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Caramel Custard
4 cups scalded milk 5 eggs 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon vanilla 1/2 cup sugar Put sugar in omelet pan, stir constantly over hot part of range until melted to a syrup of light brown color. Add gradually to milk, being careful that milk does not bubble up and go over, as is liable on account of high temperature of sugar. As soon as sugar is melted in milk, add mixture gradually to eggs slightly beaten; add salt and flavoring, then strain in buttered mould. Bake as custard. Chill, and serve with Caramel Sauce.
A plain baked custard carried by burnt sugar rather than by any thickener. The whole thing turns on gentle, even heat: the mixture sets at a temperature well below boiling, and anything hotter curdles it.
- "Bake as custard"The book assumes you know the standard method: set the buttered mould in a pan of hot water reaching halfway up its sides and bake in a moderate oven, around 325F in modern terms; the book itself specifies no numbered temperature. Without the water bath the outside will be grainy before the centre sets.
- DonenessAllow roughly 50-60 minutes for a single large mould, less for individual cups. It is done when a knife inserted an inch from the edge comes out clean and the centre still trembles; an instant-read thermometer should show 170-175F.
- Omelet panAny heavy skillet or small saucepan with a pale interior, so you can judge the colour of the caramel. "Light brown" is the target; pushed to dark mahogany the sugar turns bitter, and it keeps darkening off the heat.
- Adding caramel to milkThe warning is real. Molten sugar is well over 300F and the milk may boil up violently. Pour in a thin stream with the pan off the burner and stand back; hardened lumps of caramel will dissolve as the milk warms.
- Scalded milkHeat to about 180F, when a ring of small bubbles forms at the edge, then take it off. Scalding is often explained as a holdover from unpasteurised milk; in a custard it also shortens the baking time and helps the caramel dissolve.
- Tempering the eggsBeat the eggs only lightly, then add the hot milk a ladleful at a time while whisking. Dumping the milk in at once scrambles them, and the straining step afterwards is what catches any threads that do form.
- Sugar and saltHalf a cup of caramelised sugar for four cups of milk gives a barely sweet, quite eggy custard by modern taste. The half teaspoon of salt is not a typo; it sharpens the burnt-sugar flavour.
- Yield and unmouldingServes six to eight. Chill thoroughly before turning out, and run a thin knife around the edge first; a custard baked in an ordinary bowl often comes out more reliably if served from the dish.