Custards

Custards are a combination of eggs and milk or cream, with additional flavorings added, either sweet or savory, and gently cooked until thickened. Cooking techniques vary. Stirred custards, misleadingly called “boiled” (as boiling curdles the texture and is usually considered a fault), are made in a pan over a heat source and result in a rich but pourable sauce. Baked custards are gently cooked in an oven until they become a solid gel. Virtually all European cuisines have had some form of custard since the late medieval period; most—such as boiled pudding sauces (often called “crème anglaise”) from England and flan from Spain—have found their way into American kitchens with successive waves of immigrants.