is a French term for a rich baked custard made with cream, rather than with milk. The custard is topped with a layer of sugar (usually brown) which is then caramelized by use of a salamander or under a grill. Crème, meaning ‘cream’, is derived from the Latin chrisma through the old French cresme. The term brulé is applied to dishes such as cream custards which are finished off with a caramelized sugar glaze.
In English, the dish is Burnt cream. This term was in use as long ago as the beginning of the 18th century, but the French term had already been used by Massialot in 1691 and has priority, although it fell into disuse in France for a while in the 19th century (oddly, at just about the time when English people were adopting it in place of their own English term).
Crème brûlée is also sometimes known as Trinity cream because of its association with Trinity College, Cambridge, where the college crest was impressed on top of the cream with a branding iron. Florence White (1932) says of Caramel Cream:
This recipe is given by Miss Eleanor L. Jenkinson, sister of the late Cambridge University Librarian in the Ocklye Cookery Book (1909). Miss Jenkinson says: ‘It is amusing to remember that this recipe, which came from a country house in Aberdeenshire in the 'sixties, was offered to the kitchens of Trinity College, Cambridge, by an undergraduate, and rejected with contempt. When the undergraduate became a Fellow, just thirty years ago (in 1879), he presented it again; this time it was accepted as a matter of course. It speedily became one of the favourite dishes of May week’.
Helen Saberi was Alan Davidson's personal assistant, and worked very closely with him on the first edition of the Companion, as contributor, researcher, fact-checker, and proofreader. She is the author of Noshe Djan: Afghan Food and Cookery, and co-author with Alan Davidson of Trifle. (HS)
White, Florence (1932), Good Things in England, London: Jonathan Cape.
