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Crème brûlée
 
 
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Crème brûlée (crème brulée in L'Orthographie 1990) (French
French language

French is a Romance language spoken around the world by around 80 million people as first language, by 190 million as second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired tongue, with significant speakers in 54 countries....
 for "burnt cream"; in English
English language

English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...
, in French), burnt cream, crema catalana, or Trinity cream is a dessert
Dessert

Dessert is a course that typically comes at the end of a meal, usually consisting of sweet food but sometimes of a strongly-flavored one, such as some cheeses....
 consisting of a rich custard
Custard

Custard is a range of preparations based on milk and Egg s, thickened with heat. Most commonly, custard refers to a dessert or dessert sauce, but custard bases are also used for quiches and other savoury foods....
 base topped with a layer of hard caramel
Caramel

Caramel refers to a range of confectionerys that are beige to dark brown in color and derived from the caramelization of sugar. Caramel is often made when cooking sweets....
, created by caramelizing sugar under a broiler
Broiling

Broiling or grilling is a process of cooking food with high heat with the heat applied directly to the food, most commonly from above. Heat transfer to the food is primarily via thermal radiation....
, with a blowtorch or other intense heat source, or by pouring cooked caramel on top of the custard.






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Crème brûlée (crème brulée in L'Orthographie 1990) (French
French language

French is a Romance language spoken around the world by around 80 million people as first language, by 190 million as second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired tongue, with significant speakers in 54 countries....
 for "burnt cream"; in English
English language

English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...
, in French), burnt cream, crema catalana, or Trinity cream is a dessert
Dessert

Dessert is a course that typically comes at the end of a meal, usually consisting of sweet food but sometimes of a strongly-flavored one, such as some cheeses....
 consisting of a rich custard
Custard

Custard is a range of preparations based on milk and Egg s, thickened with heat. Most commonly, custard refers to a dessert or dessert sauce, but custard bases are also used for quiches and other savoury foods....
 base topped with a layer of hard caramel
Caramel

Caramel refers to a range of confectionerys that are beige to dark brown in color and derived from the caramelization of sugar. Caramel is often made when cooking sweets....
, created by caramelizing sugar under a broiler
Broiling

Broiling or grilling is a process of cooking food with high heat with the heat applied directly to the food, most commonly from above. Heat transfer to the food is primarily via thermal radiation....
, with a blowtorch or other intense heat source, or by pouring cooked caramel on top of the custard. It is usually served cold in individual ramekin
Ramekin

A ramekin or ramequin is a small glazed ceramic serving bowl used for the preparation and serving of various dish .With a typical volume of 2-8 Fluid ounce, ramekins are common dishes used for serving cr?me br?l?e, Molten chocolate cake, moimoi, cheese dishes, potted shrimps, ice cream, souffl? or scallops or used to serve side garni...
s.

The custard base is normally flavoured with just vanilla
Vanilla

Vanilla is a flavoring derived from orchids of the genus Vanilla native to Mexico. Etymologically, vanilla derives from the Spanish language word "", little pod....
, but it can be enhanced with chocolate
Chocolate

Chocolate comprises a number of raw and processed foods that are produced from the seed of the tropical cacao tree.Chocolate has become one of the most popular flavors in the world....
, a liqueur
Liqueur

A liqueur is an alcoholic beverage that has been flavored with fruit, herbs, Nut , spices, flowers, or cream and bottled with added sugar. Liqueurs are typically quite sweet; they are usually not aged for long but may have resting periods during their production to allow flavors to marry....
, fruit
Fruit

The term fruit has different meanings dependent on context, and the term is not synonymous in food preparation and biology. In botany, which is the scientific study of plants, fruits are the ripened Ovary of flowering plants....
, etc. Sometimes the hardened sugar on top will be caramelized, by igniting a thin layer of liqueur sprinkled over the top (illustration).

