H.F.F. 5.9: Fear Factor

I ended up putting this one off for a bit longer than intended. I was busy....and intimidated, seeing as that was the challenge.

The Challenge: Fear factor. Try using an ingredient or technique that intimidates you. 

The Recipe: Boiled Custard from Domestic Cookery, Useful Receipts, and Hints to Young Housekeepers

The Date/Year and Region: Baltimore, 1859

How Did You Make It: Half scale. I peeled one lemon, added the peel to 1 pint of whole milk, and set it on the stove over medium-high heat. Meanwhile, I beat 2 eggs with 2 Tbsp of granulated sugar. [Rounded down to from ~2.5 eggs to 2, because I was using large modern eggs.] When the milk just barely started to boil, I removed it from the heat, lifted out the peel, and then slowly poured in the eggs while stirring vigorously. I set the egg-milk mixture back on the burner at medium-high, stirring it carefully for 5 more minutes until it began to thicken, then removed it from the heat, poured it into a ceramic pitcher, and continued stirring it for 25 more minutes as it cooled.

I spent a lot of time stirring this mixture.

It actually seemed to get thinner as it cooled, not thicker, so I heated it again for 20 more minutes on medium-high (not allowing the mixture to boil) until it looked to be thickening again, and stirred it for 20 more minutes as it cooled.

After two attempts, the 'custard' had the
consistency of eggnog. Or a very melted milkshake.

Still being a liquid, I gave up and threw the whole pitcher in the refrigerator to deal with the next day.

Success through giving up?

After some 18 hours of cooling, it had thickened to passable custard consistency. [And I should have sprinkled with nutmeg.]

Time to Complete: A day. Prep: 5 min pre. Heating: 30 min to boil milk + 5 min to thicken. Cool: 25 min. Then another 20 each of heating and cooling. Then refrigerating  ~18 hours.

Total Cost: $2.25 

How Successful Was It: Delicate lemon flavor, and not too sweet. Custard-consistency was eventually reached, but there were some unpleasant lumps lingering in the custard.  I'm not sure whether these were caused by insufficient stirring while it cooled, or something about how I added the eggs, but it's just annoying enough that I'll need to solve it before serving this to anyone. I'm pretty sure I needed to boil the milk longer (I was scared of scalding it), and probably also to heat it with the eggs longer (I was scared of cooking the eggs in the milk, which I've done on accident). I expect this would help it thicken at room temperature, but failing that, my next step would be to use an ice or water bath to cool the pitcher further while stirring. 

I liked how straightforward the ingredients and instructions were, but probably won't bother with this receipt on its own: it's alright, but not worth the trouble. I think it's a good candidate for further practice, though, so that I can make custard when another recipe calls for some.

How Accurate Was It: I forgot the nutmeg. Alas.

I used a modern stove for heating (and ultimately, a fridge for cooling), but did all the mixing by hand. I already noted the adjustment for egg size. With no quantities given, I had to guess on the lemon peel and sugar. My initial thought was to use half a lemon peel, but I think using 1 lemon per pint milk is a tasty proportion--noticeably but not overwhelmingly lemon-flavored. Next time, I'd be tempted to go up to 3 Tbsp of sugar per pint milk: 2 Tbsp gave it the not-overly-sweet flavor I've come to expect from Victorian dessert receipts, but I think it could be a little sweeter and stay true to that standard.