Basic Vanilla Custard

"My mother's recipe--eat on its own or pour over canned peaches or guavas or, my fave, bread pudding. If you are really grossed out by the possibility of flecks of egg white in your custard, you can either pass it through a fine-mesh sieve or substitute four yolks for the two whole eggs."
 
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photo by anniesnomsblog photo by anniesnomsblog
photo by anniesnomsblog
photo by Sandi M. photo by Sandi M.
photo by Delores S. photo by Delores S.
photo by debbylynn55 photo by debbylynn55
photo by Delores S. photo by Delores S.
Ready In:
20mins
Ingredients:
5
Yields:
3 cups
Serves:
4
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ingredients

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directions

  • Have eggs ready in a bowl, and set aside where it will be within reach.
  • Using a whisk, combine milk, sugar and cornstarch in a medium saucepan over medium heat on stovetop. Allow milk to scald (heat to the point when tiny bubbles form around edges of pan). Whisk occasionally to prevent cornstarch from clumping on bottom edges of pan.
  • Remove milk mixture from heat, preferably to a burner that's turned off.
  • Mix about 2 tablespoons of scalded milk mixture into eggs using whisk, then introduce eggs into milk mixture in a slow stream, whisking milk mixture constantly.
  • Immediately return pan to heat and whisk gently until custard thickens, another two or three minutes. Do not allow to boil. (If you find that you have egg white strands in custard, feel free to pass it through a fine-mesh sieve into a different bowl now.)
  • Remove pan from heat and stir in vanilla.

Questions & Replies

  1. Would this custard work for Rice pudding?
     
  2. I’m gonna try this
     
  3. Do you use 2 whole eggs or just egg yolks?
     
  4. This recipe looks great. Any risk of salmonella here? Makes me nervous to only have the eggs warm for 3 minutes. Maybe another ingredient offsets it.
     
  5. Can you make custard with skim milk rather than whole milk?
     
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Reviews

  1. Just a comment in response to previous comments- this *is* custard. Custard is milk thickened with eggs. The cooking method doesn't matter- it can be baked or cooked on a stovetop. The consistency doesn't matter- custard can be thick and creamy or thin and pourable (like the custard "creme anglaise"). It doesn't matter if it is cooked in a bain marie or not. Thickeners such as cornstarch are often added to custards as in recipes for pastry cream (such as go in eclairs). The *eggs* are what sets custards apart, and any good chef knows that, as a chef is supposed to know 100 ways to cook an egg, one for every pleat in the chef's hat. This *may* or *may not* be an outstanding recipe, but one thing is for sure: it's a custard recipe. But don't take my word for it. Look it up.
     
  2. The confusion between what is or isn't custard has more to do with terminology than to the recipe under discussion.<br/><br/>To the British and ex-pats living in the 'colonies' custard is the stuff Birds and Harry Horne make - it's yellow, easy to make, kids love it, Mums love it because it gets extra milk into the kids and warms their little tummies on cold winter days, and it's ingredients are corn starch, tapioca starch, potato starch, salt, colour, artificial flavour, and arrowroot flour. It is poured over any pudding the cook deems will benefit by its addition - i.e. spotted dick, bread and butter pudding, steamed fruit, jam roly poly. <br/><br/>Further, the English traditionally refer to what North Americans call dessert as 'pudding' which is whatever dish follows the entrée - aside from cheese and biscuits (crackers to North Americans). So 'pudding;' which means for North Americans a recipe that is similar to the packaged dessert sold as Instant Pudding doesn't necessarily mean that at all to the English and their relatives although most of us are flexible and tend to be "mid-Atlantic" in our usage. We tend to adopt Americanisms when in America - it seems the polite thing to do even if it was our language to begin with - and revert to our own language when at home.<br/><br/>So, is this a custard recipe? For those who understand my reference to Birds and Harry Horne, yes, it is. For those who insist we are wrong, I suggest wider travel, greater tolerance for the views (and language) of others and a less dictatorial attitude.<br/><br/>The comment that really stunned me though was the one suggesting using a double boiler in the oven. I assume a ban marie was what was meant. Most double boilers have handles that were never meant to see the inside of a hot oven and would be ruined if ever they did.
     
  3. Just made this I think it is delicious, I made a cake recipe my Mum gave me and poured some of the vanilla custard on a slice, OMGoodness I thought I was in heaven with her.
     
  4. This is good, but it's not custard. It's old-fashioned pudding. Custard is much different in consistency-- silkier -- no cornstarch to thicken it and is baked in a bain marie (a larger pan with hot water). If you are having trouble with this scorching in your pan, try using a double boiler.
     
  5. This was so good. I made some for my 2 year old and he ate 2 bowls. I recommend straining the eggs before you put them in and straining the custard before you chill it. Make sure u get the custard to pudding thickness while you are cooking it because it doesn't really thicken in the fridge. Such a yummy recipe
     
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Tweaks

  1. Add 2 tbsp cocoa and a pinch of salt...makes a great chocolate pudding while staying ahead of the extra eggs my hens give me.
     
  2. I added 1/4 cup Bourbon to the milk mixture which gives it a kick and enhances the notes of caramel.
     
  3. Mixed all ingredients together so I wouldn't need to temper the eggs. Added 2T butter.
     
  4. Okay, first of all I did double this recipe because I was taking it to a potluck. Also, instead of using 6 whole eggs, I used 2 whole eggs and four yolk. I added a teaspoon of salt to enhance flavor. Finally, with doubling amounts, the recipe would have called for 2/3 cups sugar and I used an entire cup. The result was a hit. I used small plastic cups to serve so each serving was about 1/2 cup. Thank you Miss_Amy for sharing this recipe
     
  5. Replace 2 whole eggs with 4 egg yolks
     

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