at Sat, 11 Jun 2005 17:37:40 GMT in <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] (Piedmont) wrote :
Quoted message said:Been making a recipe that uses a custard. Any tips on cooking a custard
The recipe instructions say to stir custard over, not in, a pan of
boiling water, which seems to take a long time.
I'll end up occasionally dipping the pan containing the custard in the
boiling water to get things moving along faster.
Any tips, do's and don'ts on making a custard that isn't runny or
doesn't harden up?
Many recipes recommend that you preheat the milk before stirring it into
the eggs. I go one step further - I both heat and condense the milk by
bringing it almost to a boil and then stirring it alone for a while, until
it starts becoming noticeably thicker. At this point, the milk usually has
been reduced by about 50% in volume.
This process takes time, but, as you've now found out, custard does take
time. Speeding up the process is generally a bad idea and usually simply
leads to lower-quality results. The bottom line to be understood whenever
you're making custard is that it's going to involve a long time standing
over a stove stirring. Tedious but necessary.
I add a small amount of cold milk to the eggs just before putting the rest
of the milk on to stir and condense. This makes it easier to avoid
localised curdling when stirring in the hot milk later.
It's important to stir quickly, not slowly. Furthermore, make sure your
stirring motion includes a sweeping action so that you're essentially
scraping all sides of the vessel containing your custard mixture. Otherwise
what can happen is that the mix at the bottom of the vessel can cook while
the rest is still fluid. Increase the stirring speed towards the end of the
process, too - by the end your motion should be almost frenetic in its
pace. My vessel of choice is a metal bowl set over a pyrex pot filled with
water. A pyrex pot works well because then you can visually inspect the
state of the water. It should be at a simmer to light boil, never a rolling
boil. Furthermore the experts are right - it's better that your top vessel
not be touching the liquid below or it's virtually guaranteed that the
custard at the bottom of the vessel will cook.
With my methodology, at least, the best time to add flavourings is towards
the end of the milk-condensing stage - when the milk is thick but before
adding to the eggs. The idea is to infuse the milk and then add the now-
infused milk to the eggs. I find that sugar should be added right at the
end - in fact, either just before or just after removing the whole thing
from the heat.
The final issue is one of ratios - which you have to play around with a
bit. I found that for a basic custard, the ideal mixture was 4 extra-large
(NOT large) eggs to 2 cups milk. And I used whole eggs, not egg yolks.
However, I suggest that you try experimenting a little until you find the
consistency and flavour that you prefer.
--
Alex Rast
[email hidden]
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