Custard Types
While most custards contain eggs, dairy, and sweetener, the proportions and techniques you use to combine and cook them will produce very different results. Let's identify a few different styles of custard, including the three you’ll be making in this class.
Crème Brûlée
Many say that the origin of “burnt cream” can be traced not to France, as you might presume, but instead to Trinity College in 17th century England. Compared to crème caramel or flan, crème brûlée is very rich because the custard usually contains heavy cream and numerous egg yolks. Topped with a thin layer of sugar, which is caramelized just before serving, crème brûlée is baked and served in the same container, not unmolded. The distinctive taste and texture of the crisp, warm sugar crust contrasts with the cold, creamy custard.
Crème Caramel
Also known in France as Crème Renversée, this fairly light custard, often made with milk as all or part of the dairy and with added yolks for some degree of richness, is baked in a mold lined with caramelized sugar. It is unmolded before serving, and the caramel becomes a sauce. A standard in French bistros and cafés, this dessert is now almost as American as it is French.
Flan
The preeminent dessert of Spain and much of Latin America, flan is similar to crème caramel (it often gets the same definition in cookbooks) in that it is also baked in a caramel-lined mold and turned out before serving. Flan, however, is usually richer and denser than crème caramel because the custard is made with more eggs and yolks, as well as some cream or evaporated or condensed milk.
Pots de Crème
This French interpretation of the baked cup custard literally means “pot of cream.” This dessert is traditionally baked and served in very small portions in lidded porcelain cups, but in our recipe, we forego the baking for a stovetop method. This custard is very rich, like crème brûlée, because it uses a very high proportion of egg yolks to whole eggs (if any whole eggs are used at all).
