Crema Catalana: When Burning Food Is Good

Crema Catalana

Crema catalana is often described as a Catalan crème brûlée, a dessert with a rugged, citrus twist on the delicate French classic.

I’ve tried it in log cabins in the Pyrenees, in the art havens of Collioure and Barcelona and as a very dodgy liqueur in one of Andorra’s cut-price supermarkets.

But don’t be fooled by the apparent resilience of this custard dish. The list of ingredients may be short, the instructions simple but, as it turns out, making crema catalana is just not that easy.

First up, the ingredients:

6 Eggs

200 Grams of Sugar

1 Litre of Milk

40 Grams of Corn Starch

Zest of One Lemon

1 Stick of Cinnamon

Well, alright, it’s not going to be too difficult to stockpile those things.

Now, what to do with them:

Separate the egg yolks (messy!) and mix with the sugar. Add 750 mls milk and stir thoroughly. Add the lemon zest and cinnamon stick.

Heat the mixture over medium-high heat in a saucepan.

Meanwhile, dissolve the starch in the remaining milk then stir that slowly into your canary-yellow mixture in the saucepan.

Bring to the boil, stirring all the time and set aside right before the first bubble appears.

Hang on a minute, say that again:

Stir but set aside before the first bubble appears. I swear that’s what I did, but somehow instead of a thickening, smooth, fragrant liquid, my cauldron produced a lumpy, speckled scrambled egg soup.

Luckily, there’s an antidote (if you can decipher my handwritten scrawl.) Whisk & sieve.

And no-one need ever know…

After the conspiracy and cover up, ladle the custard into large, flat earthenware ramekins and leave to cool.

Finally, the Fun Part

Brûlée the sugar-sprinkled surface with a blow torch, like this:

Until you reach the desired result.

How Does It Taste?

I love the crunchy caramel topping and would probably reverse the recommended ratios if social convention allowed. The gelatinous part tastes of cool citrus, more orange than lemon.

But, not a lump in sight!

Disclosure. My cooking lesson took place at CookAndTaste in Barcelona, funded by the Catalunya Tourist Board. The toxic crema catalana liqueur, however, I paid for myself.