I made creme brulee for the first time a few weeks ago. I had never had
it before. I had only had creme caramel, which I did like. What
surprised me about the creme brulee is that the creme part wasn't very
sweet at all. There was a hint of sweetness, but not enough to really
overcome the taste of plain old cream. As a result, I didn't really like
the creme brulee even as much as a container of Snack Pack vanilla
pudding. I assumed the caramelized sugar on top was going to be a
sufficient sweetener for it overall. If it hadn't been for the sugar
topping, I wouldn't have liked it at all.

Now for the surprising part. I was embarrassed about having made
something that wasn't so good, but I decided to share a couple with my
friend's parents. She'd had creme brulee before and she told me that mine
was excellent. Maybe I just don't like a "proper" creme brulee.

So what about it? Is the creme part of a creme brulee supposed to be
sweet? How sweet?

I used Alton Brown's recipe here, which has 5/5 stars, so apparently
people who have had creme brulee find his version just fine:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/a...ipe/index.html


On a side note, I'm thinking of trying something like a "creme cheese
brulee", adding cream cheese to the cream. I think it would offset the
"plain cream" flavor and give it an interesting twist.

Damaeus