When I was a boy, it seemed that everybody loved custard and I was the only one who couldn’t stand it. I couldn’t get past the gloopy texture and luminous yellow colour. I preferred the vague, gentle sweetness of cream as well as the temperature contrast that cold cream gave to, say, steamed sponges. As the jug was passed around the dining table I would hear it whispered: “Stephen doesn’t like custard.” I felt out of step with the world.
When I became a chef, custard continued to cause me problems, as customers would insist on having it served hot (I think it is something to do with nostalgia for nursery puddings). This is difficult because reheating cooled custard causes the eggs to curdle. Making hot custard from scratch is fine in kitchens where they have a large designated pastry section, but not so easy in a small kitchen with one or two chefs.
I determined to find out why custard caused me such problems and, after a little digging, realised that the stuff most people called custard was no such thing. What they were usually referring to was the powdered sugar and cornflour concoction first made in Birmingham in the 1840s by a Mr Bird – the horrible stuff I was fed at school.
Alfred Bird was an experimental chemist whose wife was allergic to eggs. He invented his dried mix so that his wife could enjoy egg-free custard. He made a mixture which, because of the cornflour, thickened when hot milk was added. Food colouring was added to give the illusion of egg yolks.
Proper custard, which I love, is very different: it is made with a base of eggs and sugar, mixed thoroughly before warm cream (and sometimes milk) is poured over. The mix is then heated at the same time as being stirred – this is the key. The stirring means that as the egg proteins heat up they do not clump together to make scrambled egg. The egg proteins start to coagulate at 65C and you take the temperature as high as you want the mix to be thick: a custard taken to 75C will be pourable, whereas one taken to 85C will set like a crème brûlée when it cools down.
Taking the saucepan off the heat is not enough to stop the cooking. If you take it off at 80C it will rise in temperature to about 85C, so you have to cool it over ice. In our kitchen we have an ice block, on which we put a tray. We pour the hot custard on to the tray and it cools quickly. It’s all to do with the larger surface area exposed to the cooling air while being chilled underneath by the tray.
Learning how to make custard is an important skill for a cook as it is the basis of so many recipes: custard, crème brûlée, ice cream, crème patisserie, crème caramel, trifle, quiche and even soufflés.
It is ironic that custard is almost the only instance in which the French are willing to give the English a nod for their cooking influence by calling it crème anglaise. Despite this, for many English people real custard is the egg-free, industrially produced stuff from a packet, and always will be.
Steamed marmalade puddings
SERVES
4
INGREDIENTS
- 125g butter, softened
- 125g caster sugar
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1 vanilla pod
- 100g self-raising flour
- 50g ground almonds
- Finely grated zest of 1 orange
- 2 tbsp whole milk
- 4 tbsp marmalade
METHOD
- Beat the butter and sugar together until white and fluffy, using an electric mixer if you have one. Add the beaten egg a bit at a time, until combined. Halve the vanilla pod, scrape the seeds and add them to the mixture. With the machine on low, add the flour, ground almonds and a pinch of salt.
- Add the orange zest and milk. The texture should be a dropping consistency – it should be thick but also “pour” off a spoon.
- Lightly butter four ramekins with about 175ml capacity each.
- Melt the marmalade in a saucepan and divide between the ramekins – 2cm depth will do. Fill the ramekins with the puddingbatter.
- Cover each ramekin loosely with wax paper and place in a steamer for 45minutes to an hour (Iput mine in a large colander set over a saucepan of simmering water with a lid that fits).
- Remove the ramekins from the steamer and allow to cool for 10 minutes before turning out. A knife run around the inside edge may help. Serve with the warm custard.
