Crema catalana. It’s one of Catalonia’s signature desserts and made an appearance in a 14th-century cookbook, the Llibre de Sent Soví. Similar to crème brûlée, it’s made using milk instead of cream and flavored with cinnamon and orange or lemon peel, and you stir the custard on the stove rather than baking ramekins in a water bath. In the first diary entry in The Gray Notebook by Josep Pla, the author is served crema catalana for his birthday. He calls it crema cremada, and the translation calls it crème brûlée. I don’t have any practice making crème brûlée or anything that requires a blowtorch, so I wasn’t sure how to make a proper crust without turning it into a block of ice. About a year ago, we had dinner at our friends’ house on a night after wet, slushy snow had fallen and then frozen solid. A crust of ice had formed on top of the snow on their lawn and it collapsed under your feet as you walked on it. “It looks like crème brûlée,” which we had just been served for dessert, someone said.

(Photo: Helsingør, Denmark, December 2009.)

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