain-marie.