Creme brûlée

Method

(This dish can be made in a slow cooker or oven. A kitchen blowtorch is recommended to finish the brûlée.
Makes 4 large or 6 small serves.)

Scrape the seeds from the vanilla pod and place in a large saucepan, along with the pouring cream and heavy cream, stirring to combine well.

Bring to a simmer over a low heat, stirring to ensure the cream doesn’t catch on the bottom of the pan. Once the cream mixture starts to simmer, turn off the heat.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and caster sugar. Very gently, add a ladle of the hot cream to the egg mixture, continually whisking.

Add another ladle and continue to stir. (Do not be tempted to add all the hot cream at once, as this could curdle the eggs.)

Continue to add the cream mixture until all the cream is whisked in.

Split the mixture evenly between 4 or 6 ramekins.

If you are using the slow cooker, you will need to protect the ramekins, as the custard will set too much along the bottom.

Take a large piece of aluminium foil and roll into the long sausage shape, 1cm thick. Bend this into a ring the same size as the ramekins, and place one under each ramekin as you put them in the slow cooker. This will help protect the bottoms and keep them a little higher.

Pour water into the bottom of the slow cooker, just enough to cover a third of the way up the side of the ramekins.

Cover and cook on low for 2 hours, until the custard has just set. It will have a bit of a wobble and a jiggle, but will no longer be runny.

If you prefer to cook these in the oven, use the same method but without the aluminium foil rings. Preheat the oven to 130C. Place the ramekins in a large tray, and fill the tray with water to about a third of the way up the side of the ramekins. Place in the oven and cook for 35 minutes.

Remove the creme brûlée and place in the fridge for at least a few hours, to ensure they completely set.