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One afternoon, I decided to make creme brulee. And did.

Narrative

So, I’m impatient, and when I wanted to try creme brulee, I decided to with whatever was in my cabinet. As I did not have 9 egg yolks, I used Britain’s Finest: Bird’s Instant Custard. I should have stopped before opening the packet. I should have known better. But didn’t.

Preparing the custard was simple (as they say, “as long as it takes to boil the kettle!”) I couldn’t decide whether I needed to bake it or not to set the custard. After all, I wasn’t working with nearly-raw eggs. Ultimately, I decided to do it. If it tanked, I could just throw it away, and no one would be the wiser. The friggin brand new Martha Stewart 10 oz. ramekins said “Microwave and Dishwasher Safe,” with nothing about the oven, so I wouldn’t risk it (although this woman seems to think you can).

Anyway, I went at the project with my red LeCreuset ramekins, using my matching small casserole to place them in and my matching kettle to boil the water bath in (it was a red day, what can I say?) I drove myself crazy trying to settle on a temperature: I saw everything from 250 degrees to 375 recommended, so every time I would check up, I’d end up changing the temperature. (Which was, of course, great for the custard.)

Somehow, in the mix, I ended up actually turning the oven completely off. After 45 minutes of no dice (still jiggly), I figured it out, rectified the stiuation (thankfully, I was alone, not like when I did the same thing when Andrew’s mom came for dinner), and crossed my fingers. Overcompensating for the cold oven, I overbaked them, leaving a gooey, chewy film on the tops of the custards. Really gross.

Compounding the error, I put 1 tbs of sugar on top, rather than the more reasonable 1 tsp, so they wouldn’t brulee until five minutes had slowly ticked by. The result was that painfully unattractive custard you see at the top of the page. But it was pretty yummy, gooey film aside, and we’ll try it again with homemade custard.

What I Learned

1. Don’t be so neurotic about oven temperature. Decide on something, go with it, and stop checking the oven so much! Opening the oven door often will do much more damage than being 25 or so degrees off.
2. Don’t make the sugar layer too thick, or the edges will scorch before the middle has a chance to caramelize.
3. Prefer underbaking the custard to overbaking. After all, if the sugar layer is crisp, the nice texture difference will be there, even if in a reduced format.
4. You don’t need the torch; you really can use the broiler. Make sure, however, to place the rack on the topmost position.
5. I’d love to play with different flavors next time.

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