Crème Caramel

Put the 200g of caster sugar and the 60ml of water into a heavy pan and stir once to wet the sugar evenly.

Set the pan over medium heat and leave it alone.

Do not stir it again. A spoon dragged through boiling sugar syrup seeds it with crystals and the whole pan goes back to wet grit.

Brush any sugar off the sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush as it comes to the boil.

Boil for 6-8 minutes, until the syrup is the colour of dark honey and smells faintly bitter.

Judge it by colour rather than by the clock. Caramel goes from amber to black in about fifteen seconds, and it carries on darkening in the pan after the heat is off.

Pour the caramel straight into six 150ml ramekins and tilt each one to coat the base.

Work quickly and keep bare forearms clear of it. It sets within a minute and it is far hotter than boiling water, and it sticks to skin.

Heat the oven to 150C/300F.

Put the milk, cream and the vanilla seeds and pod into a pan.

Warm over medium heat for 4-5 minutes, until the surface trembles and steam comes off it.

Take the pan off the heat before it boils and leave it to infuse for 15 minutes.

Whisk the eggs, egg yolks, the 80g of caster sugar and the fine salt together until just smooth, stirring rather than beating. Foam whisked in now bakes as a layer of holes across what will be the top of the turned-out custard.

Pour the warm milk into the eggs in a thin stream, whisking constantly. That is tempering, which the vanilla custard in this collection sets out at length.

Strain the mixture through a fine sieve into a jug.

Skim any foam off the surface with a spoon.

Pour the custard into the ramekins over the set caramel.

Stand the ramekins in a deep roasting tin.

Pour the boiling water into the tin, around the ramekins, to come halfway up their sides. The water holds the outside of each custard at boiling point or below however hot the oven air gets.

Bake for 35-45 minutes, until the custards are set at the edge and wobble as one mass in the middle when you tap the side of a ramekin.

Check at 35 minutes. A baked custard taken past its point is pitted with holes and weeps water onto the plate, and there is no way back from it.

Lift the ramekins out of the water with a cloth and cool them on a rack for an hour.

Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, and overnight if you can, which is what turns the set caramel into a sauce.

Run a small knife around the inside of each ramekin.

Set a lipped plate over the top and invert the two together.

Lift the ramekin off and let the caramel run down over the custard.

Use a plate with a rim. There is more liquid caramel than you expect, and a flat plate sends it onto the table.

Keep the three egg whites this leaves in a covered container in the fridge for up to a week. The pavlova in this collection wants four.