The Way to Curds (and custard)

I keep on thinking about how we really prefer to eat the foods we preferred to eat as kids. Remember how much you liked custard? And pudding? And those other soft desserts that just tasted so intense, so good, so much like "DESSERT?" But when you order these in restaurants, they're either so gussied up and fancy that they've lost their innocence, or they're just so goddarn awful, that you feel yourself asking "why did I bother? " Or "did I REALLY like that once?"

Yes, you did. Because someone made it fresh, and with good ingredients, and it was RIGHT.

Why is it so hard to find the good stuff now? Well, there's no question about it. Custards and puddings and things like that take some time. They're not difficult, but it's not like making cookies, where you can be out of the kitchen in twenty minutes with a plate of warm, gooey cookies. And these desserts DO need some tending. You have to watch them. And you have to watch them carefully. Because if you don't , they'll burn, or the eggs will curdle, or SOMETHING will go wrong. And because, let's face it, all of us have this inherent insecurity about failure, and have been taught "I can't cook," that the idea of a custard, a pudding, or , heaven forbid LEMON CURD is just too intimidating.

Normally, I would be saying GET OVER IT about now, but no, not with these. They aren't hard to do, and I'm going to try to take you through two of them. I'm going to start with lemon curd, and then I'm going to move onto a lovely, alcohol enriched custard. And I'll give you some variations to play with . You will be spending some serious kitchen time to make these. But they wouldn't be on my blog if they weren't worth it.

Let me digress to say that I went through more lemon curd recipes than I can count before I found one that I liked. And that worked, consistently. It's from a book by Jody Adams called "In the Hands of a Chef." Ms. Adams' book came out during a time when just about every second article, book, or tv show, had "chef" in it. We had "think like a chef,' and "Work Like a Chef." and "Walk like an Egyptian Chef" (well, I made that one up). But we had the famous/notorious photospread of chefs as hunks, or "chunks" (thank GOD that passed). Rocco Dispiritu was on prime time (thank God that passed). And Emeril made his appearance (Why is he still there? Martha? GET WITH IT). So it was very easy to let this book go by. But it's a good one. And the lemon curd recipe, which is highly unconventional, is a five star winner.

Normally, you're taught to use a double boiler, to add ingredients in sequence, and to work, work work.

Right. Like we're gonna do that. That's why I like this so much. You'll see. You'll need the grated zest of 2 lemons, and then you'll need to juice them. Then you'll need 3/4 cups of sugar. You will also need 5 eggs, large ones. (Ms. Adams calls for extra large eggs, four of them; however, since every recipe I make uses large eggs , I'm not going to buy a different size for one recipe). Finally, you need 3/4 cup of butter, cold, cut into cubes.

Now, here I'm going to object to something recipes do. Ms. Adams says to cut the butter into "1/2 inch cubes." I don't take a tape measure into the kitchen. All butter sticks are the same. Why don't they just say "cut the butter into 20 cubes, " or something like that? I cut the butter into 12 pieces. Six lengthwise, and then each one, horizontal.

Cutting the butter into pieces is the hardest thing you'll do Put everything into a large pot, and then put the pot over medium heat, and stir, constantly, with a spatula or a wooden spoon. Make sure you get to the bottom of the pan, and stir around the edges, too. Keep your eye on it. It will take all of about three or four minutes to form a curd.

You can eat this hot, but you shouldn't. It's better cold. And you can substitute other acidic fruits for it. Meyer lemons, oranges, blood oranges, passion fruit if you're feeling flush. I have a feeling that pineapple juice would work, but I haven't tried it. I LIKE the way blood orange curd tastes, but it is NOT pretty. The yellow in the eggs and butter, and the red juice, produce a curd that is really the color of a bruise. If that doesn't bother you, great. If it does, cover it with whipped cream, or close your eyes when you eat it.

When you cool this, it thickens mightily. Alone, you can use it to fill a tart shell, but you may very well have to double it to make enough. You can fold it into whipped cream, to fill a cream puff. Know how I like it best? With blueberry , blackberry, or huckleberry puree folded into it. And when I make it, I add one extra lemon's juice, because I like it very tart. And DO know that if you use a fruit that is sweeter than lemons, your curd is going to be sweeter. You may want to cut back the sugar.

Now, onto a really lovely custard. The first time I had this, it had been made with sweet marsala. But you can make it with any of the sweet alcoholic beverages, like rum, or sweet vermouth, or amaretto. My favorite remains the marsala version. Experiment, but keep the proportions.

You need 2.5 cups of heavy cream, which may sound discouraging since cream comes in 2 cup bottles. Well, make some whipped cream to go on top of it. You'll also need six large egg yolks, a half cup of sugar, and 2/3 cup of the liquor of choice.

Heat the cream and the sugar in a saucepan, until the sugar melts. Won't take long. Then, break up the egg yolks a bit, and stir she cream into it. Then add the liquor


Ok, the moment of truth here. You're going to need to make what the french call a "bain marie," and which we call a water bath. Fill a 9x13 inch pan (like the pan you'd use for lasagna), with about an inch and a half of water. Put in six to eight custard cups - the ramekin things you see - fill them about 3/4 full of the mixture, and get this into an oven at LOW heat , (325), and bake for 20 minutes.

Jiggle the pot. The center should still look soft. If more than that is still liquid, keep cooking but check at five minute intervals. You can let this cool in the oven, but you risk overheating. You can avoid that and let it cool on a counter, but then you risk cracks forming in the top (remember the whipped cream????). I like to use the second method. I also try not to use a pyrex baking dish if I can help it, because the pyrex can sometimes be stressed by the temperature changes, crack and you wind up with burned feet, broken ramekins and a decision never to make custard again (You think I'm making that up?)

So, while I've given you two desserts, I've really given you a whole lot more. I'm not sure if you could substitute fruit juice in this recipe. I KNOW you can use sweet wine, like baume de venisse. You can leave it out completely, and substitute a few teaspoons of an extract. But maybe what you should do is let a vanilla bean steep in the hot cream for about fifteen minutes, and then proceed. If you do that, you'll want to step up the cream to three cups, and add an extra egg yolk, to make up the volume. And if you have too much, well, do you ever have TOO much custard.

Eat this with a cookie or something crisp on the side. You'll feel very good about yourself, as you eat like a very sophisticated kid