Crème Brûlée (Sous Vide)
If you are a foodie and don’t have a sous vide, I highly recommend you getting one. In 2020 I was living in Toronto and my partner was living in BC, he came to Toronto for a couple of days and I sent him home with my sous vide, he became obsessed. It is such a great kitchen gadget, makes the best steaks, and the easiest way to make Crème Brûlée.
My best friends husband made this version of the dessert a couple years ago when I was visiting them and boy was it good. I decided to make it this year on Family Day (the day after Valentine’s Day), so I decided to text my best friends husband and ask for his recipe. Below is bits of our conversation…
Convo with me and Andy :
Me: Happy New Year 🐂! Also as the sous vide Crème Brûlée king… is it 179C for 1 hour? I have seen different things.
Andy: * sends picture of sous vide Crème Brûlée* hahaha thanks, you must have ESP because I just pulled these from the water. I just did 176 for an hour.
We continued to go back an forth about the recipe for a while, with him giving me tips and sending me instructions and a video link. For context on the next part Andy’s wife Chelsea is my best friend, we met the first week of university playing Rugby and came to quickly find out we had a ton in common, so much so that our families started calling us twins.
Convo with me and Chelsea:
Me: I’m twinning with Andy today!!! We’re both making Crème Brûlée!!
Chelsea: He’s making Crème Brûlée? lol
Me: Ooop hope that wasn’t a secret.
Me: Don’t tell. Pretend like you don’t know.
Me: I texted him to ask a question and he said he was doing the same.
Chelsea: hahahaha
*two days later on Valentines Day
Chelsea: Andrew brought the Crème Brûlée to the cabin 😂
Me: hahahaha was it a surprise?
Chelsea: Total surprise 😛
Me: Oh s***!
Me: Did you tell on me lol?
Chelsea: It’s ok I told him you spilled the beans and we laughed about it!
So please find below the recipe on how I spoiled my friends surprise Valentine’s Day treat!
Ingredients (makes 3-4 servings)
80g egg yolk (about 5 eggs)
45g sugar
pinch of salt
300g heavy cream
Vanilla
*optional which I did: instead of Vanilla you can add a TBS of ginger and lime zest. You could also add rosemary, whiskey, maple syrup… experiment!
Steps
Set sous vide to 176C
Whisk eggs and sugar till pale, add salt.
Heat cream to simmer on stove - this is when you would add your optional others instead of vanilla to steep and absorb that great flavour. Alternatively if you are just doing vanilla you can skip heating the cream.
Add cream and vanilla to egg mixture, if you heated the cream make sure you temper the eggs by adding the cream very slowly and mixing constantly.
Strain mixture through a sieve.
Place in 3-4 small mason jars (I use the 250ml jars and it pours about 140g into 3 jars).
Close lids to finger tight, so not all the way, you want it a tiny bit loose to allow some air to escape in the cooking process.
Once the sous vide hits 176C place jars carefully in water for 1 hour.
Cool for 4 hours or up to 3 days in fridge. I find it best when made the day before then cooling in the fridge overnight for dessert the next day.
Sprinkle sugar on top.
Use torch to melt sugar.
Serve!
Crème Brûlée is my all time favourite dessert! If I go out for dinner and this is on the menu 10/10 times I will order it, even if I am full! It is so great and easy to make at home and impress your friends (when you are safely allowed to have friends over again).
