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Dessert

Crème Brûlée III

A custard dessert made with heavy cream, egg yolks, sugar, and flavorings, topped with caramelized sugar.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and cardamom match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 237 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Crème Brûlée III

Oven325°F (160°C)
Timearound 40 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Preheat oven to 325°F (160°C).

Make the custard

  1. Heat cream and flavorings in a saucepan over medium heat until simmering. Remove from heat.

  2. Whisk together egg yolks and ¼ cup sugar.

  3. Pour a small amount of warm cream mixture into egg yolk mixture and whisk until combined.

  4. Continue adding more warm cream until the egg mixture is warm.

  5. Combine the egg/cream mixture with the remaining cream in the saucepan.

  6. Heat again, stirring continuously, until thickened and coats the back of a spoon.

Bake and chill

  1. Pour the custard into ramekins (depending on size, may fill 1 to 4).

  2. Place the ramekins in a pan with a bit of water in the bottom, and bake for around 40 minutes or until the custard is set.

  3. Refrigerate a few hours until cool.

Finish and serve

  1. Sprinkle the remaining ¼ cup sugar over the custard, then caramelize under the broiler for about 5 minutes, checking and turning every minute to prevent burning. Serve.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

196Calories
7 gProtein
11 gFat
16 gCarbs

Counts 5 of 6 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Vanilla1 tsp extract (4ml)12
Cardamom1 tsp ground (2g)6
Citrusnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Wikibooks Cookbook.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Vanilla + cardamomtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together237 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,301 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  5. Sugar + cardamomtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,044 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Thicken the custard as they set, giving it a smooth, creamy structure.
Heavy cream
Adds fat and richness, producing a silky, moist texture.
Granulated white sugar
Sweetens the custard and forms the brittle caramel crust when broiled.

The step that matters

Heat again, stirring continuously, until thickened. Egg yolks thicken through gentle heat. If the mixture gets too hot or is not stirred, the proteins can curdle and turn grainy instead of smooth.

Swap the cardamom

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, egg, sugar, vanilla):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Cardamomthe original
  4. Peppermintfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, egg, sugar, vanilla. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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