Yield and time
- Makes: serves six over crumble or pudding – about 600ml finished
- Hands-on: 20 minutes
- Total: 30 minutes (with the vanilla infusion)
Ingredients
- 500ml whole milk (the full-fat one; semi-skim makes a thin custard)
- 1 vanilla pod, split lengthways and seeds scraped (or 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste)
- 6 large egg yolks (save the whites for meringues or a financier batter)
- 50g caster sugar (push to 60g if you’d like it a touch sweeter; don’t go above 70g or it tips into dessert-sauce territory)
- A pinch of fine salt
You’ll need a heavy-based saucepan (thin pans scorch the milk on the bottom before the rest catches up), a KitchenAid (or stand mixer) with the whisk attachment, a silicone spatula, and a fine sieve. A digital thermometer is handy but not required.
Method
Warm the milk in a heavy saucepan with the split vanilla pod, the scraped seeds, and the pinch of salt. Bring it just to the point where steam starts to lift off the surface and small bubbles ring the edge – not a simmer, definitely not a boil. Pull it off the heat, lid on, and let it infuse for 10-15 minutes. This is where the custard gets the vanilla flavour.
While the milk infuses, put the egg yolks and 50g of sugar into the mixing bowl. Whisk on medium until the mixture loosens and lightens to the colour of butter. You’re not making sabayon – just dissolving the sugar into the yolks so it doesn’t grain in the pan.
Remove the vanilla pod from the milk. With the KitchenAid running on a low speed, pour the warm milk in a slow stream through a fine sieve into the yolks. This tempers the eggs to prevent instant scrambled eggs in the pan, and the sieve catches anything you don’t want in the finished sauce.
Tip the lot back into the saucepan and put it on the lowest heat your hob will give you. Stir with the spatula, dragging across the base so nothing sits and cooks. The custard will look thin for a while, then – somewhere between 82°C and 84°C on a probe – the consistency shifts. It thickens enough to coat the back of the spatula. Lift it out, run a clean finger across the back, and if the trail you leave stays clear and doesn’t run back together, it’s done. Off the heat the second it’s ready, and pour into a serving jug.
Storage
If you’re not serving straight away, the jug goes into the fridge with cling film touching the surface so a skin doesn’t form. Three days, sealed.