I’ve been meaning to write a brulee recipe for sometime now but I have waited until butane gas guns are readily available at hardware stores & reasonably priced at around a tenner. Trying to create the “burnt” caramel crust without a blow torch/gas gun is nigh impossible because most domestic grills don’t get hot enough. Mastering Brulee can take a little practise; to learn how set it should be, before removing from the oven...but unlike a woodwork project you can eat your mistakes!

9 egg yolks
250 ml double cream
250 ml milk
1 vanilla pod
90 grams castor sugar
250 grams Fresh Raspberries
few drops of natural vanilla extract
6 ramekin dishes

1. Preheat oven to 120 C gas mark 1/2
2. Place about 4-5 raspberries into each of your ramekins. and lay the ramekins into a roasting tray.
3. Split the vanilla pod and scrap out the vanilla seeds,then put the seeds and the pod into a non-stick saucepan. Add the cream, milk, a few drops vanilla extract and bring to a simmer then turn off heat.
4. In a bowl combine the egg yolks and sugar and whisk well until they turn a pale straw colour.
5. Pour the cream mix into the egg yolks and whisk well. Transfer the mix into a clean non-stick saucepan and return to the stove on a medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon making sure your spoon is touching the bottom of the saucepan.
6. Cook gently until the brulee mix starts to coat the back of your spoon, remove from the heat immediately and strain through a fine mesh sieve.
7 Ladle the Brulee mix into each ramekin covering the raspberries.
8. Boil a kettle and pour enough water around the ramekins to cover 3/4 of there height
9. Cook the brullee’s on a lower shelf for 40 minutes until set.
10. Carefully remove the ramekins from the roasting tray and allow to cool down at room temperature.
11. Move to the fridge and allow to cool for at least 2 hours.
12. Sprinkle the brulees with castor sugar and melt with the gas gun, moving the flame around to melt the sugar evenly and quickly.

Chef’s Tips
Caramelising the tops of the brulee can be done in advance, so that the caramel crust is set and hard. Ramakins vary in size so you might find you have too much mix.