T.T.: Custard for Karen.

On last week's Friday Food post, Karen. left a comment saying that she needs to figure out how to make custard.

I chose to interpret that as a request for a recipe, despite the fact there was no actual request for an actual recipe in the comment.

I'm skilled at finding hidden meanings, you see.

Okay! So! Custard.

The recipe I use is from The Yellow Farmhouse Cookbook, by Christopher Kimball of Cook's Illustrated fame. I don't actually remember how I acquired this cookbook, though I suspect it was in the bargain bin at the Barnes and Noble A. and I used to go to like twenty years ago in search of air conditioned relief from our stifling basement apartment in Albany, New York.

Remember bookstores? Yeah. Those were the days.

Anyway.

I don't actually like the cookbook all that much objectively--it trades rather heavily on nostalgia for old fashioned Vermont farms and cooks--but I do like this recipe. It's the only custard recipe I've ever used.

That said, I have changed it a bit.

To start, I always make a double recipe. The original recipe says it will serve eight. Maybe eight normal people, but it certainly will not serve my six family members. A double recipe is a LOT of custard--like half a gallon--which is exactly how much our custard-hogging family will eat. We never have leftovers.

I also adjusted the amounts of milk, cream, and eggs. I use slightly more milk and less cream, because cream is much harder for me to get than milk. And I use slightly more whole eggs than separated egg yolks, because I loathe separating eggs and also very much dislike having stray egg whites hanging around in the refrigerator.

These changes don't matter as much, however, as the baking. This is tricky, I will not lie. For one thing, it involves a water bath. Water baths are a pain, what with the weight of all that water in a giant pan that is also filled with heavy custard, and the boiling water sloshing all over when you try to move the pan. Getting the custard dishes out of the water bath is also impossible to do without soaking your oven mitts with hot water.

But it's the baking time that will make or break a custard. The texture of this custard is supposed to be very smooth. I would even say silky. And it will be, but only if you don't overbake it. 

I have to admit I often do. The baking time depends so much on the size and shape of the dish you're baking the custard in, and I have to change that sometimes. When the custard is overbaked, it will separate a bit and weep moisture and is definitely less appealing. Although it's certainly still tasty and will be eaten if it's overbaked, so don't be too intimidated.

You ready? Let's go.

American Baked Custard--adapted from The Yellow Farmhouse Cookbook*

5 cups whole milk

1 cup heavy cream

3 egg yolks (you can use a leftover white or two to make these nuts)

7 whole eggs

1 cup granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

grated nutmeg

1) Heat oven to 325 degrees. Bring a kettle of water to the boil. 

2) Butter two large casserole dishes. I use an oval one that's just under 2 quarts, and a rectangular one that's just over 1.5 quarts. You want dishes that are relatively wide and shallow, not deep.

3) Find a big roasting pan or Pyrex casserole dish that will hold both of your casserole dishes. Put the buttered dishes in the bigger dish.

3) Using a big Pyrex measuring cup--mine is 4 cups--measure out your milk and cream and put them either in a big microwavable bowl, or in a pot on the stove. Heat the milk and heavy cream until bubbly at the edges. 

4) In that same Pyrex measuring cup, whisk together everything else but the nutmeg. Then temper the egg mixture (this just means warming it slightly so the eggs won't scramble) by whisking in a cup or so of the hot milk mixture and then dumping the tempered egg stuff in with the rest of the milk mixture in the big bowl. Whisk until completely combined. 

5) You can either pour the combined mixture right from the big bowl or you can put it back in the Pyrex cup, which has a pouring spout. In either case, you're going to pour that mixture into your buttered casserole dishes through a sieve. The sieve will catch any of the remaining unincorporated egg. This isn't strictly neccesary, but it creates a smoother final product and I always do it. Grate nutmeg all over the tops of the custards.

6) Transfer that giant, heavy dish of custard liquid into the oven, AND THEN pour hot water all around the casserole dishes to a depth of about 1 inch. Much easier than putting the hot water in and trying to slide an even heavier, and sloshing, dish into a hot oven.

7) Bake about 40 minutes, but check at around 30 minutes. The center should still be wobbly and barely set, although the edges will be set. I usually think it's not done, but it usually is. I think erring on the side of underbaking is probably better with custard. A handy rhyme for you: When in doubt, take it out.

8) Remove custard dishes from the water bath (careful of that burning hot water!) and let cool until at least not burning hot--maybe 30 minutes on a cooling rack--then put in the refrigerator. The original recipe says it can be served warm or cold, but we only like it cold.

I don't have any photos of the finished product, but here it is before going into the oven.

Repeat after me: When in doubt, take it out. (I need to take my own advice.)

* Update: I have further edited the recipe to use even less cream, plus fewer yolks and a bit less sugar. So now I usually make it with 5.5 cups milk and .5 cups cream, 2 yolks and still 7 whole eggs, and 3/4 cup sugar.