Frank Camorra, Richard Cornish

Crema Catalana

Baked Citrus and Cinnamon Custard

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Preparation info

  • Difficulty

    Easy

  • Makes

    6

Appears in

top 1000MoVida: Spanish Culinary Adventures

MoVida

By Frank Camorra and Richard Cornish

Published 2007

  • About

Some food scholars argue that crème brûlée, a rich, cool cream custard with a crisp topping of fresh toffee is a French invention. Others claim it came from Trinity College in Oxford, where the crest of the college was emblazoned into the top with a hot branding iron. Aurora, the mother of the owner of Bodega Pepe in Aragon, however, insisted that it was a Catalán invention.

It doesn’t matter who was first, what matters to me is that it is a great dessert. This is all about citrus and cinnamon and a smooth texture. In Spain, they have a special iron, in the shape of a coil, like a branding iron, which they use to burn the sugar on the top. We use a kitchen blowtorch — these are cheap, available from good food stores and give the best result. If you’re pyrophobic you can make the toffee crust by putting the crema catalana in a baking tray filled with chilled water to stop the custard from overcooking then placing them under a hot grill (broiler).

Ingredients

  • rind of 1 lemon
  • rind of 1 orange
  • 250 ml (9 fl oz/1 cup) milk
  • 750 ml (26 fl oz/3 cups) pouring (whipping) cream
  • 1 vanilla bean
  • 2 cinnamon sticks
  • 200 g (7 oz) caster (superfine) sugar
  • 8 egg yolks, at room temperature
  • 230 g (8¼ oz/1 cup) caster (superfine) sugar, extra
  • 1 tablespoon anis liqueur, to drizzle

Method

The day before serving, make the custard base. Start by peeling the lemon and the orange rinds into very wide strips, carefully avoiding any pith.

Pour the milk and cream into a large heavy-based saucepan. With a sharp knife cut open the vanilla bean lengthways and scrape the seeds into the milk and cream then add the bean and cinnamon.

Put over medium heat and watch the saucepan carefully. Just before the milk and cream boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer very gently for 10 minutes then remove from the heat and leave to cool for 10 minutes, to allow the flavours to infuse.

Preheat the oven to 160°C (315°F/Gas 2–3).

In a separate bowl, gently mix the sugar with the egg yolks. Remove 125 ml (4 fl oz/½ cup) of the milk and cream and slowly strain it through a sieve into the egg and sugar mixture as you gently whisk together. Slowly strain the rest of the milk through the sieve and gently whisk together. Discard the citrus rind, cinnamon sticks and vanilla bean.

Pour the egg and cream mixture into a clean saucepan. Return to the stove over low–medium heat and gently cook for 10–12 minutes, or until the mixture coats the back of a spoon, stirring constantly.

Place six 200 ml (7 fl oz) shallow ovenproof dishes in two roasting tins. Pour the mixture into the individual dishes. Pour enough hot water into the tins to come halfway up the dishes. Cook in the oven for 30 minutes until just set. When done the custard should wobble slightly. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of the extra caster sugar evenly over the top of each custard. Apply the heat of a kitchen blowtorch, holding at a 45 degree angle, to the top of the custards until the sugar melts into toffee. Drizzle with a little anis and serve immediately.

© 2007 All rights reserved. Published by Murdoch Books.