Crème Brûlée is a must-have dessert in French cuisine, renowned for its creamy texture and crunchy caramel. But where does this sweet treat come from? Rians invites you to discover the history of crème brûlée, a gourmet dessert made for sharing. Let yourself be tempted by Rians’ know-how, which passionately keeps traditional recipes alive for the greatest pleasure of your taste buds.
Who invented the Crème Brûlée recipe?
Several legends are told about the invention of Crème Brûlée. One of them seems to stand out: it is the one we have chosen to share with you. Back to the 17th century, at the table of Philippe d’Orléans, the younger brother of Louis XIV. A fine connoisseur, the future Regent complains to the famous chef François Massialot that his custard is too cold. The maître d’hôtel then has the idea of using a hot iron to warm the sweet cream. And there you have it: the sugar on the surface turns into crunchy caramel without heating the cream underneath. Crème Brûlée was born. It is said that Philippe d’Orléans liked this dessert so much that he asked for another…
Although Spaniards sometimes claim the origin of Crème Brûlée, which they find very similar to their crema catalana, it was in fact the French chef François Massialot who created this dessert and was the first to mention it in one of his famous recipe books.
With its values of passing on traditions and conviviality, the Rians dairy continues today to uphold the iconic Crème Brûlée recipe by selecting quality ingredients and using traditional know-how to offer you a Crème Brûlée that is deliciously smooth and flavorful.
Rians Crème Brûlée: a family story
As is often the case at Rians, the birth of Crème Brûlée was a family story. In 1991, it was under the impetus of Hugues Triballat (3rd generation at the head of the company) that the idea of adapting his sister’s recipe, Odile Triballat’s, took shape. Rians was then producing cheeses, faisselle and fromage blanc—but no desserts!
At that time, Crème Brûlée was not a mainstream product as it is today. Crème Brûlée was above all a dessert crafted in high-end foodservice (such as Michelin-starred restaurants). Rians Crème Brûlée then became a major innovation : it was entirely new to offer a dessert to brown under the grill, and even more so in black packaging.
A recipe between tradition and innovation
A year and a half—that’s how long it took Rians to develop its innovation. Even though the recipe is still today very close to the one used by Odile Triballat when she cooked for family meals, it took a lot of work, many tests and fine-tuning in research and development to adapt the recipe to large production volumes and arrive at the product ultimately sold in stores and quickly embraced by consumers.
As we know, what everyone loves most about Crème Brûlée is that unique interplay of textures : a crisp caramel on top that gives way to a melting, velvety cream underneath. It is this texture contrast that required the most work when designing the product and that helped build its reputation. Initially, Rians Crème Brûlée was intended to be offered already “burnt” and ready to serve. However, after several tests, it turned out that it was not possible to offer consumers a completely “finished” product, as moisture from the lower cream layer melted the upper layer that was meant to be crisp.
From this drawback, Rians managed to make an advantage. This difficulty was overcome with the idea of making Crème Brûlée a dessert “to finish yourself” with a packet of brown sugar provided separately. Nothing has more of the characteristics of a “homemade” dessert than a dessert finished by the consumer themself in their own kitchen!