Spanish
Crema Catalana
Catalan milk custard infused with lemon and cinnamon and finished with a thin, freshly burned sugar crust.
8 servings · 25 minutes prep · 18 minutes cook
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 4 cups whole milk, divided
- Peel of 1 lemon, removed in wide strips with no white pith
- 1 4-inch piece of cinnamon stick
- 8 large egg yolks
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1/8 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- 1/3 cup superfine sugar, for caramelizing
Directions
Infuse the Milk and Mix the Yolks
- Combine seven-eighths of the milk, lemon peel, and cinnamon stick in a heavy saucepan. Bring just to steaming over medium heat, remove from the heat, cover, and infuse for 20 minutes.
- Whisk the yolks, granulated sugar, cornstarch, salt, and the remaining eighth of the cold milk until completely smooth but not foamy. Reheat the infused milk until steaming, then strain it gradually into the yolk mixture while whisking.
Cook and Chill the Custard
- Return everything to the clean saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with a flat-edged wooden spoon and scraping every corner, until the custard thickens and the first slow bubbles break the surface, 6 to 9 minutes. Cook 30 seconds more; the temperature should reach 180°F to 185°F without boiling vigorously.
- Immediately strain the custard into individual shallow 5-ounce earthenware dishes. Tap each gently to level the surface. Cool for 20 minutes, cover without touching the custard, and refrigerate until thoroughly cold and set, at least 4 hours.
Burn the Sugar and Serve
- Just before serving, blot away any surface condensation. Sprinkle each custard evenly with 2 teaspoons superfine sugar. Caramelize with a kitchen torch held close enough to melt the sugar quickly without warming the custard, stopping at a mottled deep amber.
- Let the caramel harden for 2 minutes, then serve immediately so the top remains brittle and audibly crisp over the cold, soft custard.
