A custard is a mixture, usually one containing some milk or cream, that’s set with whole eggs, egg yolks, or egg whites. It’s helpful to know that one egg or two egg yolks or two egg whites reliably set 2/3rds of a cup of mixture, even a little more. Once you know this formula, it’s possible to convert any number of mixtures into custards. Soups can be combined with eggs, baked in molds, and unmolded on plates. Leftover or fresh cooked vegetables can be pureed and set with eggs. Sweet custards include pots de crème and crème brulée, both of which are set with egg yolks alone and crème caramel which is set with whole eggs.
To make crème brulée, flavor simmering heavy cream with sugar and vanilla to taste and pour it into about 12 egg yolks per quart of cream. Bake in a bain-marie (see page 000) until the center doesn’t wiggle when you gently move the pan back and forth. Chill the custards, sprinkle with a thin layer of sugar, and use a torch or broiler to caramelize the sugar. I like to serve crème brulée with berries such as raspberries arranged on top. I also sometimes make a large crème brulée with berries and then spoon it out at the table.
A pot de crème is made in the same way as a crème brulée except that flavors other than vanilla are more common and there’s no top sugar crust. Try flavoring pot de crèmes with coffee (simmered in the cream and strained out), ginger (powder worked into the egg yolks or fresh ginger infused in the cream), saffron (combined with cardamom is awfully good), chocolate (cocoa beaten with the egg yolks), eaux de vie (stirred into the cream, off the heat, just before baking), whisky, Cognac etc.
Crème caramel or, as the French say, crème renversée (upside down cream), is made with milk and whole eggs, about 1 egg per 2/3 cup of milk. Before the milk, sugar, egg, and flavoring mixture is poured into ramekins, the bottoms of the ramekins are lined with a thin layer of caramel (see page 000). The crèmes are unmolded just before serving.