Creme Brulee

Ingredients

• 600ml double cream
• 1 vanilla pod, split lengthways
• 6 egg yolks
• 75g caster sugar
• A pinch of fine salt
• 6 tbsp demerara or caster sugar, for the tops

Before you cook

• Split the vanilla pod lengthways and scrape out the seeds with the back of a knife.
• Separate the eggs and put the six yolks in a large bowl.
• Set six shallow ramekins in a deep roasting tin.
• Fill and boil a kettle.

Steps

1. Heat the oven to 140C conventional, with the fan switched off.
2. Pour the cream into a saucepan and add the vanilla seeds and the empty pod.
3. Warm the cream over medium-low heat until it just steams and small bubbles gather at the edge, then take it off the heat.
4. Leave the cream to infuse for fifteen minutes.
5. Whisk the egg yolks with the seventy-five grams of sugar and the salt for one minute, until pale and slightly thickened.
6. Pour the warm cream slowly onto the yolks in a thin stream, whisking gently the whole time.
7. Whisk only enough to combine, because bubbles now will become craters later.
8. Strain the custard through a fine sieve into a jug and skim off any foam from the surface.
9. Divide the custard between the ramekins.
10. Pour hot water into the roasting tin so it comes halfway up the sides of the ramekins.
11. Bake for thirty-five to forty-five minutes, until the custards are set at the edge but still wobble like jelly in the middle when you nudge the tin.
12. Lift the ramekins out of the water bath and cool them on a rack for thirty minutes.
13. Chill them in the fridge, uncovered, for at least four hours or overnight.
14. Blot each surface dry with a piece of kitchen paper just before serving.
15. Sprinkle one tablespoon of sugar over each custard and tilt the ramekin so it spreads into a thin even layer.
16. Melt the sugar with a blowtorch, keeping the flame moving in small circles until it bubbles and turns dark amber.
17. Wait two minutes for the caramel to harden into glass, then serve.