Soy Sauce Crème Brûlée

Directions

1. To prepare the Soy Sauce Caramel, place sugar into a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook until sugar caramelizes and is a deep golden brown color and starts to bubble.
2. Remove from heat and slowly add soy sauce and water. Remove from heat and slowly mix until bubbling stops. Immediately pour equal amounts of caramel on the bottom of 12 (5-oz.) ramekins, tipping to make sure the bottoms are fully covered.
3. To prepare the Soy Sauce Pudding, bring milk and vanilla bean to a simmer in a medium saucepan. Remove from heat and let stand at room temperature for 10 minutes. Remove vanilla bean and stir in cream and soy sauce.
4. Whisk together eggs and egg yolks in a large heavy bottomed bowl. Whisk in sugar until incorporated.
5. Very slowly add the warm vanilla milk into the egg mixture, whisking constantly until fully incorporated. Strain through a fine mesh strainer.
6. Pour equal amounts of the mixture over the Soy Sauce Caramel in each ramekin.
7. Place ramekins in 2 large baking pans and add enough boiling water so that it comes 2/3 up the sides of each ramekin. Make sure that the ramekins are not touching each other or the sides of the pan. Bake at 325°F for 45 minutes or until the center of the pudding is set when the ramekin is gently tapped.
8. Remove from oven and transfer ramekins to a baking rack. Let sit at room temperature for 1 hour. Finish cooling in the refrigerator overnight.
9. Just before serving, very carefully run a small thin knife gently around the edge of the ramekin to release the pudding. Invert on a small plate and let stand until the pudding has released from the ramekin.