Learn to Make Custard and Ice Cream
Why open a tin, packet, carton, or tub, when you can make it yourself?
- 3 egg yolks
- 300ml milk
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- either half a vanilla pod or a strip of lemon rind
Warm the milk in a saucepan with either the vanilla pod or lemon rind; do not allow the liquid to boil. Remove the pan from the heat and leave the milk to stand for at least 10 minutes. (This enables the vanilla or lemon to give distinct flavour to the milk.)
Whisk the egg yolks together with the sugar until the combination of ingredients becomes thick and light.
Strain the milk on to the egg and sugar mixture then pour this into a heavy-based pan or the top of a double boiler. Warm gently over moderate heat and stir the sauce constantly. When it has thickened enough to coat the back of your wooden spoon the custard sauce is ready to use.
This simple recipe takes just a few minutes; but gives that unique homemade taste with the texture of velvet and the golden colour of fresh egg yolks. For self-indulgent luxury, substitute the milk with cream...
To successfully increase the quantity of this, pouring custard sauce, a general guide is to use 4 egg yolks to every pint (600ml) of milk.
Baked Custard Pudding
- 600ml milk
- 25g butter
- 2 whole eggs and 2 egg yolks, beaten together
- strip of lemon rind or half a vanilla pod
- 1 and a half tablespoons caster sugar
Warm the milk with either lemon rind or vanilla pod and follow the same steps as in the previous recipe, but use some of the butter addition-in this list only-to grease a pie dish. Once the custard ingredients have been well mixed and the sauce becomes frothy, pour it into the pie dish and dot with the remaining butter. Add a shake of ground nutmeg for extra flavour and colour if you like.
Place the custard-filled pie dish in a roasting tin and pour about 3cm of cold water into the roasting tin around the pie dish.
Bake your custard in a preheated oven (180C) for 30-40 minutes, or until it has set and the top is a golden brown. This lovely egg custard can be eaten straight from the oven or served cold.
Ice Cream
Enjoyed in Britain since the 18th century, ice cream has remained a popular treat. Although once available to none but the rich (who had their own ice houses) today anyone with a freezer can make their own.- 600ml milk
- 1 vanilla pod
- 6 egg yolks
- 175g caster sugar
- 600ml double, or whipping, cream
Like making a custard sauce, first, heat the milk and vanilla pod gently in a saucepan. Remove this pan from the heat before the milk comes to the boil then leave it to stand for 10-15 minutes.
Beat the egg yolks and sugar together. Stir the milk into the egg and sugar mixture then return these combined ingredients to the pan. Over a gentle heat, stir the sauce constantly until it thickens enough to coat the back of your spoon.
Next, pour the mixture into a chilled, shallow container and leave it to cool.
Once cooled, place the mixture in a freezer for 2 hours. After this time, the texture will be mushy. Transfer the chilled mushy mix into a cold bowl and mash it with a fork, then, slowly add the lightly whipped cream. Transfer to the freezer and repeat the mush mashing process again in 2hours time! Leave the ice cream in the freezer to become firm after this stage has been repeated.
This is a basic recipe for dairy ice cream. If you fancy making chocolate or coffee variations, simply add 175g of plain chocolate, broken into pieces, to the milk before you heat it. For coffee-flavoured ice cream, stir 4 tablespoons of coffee essence into the milk/egg/sugar custard before cooling.
Strawberry ice cream can be made by following the basic recipe, as before, with the addition of 350g strawberry puree, 25g of icing sugar and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. Add these ingredients to the custard mixture after the milk has been thickened with egg yolks and sugar, but before it is chilled.
