Difference between creme caramel creme brulee and Trinity Burnt Cream

According to many British chefs, Trinity Burnt Cream was the original and it was taken to France and given a fancy name.  However, I'm not sure how true that may be!

I don't know if that's true, though.  Why not try emailing Trinity College - I'm sure they'd be the arbiters on the true story.

Trinity Burnt Creme is basically the same thing as creme brulee. It's a rich baked custard, served with a light crispy caramelized sugar top made possible by a broiler, gas torch, or in the old days a red hot iron.

There is also a Spanish version of the dessert called crema catalana. It differs in flavorings, staring cinnamon and citrus zest, which is much closer to the original published French versions. As far as I can tell, the current 'traditional' flavoring for creme brulee/burnt cream is vanilla.

The French get credit for having it in their cookbooks first. But the English try and weasel in because some of the French cookbooks called in creme anglaise (English Creme). Some heterodox historians consider Spain the country of origin. Sadly, they're all deluded, because as everyone knows, creme brulee was invented single handedly by Catherine de Medici when she left Italy to bring cuisine to the barbarians. :P

I've notice you included creme caramel in your list, which doesn't quite belong. It's a distant cousin of the brulee family. It's prepared by lining a mold with molten caramelized sugar, letting it solidify, filling it with custard base, and baking/steaming it done. You must let the cooked custard rest for at least a day, because the caramel steals water from the custard and dissolves, making a nice sauce. The dish is usually inverted and unmolded just prior to service.

In Tuscany, or at least where my parents come from (Lucca) they called creme caramel "Latte alla portoghese" or Portuguese milk.  It was flavored with coffee (a nice combination with burnt sugar).  So we have portugal in the running too,

Cream Brulee was invented by Catherine DeMedicis chefs as she was leaving Italy. They stumbled across a hot spring in the mountains.

One of the chefs filled a goats stomach with eggs and cream. They poached it in the hot spring. They dished it out and found it needed to be sweeter.

They covered the top with sugar.

In a flash, a bolt of lightning hit chef Carmelos cooking utensil.

After they buried Chef Carmelo they returned to eat. The sugar on top of their pudding had hardened and caramelized from the lightning.

They called it creme carmelo and it later evolved into creme brulee.

Chef Carmelo got off easy compared to poor Pietro Tiramisu, 2cnd commis.

Whenever I'm in Vegas I always go to the Tropicana to pay homage to Pietro.

The best Tiramisu on Earth.

Bartolomeo Scappi, chef to Pope Pius V, in his monumental 1570 AD work Opera dell'arte del Cucinare, recounts how Catherine de Medici didn't need to use a nutcracker or knife to prepare walnuts while making nocino. When the time came to make a new batch, she simply smashed them betwixt her buttocks.
 

http://www.amazon.com/Opera-Bartolomeo-Scappi-prudenza-maestro/dp/0802096247