Creme Caramel - the proof of the pudding

There’s something very grown up about the taste of slightly burnt sugar. I’ve recently grown to love making caramel – not loving it, but enjoying it a lot. Loving food is a malapropism, although loving WITH food is a definite possibility. Could this be the “passion” that is so often the keyword in articles written about food? I’ve never been a fan of custard per se, but set egg custards seem to transcend the nursery food association of pouring custard. I have one good memory of pouring custard which involved a  pale, yet intensely vanilla flavoured, creme anglaise and a bitter orange jelly, but that’s it. But caramel, or blowtorch burnt sugar, in conjunction with set egg custard is failsafe. The smell coming from the kitchen when the sugar and water have magically turned into a golden brown mirror is as good as a dinner gong. The proof of the pudding is that those such as creme caramel and creme brulee need no adornment, and that is a very good benchmark.

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