Last month we spent a weekend with a group of friends in Dalby—a country town about 2.5 hours west of Brisbane. The occasion was Christmas in July, and Dalby is a perfect place for it…a large bonfire in the backyard, overnight temperatures of -5.3°C (very cold for Queensland), lots of laughs with friends, and plenty of great food and red wine made for a truly wonderful time!
I promised to pass on the recipe for one of our contributions to the meal—the custard to serve with plum pudding. The following recipe makes well over a litre of gorgeously rich custard. It can be prepared the night before and stored in the fridge, then reheated in a saucepan or the microwave.
Ingredients
500ml milk
500ml double cream
8 egg yolks
125g sugar
1 vanilla bean
Method
Bring the milk and cream to the boil in a heavy-based saucepan. Remove from the heat and scrape the vanilla seeds into the mixture. Also add the vanilla pod to infuse. Rest for a couple of minutes while preparing the egg mixture, allowing the milk and cream mixture to cool to at least 70°C.
In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar together until the mixture becomes thicker and lighter in colour. Gradually add the cream and milk mixture to the egg mixture, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon. Return to the pan and continue to stir until the mixture thickens. Be careful not to overheat the mixture—you want to keep it well below boiling point to avoid curdling. The custard will start to thicken at 70°C and should never be heated to more than 80°C. The custard is ready when it coats the back of the wooden spoon and leaves a trail when your finger is drawn across it.
Remove the vanilla pod and, if in doubt about the consistency, pass the mixture through a fine sieve or chinoise.