The single most nerve-racking thing about making this simple, elegant custard sauce is that it can overcook and curdle. Grace Parisi prevents this by preparing a cold-water bath and setting it near the stove before she even cracks an egg. Beautiful Desserts
How to Make It
Set a large fine strainer over a medium bowl and set the bowl in a shallow pan of cold water.
In a large saucepan, combine the half-and-half and vanilla bean and cook over moderately low heat just until small bubbles appear around the rim, about 5 minutes.
In another medium bowl, whisk the sugar and egg yolks just until combined. Whisk in half of the hot half-and-half in a thin stream. Pour the mixture into the saucepan and cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the sauce has thickened slightly, 4 to 5 minutes. Immediately strain the sauce into the bowl in the cold water bath to stop the cooking. Scrape the vanilla seeds into the sauce. Serve right away or refrigerate until chilled.
You May Like
Aggregate Rating value: 5
Review Count: 1
Worst Rating: 0
Best Rating: 5
Author Name: saltychelle
Review Body: SO GOOD. I want to put this on everything, forever. I made this to go with food and wine's almond pear cake, which has a bit of orange zest in it, so I added a bit of orange zest to the creme along with the vanilla bean, and it was just sublime. I couldn't find my sieve, so I used cheesecloth to strain this and it worked well. This will be my new go-to sauce for desserts. Or waffles. Or pie. Or anything, really. YUM.
Review Rating: 5
Date Published: 2016-11-14
