Creme Brulee Recipes : Food Network

Creme Brulee

Make Alton Brown's foolproof Creme Brulee recipe, a French classic with vanilla bean and caramelized sugar, from Good Eats on Food Network.

We wanted a rich and creamy custard that wasn't too sweet, so we could fully enjoy the signature crunchy layer of caramelized sugar on top. By only using egg yolks, we achieved a soft and creamy texture. We tried using milk and half-and-half but, in the end, we landed with heavy cream for its richness. Whole vanilla beans give a more intense, pure vanilla flavor that you can't get from extract. We also like seeing the vanilla seeds flecked throughout the custard.

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Alton Brown Shows How to Make Creme Brulee

Video | 03:08

Alton Brown shows how to make crème brulee. He starts by scraping the pulp out of a vanilla bean with a knife. Alton then walks through the process of simmering heavy cream with the vanilla. He notes that you can add the scraped vanilla bean to a sugar container to steep it with flavor. While the cream cools down, Alton preps other ingredients including egg yolks and vanilla sugar in a bowl before adding the cream. The mixture is then added to a container with a pour spout. Alton turns his attention to an oven heated to 325 degrees Fahrenheit, where he adds a roasting pan topped with a tea towel to keep the six 7- to 8-ounce ramekins from sliding around. He pours the mixture into all the ramekins then adds hot water to the pan to keep heat from moving into the brulees too quickly. After baking for 40 to 45 minutes, Alton tops each brulee with sugar before using a torch to melt the sugar. After cooling for a couple of minutes, the crème brulees are ready to be eaten.