Crème Brûlée
Courtesy of Tyler Florence, tweaked to my taste

A gorgeous girl some time in the mid 1990s introduced to me this heavenly dessert one night in Olive Garden of all places. What intrigued me was how someone can put together chilled custard covered shut with warm caramelized sugar shell. Pretty neat breaking through that warm sweet barrier to get in that cool velvety filling.

No longer intriguing: A few years later, Food 911 demystified the dish. Picked up some eggs, a two-dollar vanilla bean at Draeger's, and a mini torch for twenty bucks. Tyler, you're my hero.

• 9 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup white sugar (plus several teaspoons worth for later)
• 1 quart heavy cream (or 1 pint regular cream + 1 pint heavy cream)
• 1 vanilla bean
• 12 5-oz ramekins

1. Pour cream into a medium saucepan over low heat. Using a paring knife, split the vanilla bean down the middle, scrape out the seeds and add them to saucepan. Bring cream to a brief simmer. DO NOT BOIL or cream will be ruined.

2. Preheat oven to 300°F. Boil water, about 3 cups.

3. In a large bowl, cream together egg yolks and sugar with a whisk until the mixture is pale yellow and thick.

4. Remove cream + vanilla bean from heat. Temper the yolks by gradually whisking the hot vanilla cream into yolk and sugar mixture. Do not add hot cream too quickly or the eggs will cook. Pass mixture thru strainer to sift out vanilla pods and other possible debris, like shells.

5. Place ramekins in a roasting pan and fill each with mixture to at least 3/4 to the brim. Fill pan with enough hot water to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins.

6. Carfully place pan in oven and lower heat to 250°F. Bake until barely set around the edges, about 40 minutes. Check doneness by lightly knocking/tapping on roast pan. Custard surface shouldn't ripple like surface water. Otherwise, give it about 10-15 more minutes. NEVER use toothpicks!!!

7. Remove from oven and cool to room temperature. Transfer the ramekins to the refrigerator and chill for 2 hours (better if overnight).

8. Sprinkle about 1 teaspoon of sugar on top of each chilled custard. Hold a kitchen torch 2 inches above surface to brown the sugar and form a crust. Serve at once.

Nothing to it. This recipe is in fact just as easy if not easier than creme caramel or leche flan to us PiNOYs. Inexpensive ramekins aren't hard to find. We bought ours at Marshall's for about eight bucks a six-pack. As for the torch, they're pretty much everywhere.