Advanced Sous Vide Cooking

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ChefSteps is a team of chefs, writers, and food lovers who develop recipes, techniques, and guides to help people cook better at home.

ChefSteps

Joule® Turbo Sous Vide

Whisk

Fine-mesh strainer

4-cup Liquid measuring cup

8-ounce Wide-mouth mason jar(s)

Jar lifter

Baking/Cooling rack(s)

Small fine-mesh strainer

Blowtorch

Egg yolk(s)

Vanilla bean seed

Sugar

Kosher salt

Heavy cream

Heat sous vide water bath to desired temperature according to our doneness guide.

[f 176]: Soft and creamy
[f 181]: Thick and rich (our favorite)
[f 185]: Firm and unctuous

Heat sous vide bath

In a medium bowl, whisk together egg yolks, vanilla, sugar, and salt until smooth and homogenous. Add heavy cream and whisk until well combined and sugar has fully dissolved.

Strain custard base through fine-mesh strainer into a large liquid measuring cup. Let strained custard base rest for at least 30 minutes to allow air bubbles to rise to surface and dissipate. Using a spoon, skim away any bubbles left on surface after resting.

Whisk and strain custard base

Divide custard base evenly between five 8-ounce wide-mouth mason jars; each jar should have between 140 and 150 g of custard base, with about 1/2 inch headspace from lip of jar. 

Gently tap jars several times on counter to remove air bubbles. If any bubbles remain, you can get rid of them with a kitchen blowtorch. Light torch on low-release gas setting and keeping flame at least 2 inches from jars, sweep over surface of custard base until bubbles have popped. 

Seal jar lids until fingertip tight (lids should be secure, but you should be able to easily unscrew them with your fingertips).

Portion custard

It’s important to avoid sealing mason jar lids too tightly when using them for sous vide cooking. If a jar is sealed too tightly, trapped air will press against the glass, which can cause the jar to crack or break. Sealing jars “fingertip tight” allows air to escape from the jars when they’re submerged in the water bath.

Here’s our foolproof method for sealing jars “fingertip tight”: Place a lid on top of the jar. Using your fingertips, twist the band to tighten. When you begin to feel resistance, twist once in opposite direction to loosen, then once more in original direction to lightly tighten.

Sealing jars “fingertip tight” for sous vide cooking

Using canning tongs, carefully transfer jars to sous vide bath, making sure they are all fully submerged.

Cook for 1 hour.

Once cooked, custards can be held in sous vide bath for 15 minutes without any loss in quality.

Cook custard sous vide

Remove jars from sous vide bath and transfer to wire rack. Let cool at room temperature until cool to the touch, about 25 minutes. If you’re looking to serve as soon as possible, prepare an ice bath.

Tighten jar lids, and transfer to an ice bath to rapidly chill, about 1 hour, or refrigerate jars until custard is fully chilled and set, about 4 hours.

Cool custards

When ready to serve, remove jar lids. Using paper towel, gently blot away condensation from surface of custards.

Using a small fine-mesh strainer or your fingers, sprinkle an even layer of sugar over surface of each custard.

Light blowtorch on low-release gas setting. Working with one jar at a time sweep flame over surface of custard, keeping torch head 6 to 10 inches from jar while rotating jar, until sugar is bubbling and deep golden brown. Repeat with remaining jars.

Let rest for 5 minutes to allow sugar crust to harden. Serve.

Brûler that crème

Cooked and cooled custards can be refrigerated for up to 1 week. When ready to serve, proceed to Step 6.

Make ahead and storage

The key to perfect crème brûlée—and all <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/guides-tools/custard-parametric-analysis">custards</a>, really—is to keep the internal temperature of the mixture below [f 185]. Above that point, they have a tendency to curdle (and they start tasting super eggy). By cooking crème brûlée in a sous vide bath, we can precisely control the cooking temperature, eliminating the risk of a curdled dessert. Prepped in small, wide-mouth mason jars, these custards emerge from the bath already individually portioned in adorable serving vessels. Before serving, we add a golden-brown layer of caramelized sugar using a blowtorch. (Don’t worry if you’ve never tried it; we’ll walk you through the technique.) The result: an eminently satisfying sunshine-hued dessert with a deliciously crackly top and a whisper of elegant sweetness that&#39;s as easy to prepare for a crowd as it is for smaller gatherings.

Sous Vide Crème Brûlée