- Hey, I'm John Kanell and
today on Preppy Kitchen, we're making creme brulee. So let's get started.
(bell dinging) First off, we're gonna grab
some precious vanilla beans. I'm using one for this recipe, but you don't have to use vanilla bean. You could definitely use no
extract or vanilla bean paste. Use a sharp knife, cut it down the middle. This is gonna be crazy because your fingernails are gonna
get a little black from this and it looks like you have dirty hands. It's vanilla beans. (laughs) Okay, we open it up and you
see just this beautiful, rich like, look all these thousands of vanilla beans in here. It's amazing. You can use your knife or a spoon, and we're gonna scrape this pod clean, and all that precious cargo out. Ah, that is a ton of
vanilla flavor on my knife. Set that aside for a moment. Now in a smaller medium
pot, we're gonna add three cups of heavy cream, right inside. Ooh, so rich and delicious. I need one more cup. So that's 720 ML and now we're gonna add our amazing precious vanilla beans, as well as the vanilla bean pod. Don't worry about this having some like, little fibers, husky pieces. We're gonna strain it all out in a minute. Put this onto a medium heat. We're gonna bring it to a scald and then we're gonna let this
just infuse for 15 minutes. That vanilla flavor is
perfectly in the cream. While our cream is like infusing and getting all these delicious flavors, we're gonna have our oven
set to 325 and heating up and we're gonna separate five eggs. So whites are not to be discarded. You could use those for a
delicious merengue, perhaps or something that uses egg whites. The yolks are what we're
using for this rich custard. So I love all custards. You know, if you watch this channel that I am obsessed with
eclairs and cream puffs but creme brulee is right up there too. Creamy, beautiful, delicate vanilla flavor and cracking into that
caramel on top is really fun. It's also a good excuse
to use your kitchen torch. Right now, we're gonna
add half a cup of sugar. In you go. (pleasant music) That's all the whole recipe
needs except for the top. And then just a pinch, pinch of salt, an eighth of a teaspoon. Grab a whisk. We're gonna whisk this up
really until it's combined. So just a little movement
like that is all you need. This is gonna be ready to incorporate. Once our cream is ready. Let's check. Our cream's come to a simmer. So we're gonna turn this off
and let it sit for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes of cooling
time, this is ready to pour in and I'm using a little bit of a sieve here just to catch the big bits of vanilla. There's some like pod pieces
that ruin the texture. So pour that all through. (laughs) I see a bean. Now, I'm actually gonna
scoop this out again 'cause this is full of beans,
which is part of the beauty. So I want to have the beans
gone, but the pod pieces here, you can see full of little pod pieces. They smell delicious though, mm. Okay, we're gonna stir this together. Part of waiting 15 minutes was so the cream wasn't burning hot and didn't cook the eggs. If it was gonna be cooking the eggs, it'd be scrambled eggs and
we'd have a temper the mixture and back and forth. But because it cooled it
down, it's not even a problem. Alright, that's ready to
pour into our ramekins. We're cooking our custard in a bain Marie, which just means I'm gonna
use really hot water to, oh, you didn't see that. We're gonna use really hot water to even the temperature out
so our custard bakes evenly. So fill this container up about, of the, about a third of the way
up with really hot water. There we go. These are six, six ounce ramekins, but you could use different
sizes if you want. It's really up to you. Please don't, please don't spill. (laughs) Alright. Ah! Okay. We're gonna fill these up just, just like where the liquid is. Oh my gosh. I'm gonna be in heaven, eating these. I will be sharing of course. (laughs) We're over filling them
just a little bit so, that's my bad, but that's
okay 'cause this one's small. These are gonna bake at
325 for 30 to 40 minutes until they're set. But the center has a slight
wobble when you jiggle it, but be very careful taking
this into the oven, everything, cause there's water, it's hot, be careful. My creme brulee is out of the fridge. It's nicely chilled so that wobble is gone and we're ready to brulee it. The most fun part. However, it's also the
most frustrating part because if you've ever done this at home, the sugar has a tendency to burn if you don't do it the right way. First step, I'm using caster sugar. You could use granulated sugar. Caster sugar is like between
granulated and powdered sugar. It has a finer grain, which
I think toasts better. I'm gonna sprinkle about one and a half
teaspoons over the surface. This will depend on the
size of your ramekin. If you chose a really big
ramekin, that's shallow, you're gonna use more sugar. Give this like a little bit of a shake, all the way out to the edges. Brush some sugar over towards the edge. What happens is if you
have too much in the center where it tends to collect, it will just like, burn as
you're trying to brulee at all. So you want a thin layer,
thinner than you might think. And if you don't have a torch, just enjoy this delicious custard as is. It doesn't really work to broil them. I'm gonna tell you that now. All right, (laughs) time to do it. So move your torch around. You want like a lighter amber color. If you go too dark, what's
gonna happen is burnt sugar, which just tastes bitter. Then move the heat as you go along. It'll continue to burn, even
after you move things around. Here we go. Oh my God, that was perfect. (laughs) I'm gonna tell you behind the scenes, I've burnt so many creme brulees. This is very frustrating for me, but this is exactly what you want. It's golden Amber and just right. So you're really erring on the side of being
conservative with your sugar for that nice crack. We'll do one more. Give it a little spin. I think the brushing is really
important because you just, you can't wiggle it right. Just be gentle 'cause you don't wanna work the sugar in to the
custard and get it wet. This is a horrible torch, by the way. You want like the big,
like a big backyard, like garage torch. All right. So sweeping motions across the top. Don't try and caramelize
all the sugar in one place. It'll continue to caramelize
and you can come back to it. I have to call my mom. This has been the most
successful bruleeing ever. All right. Just continue and serve immediately or within like half an hour or so. If you let them sit out too
long, the sugar will melt and you won't have that nice crack. I'm so excited for this moment. (spoon clicking) (laughs) Look at that beautiful custard. If you like this recipe,
check out my vanilla playlist. (crunching) Mm. That's so good. I'm just gonna keep eating this. You make this though, and I'll see you in the next video.
