Christmas is the perfect time of year to enjoy creamy homemade custards. Made from a basic mixture of milk, eggs and sugar, and sometimes flavoured with ingredients such as vanilla beans, custard can be served warm or cold. Great on its own as a dessert, it can also play a starring role in sweet dishes such as creme caramel and creme brulee.
There are two types of custard. Stirred custards are cooked in a saucepan until thick but still liquid in consistency, while baked custards are usually cooked in ovenproof dishes in a water bath or bain-marie until set. Custard is widely available in supermarkets. However, homemade custard is a budget option, and doesn’t contain any preservatives, additives, artificial flavours and wheat-based thickening agents, that some bought products do. Also, homemade custard uses basic ingredients that can be found in any pantry and tastes richer and creamier than bought custards.
A wooden spoon for stirring the custard as it cooks.
A large fine sieve for straining the custards.
A large jug for pouring the custard into ovenproof dishes or when straining.
A roasting pan for cooking baked custards in a bain-marie.
A tea towel for insulating baked custards from the heat of the pan.
How to bake custards
For perfect baked custards, line the base of a roasting pan with a tea towel. Place ramekins on top and pour custard mixture among the ramekins. Pour boiling water into the pan to reach halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake in oven until the custards are just set. The bain-marie or water bath protects the custards from the direct heat of the base of the roasting pan, so they cook gently and don’t overheat and separate.
How to cook smooth, creamy stirred custard
The secret to cooking stirred custard is to cook it in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon, until the custard thickens and coats the back of the spoon. Stirring distributes the heat so the custard doesn’t become too hot, which can curdle it. Draw a finger across the back of the spoon and if it leaves a trail, your custard is ready.
Straining custard
After cooking stirred custard, strain through a fine sieve into a jug. This removes any bits of egg that may not have been properly combined, and ensures that the custard is as smooth as possible. It’s also an easy way to rescue your custard if it begins to overcook and curdle. Straining is an important part of making baked custard, too. Strain the egg mixture before cooking to ensure your baked custard is smooth.
If you use a recipe for the wrong type of custard, you might be unhappy with the results. Then, there are all the ways that you can curdle, split, or burn your custard, such as adding the eggs too quickly, failing to mix starches through properly, and not stirring custards constantly.
In a jug, mix the egg yolks, cornflour, sugar and vanilla extract. Pour the hot cream/ milk over the egg mixture, slowly, whilst stirring constantly, then pour back into the pan and heat gently while stirring with the whist, until thick and creamy.
Mix flour and cold water well, making sure the mixture is smooth. For 1 cup (240 mL) of custard, use 2 tablespoons (17 g) of flour mixed with 4 tablespoons (59 mL) of cold water. Add the mixture into your custard ingredients as they cook on the stove. Use cornstarch as an alternative to flour.
The more eggs that are added, the stronger the physical protein bonds will be. While the yolk also contains some protein, it's more famous for its fattiness. Egg yolks give a smooth, velvety texture to whatever they're added to, whether it's a cake batter or my favorite luscious lemon curd from Bakes by Brown Sugar.
Stir constantly with a wooden spoon, until the custard thickens and coats the back of the spoon. Stirring distributes the heat so the custard doesn't become too hot, which can curdle it. Draw a finger across the back of the spoon and if it leaves a trail, your custard is ready.
The custard will thicken though as it cools, so if you want a cold custard then please do look at the custard recipe in Nigella's Boozy British Trifle as this makes are relatively thick custard once it is chilled. For a thick, hot custard you need to add cornflour (cornstarch) as a thickener.
There are three types of custard: baked, stirred, and frozen. Baked custards include bread pudding, flan, and cheesecake, and are prepared by baking in an oven or water bath. Boiled Custards include beverages like eggnog. Puddings, creme anglaise (krem on-GLAYZ), and pastry cream are some examples of stirred custards.
The knife test: Test for doneness with a thin-bladed knife. Insert knife about 1 inch from the center of a one-dish custard; midway between center and edge of cups. If knife is clean when pulled out, the custard is done. If any custard clings to the blade, bake a few minutes longer and test again.
Strain into a clean, heavy-bottomed pan and heat over a medium heat (be careful not to have the heat too high), stirring constantly until the mixture begins to steam and thicken. The custard is ready when you can draw a clean line through it on the back of a spoon, using your finger.
So if it wasn't setting firm, the first thing I'd try is adding some flour or cornstarch to the filling. The first place to troubleshoot is the doneness of the custard. "Time in the oven" is a very bad way to judge when to stop baking.
Crack the eggs into a bowl and whisk them.Add the milk in 1/2-cup increments to bring the temperature of the eggs up gradually while whisking. Tip: Whisking the eggs with sugar helps, too. Now you can add the tempered eggs to the hot milk without worrying that the eggs will curdle or scramble.
In other dishes—like custard, pudding, ice cream or smooth sauces enriched with egg—you don't want to drop a cold egg into hot liquid. Cooked egg in ice cream would be unappealing, to say the least.
This often happens as a result of overheating your liquid. But while curdled custard may seem like a lost cause, it doesn't have to be. There are a few ways to redeem and even salvage custards that have scrambled. That's right bakers, you can exhale.
Custards can be tricky to get just right because you have to cook them since custard has eggs in it. If the custard is undercooked it might never set, while if you add the eggs without tempering them or while the mixture is too hot, you might end up with scrambled eggs.
If you notice lumps beginning to form in a custard, immediately pour it out of the hot pot into a bowl and pulse it with a handheld blender in five-second intervals until it is nearly smooth.
Here's one trick that sounds way more complicated than it is. Once you notice your custard beginning to scramble, turn off the heat and douse the bottom of that hot custard pan in a vat of cold water. If you're nervous about your custard curdling, simply plan ahead of time.
Add about ¼ cup (60ml) warm milk to the egg mixture (this is called tempering) which, in essence, brings the egg mixture up to the same temperature as the milk. Whisk vigorously to ensure a lump-free custard.
Introduction: My name is Domingo Moore, I am a attractive, gorgeous, funny, jolly, spotless, nice, fantastic person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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