Creme brulee recipe - The original and best

The Catalan creme brulee recipe is traditionally prepared and eaten on March 19. when Catalan and Valencian celebrate Saint Joseph's day with this truly mouthwatering custard recipe with a caramelized sugar topping.

Catalan creme brulee recipe The dessert that sends you to Heaven

In older times, by gathering together on the 19th of March, Catalan families welcomed the arrival of the spring and the end of the Lent fasting weeks.

The main ingredient of the creme brulee recipe is milk. At this time of the year, cows and ewes had already given birth to their calves and lambs. So, when food followed the cycles of nature, in March there already was plenty of milk for delicious desserts.

The Catalan egg custard recipe originated in Catalunya (Catalonia). French may claim it as their own, but while we have been enjoying crema catalana for centuries, it was not well-known in France at all until recent years. It was only known in North Catalonia or Roussillon, but then the Catalan Countries have a common gastronomical culture.

In Catalan, this creme brulee recipe is known by at least three names, crema catalana, (pronounced CREH-mah cah-tuh-LAH-nuh), that translates as Catalan custard; crema de Sant Josep, which means Saint Joseph's custard, in honor of this patron saint. The third name is crema cremada (pronounced CREH-mah creh-MAH-duh), literally burnt custard, or creme brulée in French, which refers to the delicious sheet of burnt or caramelized sugar that tops the Catalan custard recipe.

Before "burning" the crema	After "burning" it

Ingredients for this creme brulee recipe

Serves 4 to 6

• 1 quart (1 l) whole milk
• ¾ cup or 7 ounces (200 g) sugar
• 5 egg yolks
• 1 cinnamon stick
• The peel of a lemon
• 2 level tablespoons (25 g) cornstarch or 4 level tablespoons (50 g) starch
• Some more sugar for caramelizing

Creme brulee recipe preparation instructions

Preparation time: 10 to 15 minutes.
Cooking time: 8 to 10 minutes.

1. Strain the milk. Pour some milk into a cup and keep aside. Pour the remaining milk into a heavy-bottomed saucepan, if you have one. Add the cinnamon stick and the lemon peel and bring to a boil. Let it boil for 5 minutes over low heat. Remove from heat. Strain the milk, discarding the cinnamon and lemon peel.


2. In the meantime, stir the cornstarch or starch into the cup of cold milk you kept aside. Stir until it is very well dissolved.


3. In a bowl, mix the sugar and the egg yolks. Beat the mixture until it is very smooth and spongy. Slowly add the milk while stirring. Strain the cornstarch mixture into it and stir until it is a smooth mixture.


4. Now pour the mixture into a saucepan. Cook over low heat, usually about 10 minutes, stirring all the time with a hand whisk or wooden spoon. Just when it is about to boil turn off heat or remove it from the heat with one hand while you continue stirring with the other hand for about two minutes.


• This step is essential, perhaps the most important operation of the whole creme brulee recipe. First, the milk mixture should never come to boil. Second, if you stop stirring the milk mixture suddenly and before removing the saucepan from the heat, the milk is likely to break, and your creme brulee recipe will be ruined. If you do it as I advice you, your Catalan egg custard recipe will be a gorgeous success.


5. Pour the creme brulee into custard cups, or small ramekins. Allow it to cool at room temperature or refrigerate until set.


• The traditional serving dish for this Catalan creme brulee recipe is a 4-5 inch earthen cassoleta like in the pictures above. In non-Mediterranean countries you can find them in Hispanic markets, and they are rather inexpensive but any similar 4-5-inch bowl or similar will do.


6. Just before serving, but in any case not before the Catalan egg custard is set and cool, sprinkle a thin layer of sugar and burn it with a special branding iron or a small cooking torch. If you don't have any of these, burn the sugar under a very hot broiler, but make sure you use ovenproof bowls.

In older times, Saint Joseph's day was the only day of the year when you could enjoy this delicious dessert recipe. As you may have guessed, nowadays you find this creme brulee recipe in the dessert lists of virtually all restaurants across Catalonia and Barcelona.

You can eat the Catalan creme brulee recipe by itself, but you also find it in other delicious dessert recipes like apples stuffed with crema catalana, in several sweet coques and pastries.