The Creamiest Custard

[Kitchen Witch]

THE CREAMIEST CUSTARD

Custards - baked mixtures of cream or milk, eggs, and sweet or savory flavorings - are not only for babies. Historically, they are ancient, reaching far back to medieval times, when everybody ate them. The word itself is related to the French crustarde, a custardy meat pie. Quiches are nothing more than custard pies with or without meat.

Through the centuries, custards have evolved into all sorts of marvelous creations, most of them sweet, although there are some savory forms such as the Japanese Chawan mushi, a stock-based custard as delicate as the look of cherry blossoms, baked atop a mixture of seafood and ginkgo nuts.

Many of the desserts we devour with gusto today are custards: Crème Caramel, Flan, Pôt de Crème, and Crème Brûlée, for example. But how do they differ?

Crème Caramel, a French dessert, is one of the lightest of all custards. Typically made with milk instead of cream, and whole eggs plus a few extra yolks, the custard is baked in a caramel-lined mold. Flavorings usually include sugar, vanilla, and a pinch of salt. After baking, the dish is cooled and refrigerated. During chilling something wonderful happens to the caramel: it turns into a sauce. And when the dish is inverted onto a serving platter (with a rim, please!) a delectable pool of caramel collects around the set custard.

A wildly popular dessert known through much of Spain, Mexico, and Latin America is flan. It is very similar to Crème Caramel in that it, too, is baked in a dish lined with caramelized sugar. But the custard is a bit denser because it is made with sweetened condensed milk or by boiling milk and sugar until it has reduced in volume by half. Although vanilla is a classic flavoring for flan, the dessert is sometimes made with finely ground almonds and may also include small pieces of pineapple.

Crème Brûlée literally means "burnt cream." Of course, if that's what it really was, it wouldn't wind up on the table. The "burnt" refers to the thin glasslike layer of caramelized sugar that rests on top of the custard. The sugar crust is easily made by passing a blowtorch over granulated or brown sugar sprinkled over the cooked crème or heating it carefully under the broiler. The contrast of the crackly sugar with the cold, velvety custard is exquisite. If this is not the richest of all desserts, you could've fooled me.

Real Crème Brûlée is made with heavy cream and egg yolks. Vanilla is the classic and traditional flavoring. Although it has a French-sounding name, Crème Brûlée actually originated in 17th-Century England.

Pôt de Crème, however, is truly French, a heavenly rich mixture baked in small, lidded pots. Like Crème Brûlée, heavy cream and egg yolks are the usual basic pôt de crème ingredients, but you can go in just about any direction with flavorings. Chocolate, of course, is fabulous, its smoothness enhancing the butteriness of the cream. But vanilla, Gran Marnier, and even butterscotch, work well, too.

The lightest custard of all, simple vanilla custard, made with milk and whole eggs, has been a mainstay in American kitchens for more than 200 years. It is at its homey best when baked in individual cups. But this simple custard also makes a terrific pie. Pastry shells for custard pies should always be pre-baked first to prevent them from turning soggy once the custard goes in.

For the smoothest textures, all custards (except for the pie) must be cooked in a hot water bath. This is a foolproof way to transfer heat gently to the interior of the custard assuring that the results will be meltingly smooth on the tongue. A custard is done when the tip of a sharp knife, gently inserted halfway between the center of the custard and its edge, comes out clean. The center will probably be wobbly, but it will firm up as the custard cools.

Be sure not to over-bake, as this will give the custards a granular consistency. And that is something not even baby will tolerate.