Who can forget school custard? It was either water thin and tasteless, too thick to pour (and tasteless), had a thick skin on it or was full of lumps. Either way, it was more designed for laying down and avoiding or using for hand to hand combat, rather than eating. Given it was made from a simple pre-made powder and milk/water mix, how could they get it so wrong everytime? I swear they sat around debating how they were going to ruin it for us that day. Of course the skin of the custard was the bane of many kids lives, some fought over wanting it, while for some it was the worse day of their lives if they were given it. I was in the latter group.
Freshly made custard on the other hand is an absoloute joy, and mastering its production can lead to so many other culinary delights like; creme patisserie for filling a fruit tart, profiteroles or eclairs, as a base for ice creams and so many other desserts. As such, I always feel its a very important dish that every student of the culinary must learn. Besides the previous reasons, it also teaches them so much about cooking with eggs, using egg yolks as a thickening agent, heat control, syneresis and opens their minds to why cooking is as much a chemistry as it is an art form.
recipe - creme anglaise
1/2 pc vanilla pod
500 ml milk
005 pc egg yolks
050 gm sugar
025 pc flour
recipe - method of production
Split the vanilla pod in half, scrape out the seeds and place seeds and pod into the milk, place over a gentle heat and warm through to a simmer. Remove from the heat and allow to sit for 10 minutes to infuse the flavour.
Place the egg yolks and sugar together into a bowl and whisk until the mixture does not feel grainy (never leave sugar and egg yolks sitting together without whisking them together, the sugar will react with the yolks and form small hard lumps) Whisk in the flour, which is used to stablise the mixture, the egg yolks are the main thickening agent.
Bring the milk back to the boil, remove from heat and remove the pod. Slowly add the milk into the egg mixture, while whisking (too much milk, too quickly and the eggs will scramble) Once all has been added, pour into a clean, thick bottom saucepan and place over a medium heat and stir thoroughly and constantly with a rubber spatula until it starts to thicken, remove from the heat immediately, strain into a clean bowl and stir for a few minutes to encourage cooling or stir over a bowl of iced water.
notes - the mixture will start to thicken when the mixture reaches approx 65C, as this is the temperature that egg yolks start to coagulate. Too high a temperature will cause uneven coagulation and the mixture will end up looking like scrambled eggs. So the immediate cooling process can be very important. Any re-heating of fresh egg custard, must be completed very carefully.
A creme pattiserie, uses the smae recipe and method, but doubles the egg yolks and flour for a very thick consistency.
white 'custard'
Sliced banana, served in custard, That is all! ;-)
stewed prunes and custard
I remember not minding these too much. A plate of cold stewed prunes served with hot custard, finding a prune with a stone still in it was always a bonus, because they served as great missiles to squeeze between you thumb and fore finger and launch across the dining hall. Or for the times there was more stones than not, you would line up and recite "tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor, rich man, poor man, beggerman, thief" to find out what you would be when you grew up or "lady, baby, gypsy, queen' to see who you would marry.
Freshly made custard on the other hand is an absoloute joy, and mastering its production can lead to so many other culinary delights like; creme patisserie for filling a fruit tart, profiteroles or eclairs, as a base for ice creams and so many other desserts. As such, I always feel its a very important dish that every student of the culinary must learn. Besides the previous reasons, it also teaches them so much about cooking with eggs, using egg yolks as a thickening agent, heat control, syneresis and opens their minds to why cooking is as much a chemistry as it is an art form.
recipe - creme anglaise
1/2 pc vanilla pod
500 ml milk
005 pc egg yolks
050 gm sugar
025 pc flour
recipe - method of production
Split the vanilla pod in half, scrape out the seeds and place seeds and pod into the milk, place over a gentle heat and warm through to a simmer. Remove from the heat and allow to sit for 10 minutes to infuse the flavour.
Place the egg yolks and sugar together into a bowl and whisk until the mixture does not feel grainy (never leave sugar and egg yolks sitting together without whisking them together, the sugar will react with the yolks and form small hard lumps) Whisk in the flour, which is used to stablise the mixture, the egg yolks are the main thickening agent.
Bring the milk back to the boil, remove from heat and remove the pod. Slowly add the milk into the egg mixture, while whisking (too much milk, too quickly and the eggs will scramble) Once all has been added, pour into a clean, thick bottom saucepan and place over a medium heat and stir thoroughly and constantly with a rubber spatula until it starts to thicken, remove from the heat immediately, strain into a clean bowl and stir for a few minutes to encourage cooling or stir over a bowl of iced water.
notes - the mixture will start to thicken when the mixture reaches approx 65C, as this is the temperature that egg yolks start to coagulate. Too high a temperature will cause uneven coagulation and the mixture will end up looking like scrambled eggs. So the immediate cooling process can be very important. Any re-heating of fresh egg custard, must be completed very carefully.
A creme pattiserie, uses the smae recipe and method, but doubles the egg yolks and flour for a very thick consistency.
pink 'custard'
In other words, custard with a touch of red food colour in itwhite 'custard'
In other words, thickened milk with sugar in it.
banana custardSliced banana, served in custard, That is all! ;-)
stewed prunes and custard
I remember not minding these too much. A plate of cold stewed prunes served with hot custard, finding a prune with a stone still in it was always a bonus, because they served as great missiles to squeeze between you thumb and fore finger and launch across the dining hall. Or for the times there was more stones than not, you would line up and recite "tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor, rich man, poor man, beggerman, thief" to find out what you would be when you grew up or "lady, baby, gypsy, queen' to see who you would marry.
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