Crema Catalana Quemada
(KREH-mah kah-tah-LAH-nah keh-MAH-dah)
Chapter 5: Sweets & Drinks
If you want to start a fight in a Barcelona kitchen, tell a Catalan chef their dessert is a knockoff of crème brûlée. They will quickly—and correctly—inform you that their version was documented three hundred years before the French wrote theirs down. For a tapas party, this is the ultimate finale. Made entirely of whole milk rather than heavy cream, it acts as a bright, citrus-forward palate cleanser after a heavy parade of jamón and garlic shrimp. Best of all, it sits patiently in the fridge until the final plates are cleared, requiring only sixty seconds of blowtorch theater before hitting the table.
Before you start
Prepare the dessert at least four hours in advance.
The custard requires significant chilling time to fully set the cornstarch and allow the citrus and cinnamon flavors to mature, making it the perfect make-ahead dish for entertaining.
Ingredients
- whole milk4 cup
- cinnamon stick1 large
- lemon1 large
- orange1/2 med
- egg yolks8 large
- white granulated sugar3/4 cup
- white granulated sugar6 tbsp
- cornstarch3 tbsp
- kosher salt1 pinch
Method
- 01
Infuse the milk with cinnamon and citrus.
Pour all but a half cup of the milk into a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan with the cinnamon stick and citrus zests, bring just to a simmer, then remove from the heat, cover, and steep for 30 minutes.
- 02
Mix the cornstarch slurry and whisk the yolks.
Whisk the cornstarch into the reserved cold milk until smooth, then aggressively whisk the egg yolks and three-quarters of a cup of sugar in a separate bowl until pale before stirring in the slurry.
- 03
Temper the eggs with the hot milk.
Remove the aromatics from the infused milk, then slowly ladle about a cup of the warm milk into the egg mixture while whisking constantly to gently raise the yolk temperature without scrambling them.
- 04
Thicken the custard on the stovetop.
Return the tempered egg mixture to the saucepan and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until the custard thickens enough to cleanly coat the back of the spoon, ensuring it never comes to a boil.
- 05
Portion and chill the custard.
Divide the hot custard evenly among six shallow ramekins or traditional clay cazuelas, press plastic wrap directly against the surface to prevent a skin from forming, and refrigerate for at least four hours.
- 06
Caramelize the sugar crust immediately before serving.
Remove the plastic wrap, sprinkle exactly one tablespoon of the remaining sugar evenly over each custard, and melt with a kitchen torch until it bubbles into a deep, glossy mahogany crust.
Notes
Respect the dairy limits.
Do not substitute heavy cream for the whole milk. The genius of this dessert is its refreshing lightness at the end of a rich meal; heavy cream pushes it into cloying, French territory.
Serve in traditional cazuelas.
Shallow terracotta clay dishes are excellent insulators. They keep the custard cold while the surface is torched, preserving the essential contrast between the hot, brittle crust and the chilled cream.
Avoid the vanilla reflex.
Do not add vanilla extract. The historic Moorish identity of this dish is anchored entirely in the delicate interplay of cinnamon and citrus.