Homemade Vanilla Custard

Last March I shared a story with you about a lovely man and his love of banana cream pie.  But it occurred to me that the vanilla custard itself deserved its own post so folks can find it with a quick search.  It's simple to make and you can use it in a trifle or as filling between layers in a special cake or even just eat it with a spoon.  Sure you can use custard powders but they have negligible nutritional value and some odd sounding ingredients, as well as sugar.  This custard, on the other hand, has fresh egg yolks, so it would helpful if you are trying to boost the protein in someone's diet.  But MOST importantly, it tastes delicious!

The following amounts make a little more than 1 3/4 cups or 425ml of custard.  Just so you know.

Ingredients
1⁄2 cup or 110g sugar
1⁄3 cup or 42g all-purpose flour
1⁄4 teaspoon salt
2 1⁄4 cups or 530ml milk
4 egg yolks
1 tablespoon or 15g butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Method
In 2-quart saucepan (no heat!) mix sugar, flour and salt. Stir in milk until smooth.

Make sure you get ALL the lumps out before turning on the heat.

Over medium heat, cook mixture, stirring constantly, until mixture is thickened and begins to boil (about 10 minutes). Boil one minute. Remove immediately from heat and set aside.

See the tiny bubbles? It's gently boiling.

Separate your egg yolks from your whites, by gently transferring the yolk from one half of the shell to the other, putting the whites directly into a sealable plastic container for the refrigerator. (Later, you can make something lovely with these!) Put the yolks in a bowl with enough room to whisk.

Beat egg yolks quickly with a whisk, while drizzling in about a 1/4 cup of the hot milk mixture. Quick beating and slow drizzling are essential so that you don’t end up with cooked eggs.

Slowly pour egg mixture into the saucepan, stirring rapidly to prevent lumping.

I know it doesn't look like I was quickly stirring but that is just because I fake poured for
the camera and then really poured and stirred like crazy after. 

Occasionally, scrape the saucepan with a rubber spatula.

Over low heat, cook, stirring constantly, until very thick (do not boil) and mixture mounds when dropped from spoon.

Remove from heat; stir in butter and vanilla.

Congratulations, you have made homemade vanilla custard. Once the butter has melted, pour the custard into a metal bowl. Cover its surface with plastic wrap to prevent skin forming. Refrigerate until set, about four hours.  This delicious homemade custard can be used in a variety of desserts when fully set or simply eaten with a spoon when soft set, after it cools.

Enjoy!

When I made it again for this last photo, my eggs in Dubai had much more yellow yolks.
Hence the beautiful yellow in the bowl of custard. 

Birthday Crème Brûlée

Some people want cake. Some people want banana cream pie. My mom asked for crème brûlée.

Anthony Bourdain's Crème Brûlée

from his Les Halles Cookbook

Ingredients

1 quart/900 ml heavy cream

1 vanilla bean

6 ounces/168 g sugar

10 egg yolks

6 tb/84 g brown sugar

This makes six 8oz ramekins. I halved the recipe to make five 5oz crème brûlées, still using one whole vanilla bean.

Method

Put the heavy cream in large pot. Split the vanilla bean lengthwise- scrape the insides into the cream. Put in empty pod as well. Add half of the sugar to the cream, stir well. Bring to boil.

Preheat your over to 300 °F/150 °C.

Whisk egg yokes and remaining sugar, until pale yellow and slightly foamy. Remove cream mixture from the heat and SLOWLY, gradually, whisk it into the yolk mixture. Make sure to whisk constantly to prevent the hot mixture from curdling your eggs. Remove the vanilla bean and discard.

Place ramekins in the baking pan and fill the pan with water so it comes halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Divide the custard evenly among the ramekins and cook them in the oven for 45 minutes or until the top is set but still jiggly. Remove ramekins from the oven and let cool to room temp. The custards can be placed in the refrigerator overnight- cover in plastic.

When you are ready to serve, sprinkle 1 tablespoon of brown sugar over the top of each custard. Carefully run the propane torch's flame over each custard to caramelize the sugar. Wait a minute then serve the custards with spoons.

Happy 73rd birthday, Mom!

Yeah, we didn't bother to put candles. 

Enjoy!