Dorie’s Creme Brulée
Creme Brulée, this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie pick, is the officially sanctioned birthday dessert of my grandmother (aka Mommaw). She discovered it when she was in her early 80s, along with Titans football, French bulldogs, William Shatner and profanity. Our portions come in dainty little ramekins; hers is served up in a large gratin dish. The morning after her birthday, she has Creme Brulée for breakfast. Probably with slab bacon.
If you’ve never tried Créme Brulée, literally “burnt cream,” it’s a very rich, cold vanilla custard topped with a layer of caramelized sugar. The entire experience of this dessert is all about the moment you break through that brittle shell and taste the first spoonful of creamy custard and crackly sugar crust. That experience also dupes people into thinking they couldn’t possibly make this dessert at home, but you probably have the ingredients: heavy cream, whole milk, egg yolks, sugar and vanilla. For the restaurant price of this dessert, you could make many, many ramekins of Creme Brulée at home.
So, what scares people away from making their own? The tempering and the torch.
You temper eggs by slowly adding a hot mixture to them, raising their temperature without curdling the eggs. Think about how you approach a hot bath: first, you dip a toe in, then your whole foot, then the other foot, slowly letting your skin acclimate to the hot water. Same goes for the egg mixture. First, you add about one-fourth of the hot milk and cream to the eggs and whisk. Then slowly pour in the rest of the hot mixture, whisking the entire time.
As for the torch, it’s not a requirement. You could always set your pan of custard in a roasting pan filled with ice cubes and run it under the broiler. But you’ll have much more control using a torch. Most have a safety lock, and once you slide it into the “off” position, you’ll find that operating the torch isn’t any more complicated than using the nozzle on a garden hose or firing a water gun. Use small circular motions as you heat the sugar. I have more luck with granulated sugar, but you can definitely use brown.
Once you master tempering and the torch, you’ll be amazed at how easy (and inexpensive) it is to make Creme Brulée at home. It’s a perfect dessert for entertaining, since you can make the individual custards hours (if not days) ahead of time and caramelize the sugar just before serving. I understand that it also makes an excellent breakfast, but Mommaw isn’t sharing.
For the recipe, visit Mari of Mevrouw Cupcake.
Your gran has style! Good for her.
Nice photo today, too.
What a gorgeous photo. Thanks for the calming/encouraging words about the torch, too.
Amen to crème brûlée for breakfast! I like your Mommaw!
Your grandma sounds like my type of lady – sorry she missed out on profanity for such a long time though. :) Your creme brulees look fantastic!!
I’ll admit it, I had one of the Creme brulee’s for breakfast. Your Mommaw is right, it was great! My mother always says that breakfast is the best time to eat sweets b/c you have the whole rest of the day to work them off. ;)
You’re absolutely right about the easiness of making many of those crèmes brûlées for the same price as one restaurant one! What a steal!
Especialy that yours are surely even better tasting, made without cutting out on the quality of the ingredients …and most of all, absolutely amazing looking!
Thanks for sharing your story – love the way you told it. My husband’s grandmother was MaaMa and she was a regular ole battleaxe! And had eggs with slab bacon every morning for breakfast (living into her 90’s).
Beautiful brulee! I’m sure a torch would have been somewhat easier than the two other methods I tried…
What a wonderful story! Creme brulee and slab bacon for breakfast though – oof!
i love your creme brulee photo. It came out perfectly!
NICE shot of the brulee!! I can almost hear it cracking.
That picture is a jaw-dropper! Your Grandma sounds like my kind of gal!
This has always been one of my alllll time favorite desserts. NOW I am totally craving it! I think I’ll be like your Mommaw and demand it each birthday and for breakfast!
I loved this dessert!! And using the torch…. :)
A crackling good looking Creme Brulee! Great job. Your grandmother sounds like a real character.
Looks yummy! I had a lot of fun making this recipe. And even more fun eating it!
Dessert for breakfast sounds good to me!
What a grand birthday tradition. Why aren’t you writing for a food magazine? Your posts are worthy of Bon Appetit! I love the way you likened the tempering to a hot bath.
I think my husband would approve of that birthday tradition! This looks wonderful- your pictures are beautiful!
Looks beautiful and I enjoyed your post. Lucky grandma, brulee for breakfast!
your crackly sugar top looks perfect!
Your brulee looks perfect. And I love your analogy of tempering and baths! Your grandmother sounds like a fun person too.
I’m going to be eating creme brulee for breakfast when I’m 80. If you can’t do it then when can you? :P I’m going to make them Texas-sized too.
Your brulee top looks gorgeous.
Mmmm, your picture makes me want to make this all over again. Gorgeous!
I’m with Mommaw. My mom used to make flan once a year, maybe twice at the most. We devoured it, sneaking down for a midnight snack, and finishing it up for breakfast if there was any left by then!
I think you have a typo. You wrote, “you’ll have much more control using a torch” but I think it should be spelled “much more fun.”
Gorgeous pics, as per the usual!
I for one was really surprised at how easy this dessert was. Torch and all! Your brulée looks fantastic. :)
Creme brulee and slab bacon — yes, the fountain of youth. Your grandmother sounds like my kind of lady — I can almost see her eating creme brulee for breakfast while listening to Fiddy (assuming this is the same grandmother)and dropping the occasional F-bomb. I always love your posts, and your pictures are true works of art.
Oh how I miss TWD! How are you doing?