Crème brûlée

Method

1. Heat the oven to 150C. Put 100 ml of double cream in the smallest saucepan you have. Scrape the seeds from 0.5 split vanilla pod into the cream, drop in the pod too, and add a pinch of fine sea salt.
2. Set the pan over a low heat and bring the cream just to the point where it steams and trembles at the edges — do not let it boil. Take it off the heat, cover, and leave to infuse for 15 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, whisk 1 egg yolk with 12 g of caster sugar in a bowl for about 1 minute, until slightly paler and smooth. Don't whip it to a foam; you want no air in the custard.
4. Pour the warm cream through a fine sieve onto the yolk in a slow stream, whisking gently all the time so the yolk tempers rather than scrambles. Skim away any bubbles from the surface with a spoon.