By Martha Rose Shulman
- Total Time
- About 1 hour
- Rating
- 4(59)
- Notes
- Read community notes
There is a French expression that I love — péché mignon, or a harmless “little sin,” and this sweet, fragrant, egg yolk-rich, vanilla seed-flecked custard sauce is mine. I serve it with everything from crumbles to chocolate cake to trifle, the ultimate crème anglaise dessert. Make sure to have a digital thermometer handy when you make it, so you can heat the mixture to just the right temperature without worrying about the eggs curdling. You will also know when they custard sauce has cooled sufficiently.
Featured in: An Egg for Every Occasion
or to save this recipe.
Print Options
Include recipe photo
Advertisem*nt
Ingredients
Yield:Makes about 2⅔ cups
- 2¼cups milk
- 1½vanilla beans
- 135grams sugar (⅔ cup), divided
- 6large egg yolks
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)
200 calories; 7 grams fat; 3 grams saturated fat; 3 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 27 grams carbohydrates; 0 grams dietary fiber; 27 grams sugars; 6 grams protein; 48 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered by
Preparation
Step
1
Place 2 cups milk in a saucepan. Using the tip of a paring knife, split vanilla beans down the middle and scrape seeds into milk. Add pods to milk and bring to a simmer. As soon as it reaches a simmer (you will see bubbles breaking along the edges of the pan), turn off heat, cover pan tightly with plastic wrap and let it sit for 20 minutes. Remove pods and scrape them with the blunt edge of the knife so any residual seeds go into the milk. Set aside saucepan with milk.
Step
2
Fill a large bowl with ice cubes and place a medium bowl on top of the ice. Set a strainer over the medium bowl, and set aside.
Step
3
In another bowl, combine egg yolks and half the sugar and beat for about 30 seconds. Beat in remaining ¼ cup milk.
Step
4
Add remaining sugar to vanilla-infused milk in pan and, using a heatproof rubber spatula, stir for 10 to 20 seconds so sugar doesn’t stick to bottom of pan. Bring mixture back to a simmer over medium heat while continuing to stir. When sugar has dissolved and milk comes to a simmer, turn off heat. Place bowl with beaten egg yolks next to saucepan, with a towel coiled around the bottom to keep it steady, and whisk in two-thirds of the hot milk. Whisk mixture back into saucepan.
Step
5
Place saucepan back on low heat. Using a rubber spatula, stir constantly and everywhere until you feel the mixture starting to thicken. (Stirring in a figure eight helps assure that your spatula touches the entire bottom of the pan.) Place a thermometer in the pan and continue to stir constantly until temperature reaches 165 to 180 degrees. Lift spatula from saucepan with some sauce on it and run your finger down the middle. It should leave a canal.
Immediately strain mixture into the clean, dry mixing bowl set over ice. Tap strainer to get all of the custard sauce. Stir mixture for a few minutes, then once in a while, until it has cooled to 60 degrees (it should take 20 minutes or less). You can also cool it in the freezer, stirring every few minutes, if you don’t have enough ice on hand. Once cool, transfer to a container, cover tightly and refrigerate until ready to use. It will keep in the refrigerator for 2 days.
Ratings
4
out of 5
59
user ratings
Your rating
or to rate this recipe.
Have you cooked this?
or to mark this recipe as cooked.
Private Notes
Leave a Private Note on this recipe and see it here.
Cooking Notes
Lily
As long as it's a nice quality ice cream yes. Let me explain.
When I make ice cream professionally, we typically use an anglaise as a base (usually in different ratios of eggs, yolks, sugar, and different dairy and of course any flavorings). A typical anglaise that is made to be used as a sauce would probably have different ratio than for ice cream tho.
So yes it does work, but not the cheap kind (as it's probably not an aglaise base to start off with). Hope that helps :)
Mic
Made this twice to go with the Irish Trifle. First time was a disaster I had to toss out: I tried to halve the recipe (for two people only) and lost control of the heat on the stove. Second time was a beauty: made the full recipe (somehow the volume helps) but for steps 4 and 5 I used a bain-marie (double boiler), which gave me total control. Velvety smooth, only a few curds to strain. Delicious!
Margaret
This was a favorite growing up but we always called it "runny custard"! I know this looks complicated, but it goes smoothly and the directions are clear and easy to follow. I used a plain old mercury candy thermometer and it worked fine. I did find it quite sweet so the second time around I used half the sugar and it was fine.
Eliza C.
I substituted the vanilla beans for 1.5 tsp of vanilla extract and used almond milk (lactose intolerant) and it tastes lovely. I would use less sugar next time, approximately half a cup instead of two thirds of a cup. I am confused as to whether the temperatures in this recipe are Fahrenheit of Celsius as my custard didn’t thicken as much as I thought it would but that may be caused by the almond milk.
Mic
Made this twice to go with the Irish Trifle. First time was a disaster I had to toss out: I tried to halve the recipe (for two people only) and lost control of the heat on the stove. Second time was a beauty: made the full recipe (somehow the volume helps) but for steps 4 and 5 I used a bain-marie (double boiler), which gave me total control. Velvety smooth, only a few curds to strain. Delicious!
Margaret
This was a favorite growing up but we always called it "runny custard"! I know this looks complicated, but it goes smoothly and the directions are clear and easy to follow. I used a plain old mercury candy thermometer and it worked fine. I did find it quite sweet so the second time around I used half the sugar and it was fine.
Jayne Robertson
I once saw a show with the Barefoot Contessa in which she subbed melted high quality vanilla ice cream for creme anglais in a recipe. What do you all think of this for those of us who are a not sure if the egg custard here is a bit beyond them?
Lily
As long as it's a nice quality ice cream yes. Let me explain.
When I make ice cream professionally, we typically use an anglaise as a base (usually in different ratios of eggs, yolks, sugar, and different dairy and of course any flavorings). A typical anglaise that is made to be used as a sauce would probably have different ratio than for ice cream tho.
So yes it does work, but not the cheap kind (as it's probably not an aglaise base to start off with). Hope that helps :)
Private notes are only visible to you.