History

The exact origins of this dish are unknown, though the earliest known reference to it is in François Massialot
François Massialot

Fran?ois Massialot was a French chef who served as chef de cuisine to various illustrious personages, including Philippe I, Duke of Orl?ans, the brother of Louis XIV, and his son Philippe II, Duke of Orl?ans, who was first duc de Chartres then the Regent, as well as the duc d'Aumont, the C?sar d'Estr?es, and the Fran?ois-Michel le Telli...
's 1691 cookbook, and the French name was used in the English translation of this book, but the 1731 edition of Massialot's Cuisinier roial et bourgeois changed the name of the same recipe from "crème brûlée" to "crème anglaise". In the early eighteenth century, the dessert was called "burnt cream" in English.

In Britain, a version of crème brûlée (known locally as 'Trinity Cream' or 'Cambridge burnt cream') was introduced at Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College, Cambridge

Trinity College is one of the 31 Colleges of the University of Cambridge of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or University of Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduate students, and over 160 Fellows; however, counting only the student body it has somewhat fewer than Homert...
 in 1879 with the college arms "impressed on top of the cream with a branding iron", although some cookbooks claim much earlier British origins for the dessert.

Crema catalana

Crema catalana (Catalan
Catalan language

Catalan is a Romance languages, the national language and official language of Andorra, and a official language in the Autonomous Communities of Spain of the Balearic Islands, Catalonia and Valencian Community and in the city of Alghero in the Italy List of islands in the Mediterranean of Sardinia....
 'Catalan cream') or Crema de Sant Josep, is Catalan
Catalan cuisine

Catalan cuisine is a Mediterranean cuisine from Catalonia in Spain. It may also refer to the shared cuisine of French Catalonia or Andorra. It is considered a part of Spanish cuisine or, simultaneously, a part of Western Mediterranean cuisine....
 version of Crème brûlée. It is usually served on Saint Joseph's Day (March 19). The custard is flavoured with lemon
Lemon

The lemon is the common name for Citrus limon. The reproductive tissue surrounds the seed of the angiosperm lemon tree. The lemon is used for culinary and nonculinary purposes throughout the world....
 or orange zest and cinnamon
Cinnamon

Cinnamon is a small evergreen tree 10?15 metres tall, belonging to the family Lauraceae, and is native to Sri Lanka.The leaf are ovate-oblong in shape, 7?18 cm long....
. The set custard is chilled and immediately before service, sugar is sprinkled over the top and caramelized with a specially-made iron or blow torch
Blow torch

The word blowtorch or blow torch has two meanings:In USA usage, it is what in British English usage is called a blowlamp, various types of liquid- or gas-burning tools used for heating....
, resulting in a hot, crunchy caramelized top contrasting with the cool, soft custard.

Catalans claim that their crema catalana is the predecessor of France's crème brûlée, though many regions lay claim to the origin of the dessert. The chief difference between the two is that crema catalana is not baked in bain-marie
Bain-marie

A bain-marie is a French language term for a piece of equipment used in science, industry, and cooking to heat materials gently and gradually to fixed temperatures, or to keep materials warm over a period of time....
 as crème brûlée is.

Crema Catalana is also used as the base for the Catalan torró
Turrón

Turr?n , torr? , or torrone is a nougat confection, typically made of honey, sugar, and egg white, with toasted almonds or other nuts, and usually shaped into either a rectangular tablet or a round cake....
 of the same name.

See also

  • Crème caramel or Flan, a dessert consisting of a rich custard base topped with a layer of soft caramel
  • Custard tart
    Custard tart

    Custard tarts have long been a favourite pastry in the British Isles, and are also widely enjoyed in Australia and New Zealand. They are often called egg custard tarts or simply egg custards to distinguish the egg-based filling from the commonly-served Bird's Custard....
  • Egg tart
    Egg tart

    Egg tarts, custard tarts, or egg custard tarts are a kind of pastry popular in many parts of the world but particularly in Chinese and Western European cuisines....


Bibliography

  • Alan Davidson
    Alan Davidson (food writer)

    Alan Eaton Davidson was a United Kingdom diplomat and historian best known for his writing and editing on food and gastronomy. He was the author of the 900-page, encyclopedic Oxford Companion to Food ....
    , The Oxford Companion to Food, ISBN 0192115790.
  • "Origin of Crème Brûlée", Petits Propos Culinaires 31:61 (March 1989).