Crema Catalana

Crema catalana is a Catalan sweet made by infusing milk with lemon peel and cinnamon and cooking it in a pan with egg yolks. Sugar is sprinkled over the cooled cream, and a hot iron is applied to caramelize only the surface until it is crisp. The smooth cream and the thin layer of caramelized sugar are heated separately. It is also a dish for spring celebrations, and one of its names comes from Saint Joseph’s Day.

Infusing the milk and thickening it in a pan

The typical flavorings are lemon peel and cinnamon. The milk is warmed, a cinnamon stick and the yellow peel of a lemon are added, and the heat is turned off so the aromas infuse. The white pith is avoided so that the fragrance of the peel is drawn into the milk.

Egg yolks, sugar and starch are mixed until smooth and free of lumps. The rewarmed milk is added little by little, and the mixture is heated in a pan while being stirred constantly. Some current recipes (the proportions of ingredients and the method) use cornstarch.

When heated, starch absorbs water and thickens. The egg yolks also set with heat, producing a soft cream. Once the mixture has thickened, it is strained to remove the peel and cinnamon, which have finished infusing, and any remaining lumps; it is then divided into shallow dishes and cooled. Mixing the starch in evenly, stirring the contents of the pan evenly and continuously, and straining at the end produce a smooth cream.

Caramelizing the sugar with a hot iron just before eating

The sugar on the surface is caramelized just before serving. The traditional tool, called a pala de cremar or ferro de cremar, is a round iron plate with a long, narrow handle. The grip is made of wood, and the iron plate is heated in a fire until red-hot, then pressed onto the sugared surface.

By separating the heat used to cook the cream in the pan from the heat used to caramelize the sugar at the end, a thin layer of caramelized sugar forms on top of the cold cream. The finished surface cracks crisply, and the aroma of the caramelized sugar sharpens the sweetness of the milk and eggs. Because the sugar takes up moisture from the cream beneath it if left for long, the cream can be prepared ahead, but the surface is finished to match the time it will be eaten.

Milk and egg dishes, and records of creams with caramelized tops

Milk and egg dishes in the 14th-century Llibre de Sent Soví and the 16th-century Llibre del Coch are cited as precursors. However, they are not identical to the present form, in which sugar is caramelized on top of a cold dish. The diary of Rafael d’Amat, Baron of Maldà, from the late 18th to the early 19th century, frequently mentions “Saint Joseph’s cream.” For the celebration on March 19, there is also a traditional version that is not caramelized but is instead decorated with letters drawn in chocolate or meringue.

The “roasted milk” in the 1758 edition of Juan Altamiras’s Nuevo arte de cocina (New Art of Cooking) is a dish in which milk, sugar and beaten eggs are heated from above and below. Although its ingredients resemble today’s, it is baked so that the whole dish sets, which differs from the version that is cooked in a pan, cooled and caramelized only on the surface.

Joan Baptista Panyó’s cookbook of 1784 contains a “frangipane-style cream” that is closer to the present form. Wheat flour, eggs, milk and sugar are combined with lemon peel, orange flower water and cinnamon, cooked in a pan while being stirred constantly, and, once cooled, finished with sugar and a hot spatula. Unlike today’s frangipane, this formulation does not use almonds. A sweet’s name and its combination of ingredients do not necessarily stay the same over time.

In “To make cream” in the 1851 edition of La Cuynera Catalana, egg yolks, starch or rice flour, sugar, lemon peel and a thin piece of cinnamon are combined with milk and stirred with a wooden spoon until thickened. The flavorings are removed, the cream is spread on a flat plate to cool, sprinkled with white sugar, and caramelized with a hot iron spatula or lid. This recipe gives a concrete record of the method of separating the heating in the pan from the heating of the surface. The same book also describes another method in which the cream is cut before caramelizing, coated in flour and fried in lard.

The naming legend of a bishop who cried “It burns”

According to one story, a nun who failed to make a flan properly for a visiting bishop served it topped with hot caramelized sugar; the bishop burned his mouth and cried, “Crema, crema!” It is a naming legend that plays on the word for “cream” and the word for “it burns.” Who made it and when is uncertain, but the story also portrays the sweet’s characteristic layer of hot caramelized sugar over a cold cream.

The Saint Joseph’s Day custom and how it differs from crème brûlée

Because of the custom of eating it on March 19, Sant Josep (Saint Joseph’s Day), it is also called crema de Sant Josep. Today it is enjoyed throughout the year, but its name preserves its connection with the table at spring celebrations.

What it shares with French crème brûlée is the layer of caramelized sugar covering a cream. Crème brûlée as commonly seen today is made with heavy cream and vanilla and baked in its dish in a water bath, whereas the typical method for crema catalana is to infuse milk with lemon and cinnamon, cook it in a pan and then transfer it to dishes. The dairy used, the flavorings and the thickening process give each its own character.

However, this difference cannot be used to sort older cream recipes. The crème brûlée in the 1771 edition of François Massialot’s cookbook is also made by mixing and cooking egg yolks, milk, wheat flour, cinnamon and citrus peel in a pan, then caramelizing the sugar with a hot spatula. The differences in formulation and cooking method commonly seen today cannot simply be taken as a long-standing dividing line, or as evidence that one is the origin of the other.

In cake fillings and frozen desserts, too

Crema is not only a sweet served in a dish; it is also an ingredient for building other sweets. The Catalan pastry shop Amblàs offers the Massini, which combines whipped cream with caramelized crema, and a “three flavors” cake that also adds a chocolate cream. To the two layers of sugar and cream found when it is served in a dish, cake layers or another cream are added, so that different textures can be enjoyed in a single slice.

Coca de Llavaneres is a sweet in which cream is enclosed between two sheets of pastry and the top is covered with almond paste and sliced almonds. The dairy producer Llet Nostra presents a recipe that uses its own crema catalana inside, for the Sant Joan celebrations in June. Because the cream is wrapped in pastry and baked, the crisp, flaky texture of the pastry is added on the outside.

Frozen desserts also include versions in which a milk and egg cream is frozen and the sugar on top is caramelized by hand. For example, Gelats Glas’s single-serving crema catalana has caramelized sugar placed on top of ice cream. Even though the cream is frozen, the cold interior is paired with a layer of caramelized sugar that cracks crisply.

Glossary