Making Perfect Custards

Custard’s utter simplicity calls for care in cooking. More involved dishes can be “tricked out” to success, but custard needs just the right amount of egg and/or yolks, just the right richness of milk and/or cream and the right baking temperature and time. With gentle heat, custard comes together so that it spoons up smooth, not curdled, not droopy or milky, soggy or bland. The perfect custard is a simple masterpiece of eggy integrity, of substance mellowed by tenderness.