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Boiled Custard
Mrs. T. Kingsford.
Two tablespoons of the corn starch to one quart of milk; mix the corn starch with a small quantity of the milk and flavour it; beat up two eggs. Heat the remainder of the milk to near boiling, then add the mixed corn starch, the eggs, four tablespoons of sugar, a little butter and salt. Boil it two minutes, stirring briskly.
A starch-bound stirred custard rather than a true egg custard — the cornstarch is what allows the mixture to be boiled outright without curdling. It comes together in about ten minutes and makes roughly six servings.
- Temper before you pourSlurry the cornstarch with a few tablespoons of cold milk until smooth. Starch granules help shield the egg proteins from setting into curds, which is much of why a custard like this survives two minutes at a boil.
- Two tablespoons per quart is lightThat ratio gives a pouring custard, thick enough to coat a spoon and no more — the sort of thing served over stewed fruit or cake. Printed recipes for a spoonable pudding that holds its shape in a mould generally call for roughly twice as much starch.
- "Flavour it"The original leaves this open because the flavouring went into the cold milk with the starch, exactly as the recipe directs. A little vanilla extract, a grating of nutmeg, or lemon zest steeped in the hot milk all suit.
- The two-minute boil is not optionalCornstarch must actually reach a full boil to gelatinise fully and to destroy the amylase enzyme present in egg yolk, which otherwise thins the custard as it cools. Stir briskly and continuously, reaching the corners of the pan.
- "A little butter"Read this as a teaspoon or two; the recipe adds it with the sugar and eggs before the boil. It is there for gloss and mouthfeel rather than for richness.
- Skin and storagePress plastic film or buttered paper directly onto the surface as it cools or a tough skin forms. It keeps three days refrigerated and will thicken noticeably; a brief whisk loosens it again.
- Whole milkModern skim or 1% milk gives a thin, chalky result. Use whole milk, or replace a cup of the quart with light cream.
The attribution here is doing quiet commercial work. Thomas Kingsford is generally credited with perfecting a process for extracting starch from maize in Oswego, New York, in the 1840s, and Kingsford's cornstarch became one of the most heavily promoted branded groceries of the later nineteenth century. Recipes signed with the family name circulated widely in community cookbooks, church fundraisers and on the package itself, and it is often impossible to tell whether a given "Mrs. Kingsford" contribution came from a household or from a copywriter. What the recipe shows plainly is how quickly cornstarch displaced older thickeners: a true boiled custard depends on eggs alone and must be coaxed just below simmering, while this version can be brought to a hard boil by a cook with other things on the stove. That reliability — a dessert that will not break — is exactly what sold the product.