Crème Brûlée

This is lifted from Chef Steps.

160 g	egg yolk (~10 yolks)
90 g	granulated sugar
3 g	salt
600 g	heavy cream

Makes four 8 oz (235 ml) serves. You want shallow wide mouth canning jars for maximum sugar surface area.

Heavy cream in the U.S. seems to only come in half pint (236 ml) cartons. Instead of buying three, I made this with two. It was delicious.

The key to perfect custards is to keep the internal temperature of the mixture below 185 °F / 85 °C—above that point, they have a tendency to curdle. And curdling, dear friends, is the bane of any custard baker. Enter sous vide. By cooking custards in a sous vide bath, we can precisely dictate the temperature to which they are heated, thus eliminating the risk of a curdled dessert.

— Chef Steps

Preparation

1. Set circulator to 80°c.
2. Combine egg yolks, sugar and salt in a bowl and whisk until integrated.
3. Heat cream to 70°c.
4. Pour cream into mixture. Start by pouring very slowly while whisking rapidly.
5. Strain through a fine mesh strainer into a vessel you can pour from. I use a blender jug.
6. Let rest for about 30min for the top foam to dissipate.

Cooking

1. If the foam hasn’t completely dissipated, scoop it off with a spoon and discard.
2. Gently pour into canning jars. Surface bubbles can be removed by flashing with the blowtorch.
3. Close jars so they’re ‘fingertip tight’. Just tight enough so when you submerge them, the water doesn’t get in but gas can get out.
4. Lower jars into water with tongs (80°c is hot) and cook for 1 hour. Set a timer there’s a ΔT.
5. Remove from water and set aside to cool. Prepare an ice water bath.
6. Once cool to the touch put jars in the ice bath to chill.
7. Tighten lids and transfer to fridge to store. They should last a week.

To Serve

1. Add sugar to a small fine mesh strainer and dust the custard heavily with sugar.
2. Hit it with the blowtorch: set the torch to a low setting and start from about 30cm away. As it starts to brown come in on an angle, turning the jar to get into the edges.