Maple Custard

Yesterday started out very badly. I was on my way to the market to once more look for herb seedlings (right now, I'm thinking basil, parsley and peppermint), and not only did they not have any herbs, but the warning lights on my dashboard lit up like all those cliches about things lighting up. I'm bringing the stupid car into the shop tomorrow. To be fair, it was free (and I'm so incredibly grateful to my family for giving it to me, because there's no way I could have afforded to buy a car on my own while I was in school), and it is way nicer and still running way better than any of the other 12-year-old cars I've owned. And the seat warmers still work, so it's got that going for it.

I was also having issues with Comcast. I'm just trying to pay the bill, but because Comcast just bought Insight, which was who we were using for internet, the billing system is all screwy and they hadn't sent us a paper bill yet. So I couldn't pay my past-due bill by check, nor could I pay it online because the account numbers changed, and the first guy I talked to gave me the wrong account number, and the second guy's system wasn't working so he couldn't check. Luckily, I did get a paper bill in the mail later in the afternoon. Phew!

Suz and the dogs came over to play, and although that was fun and Suz definitely cheered me up, Harper bashed me in the nose with her titanium unripe-melon head.

On the cooking front, I tried to make some of the black bean soup in Joy of Cooking. Bethie said it was really good, but I didn't listen to her and use canned beans, I went with the recipe and used dry beans. I accidentally threw out the water they were soaking in, so all that yummy starch when down the drain, and the beans just never really cooked through. So, Bethie, I'm sure the soup is good when you do it right, but I didn't and it's sort of a watery crunchy mess, and I forgot to take out the bay leaf before using the stick blender, so there's all these little pieces of bay leaf in it. I couldn't keep simmering it last night because we went out to karaoke, but I'm working on simmering it some more today. It's a little better, soup is always better the next day, and I think I'll try running some of it through a sieve to see if that gets the crunchy bits out.

HOWEVER, the day drastically improved when I made a recipe from the maple cookbook that Kathy sent me last week (thanks Kathy!!!).

4 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 c pure maple syrup
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
3 c milk, heated just to boiling

1) Preheat oven to 350. Bring 4 c of water to a boil and reserve.
2) with a whisk, gently blend the eggs, syrup, vanilla and salt. Slowly stir in the hot milk. (don't overdo the stiring, or the custard will be grainy) Ladle into 6 custard cups, filling each to within 1/4 inch of the rim.
3) place cups in a large, shallow casserole dish and carefully pour the boiled water into the pan, until it comes about halfway up the cups. Bake for about 50 minutes, until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Serve warm, or cool to room temp, cover, and chill.

Results: Very very very close to the fabled maple custard cups I had in Japan. Actually, it was a bit like heaven. I loved it, at least taste-wise. Any flaws were purely on the part of the cook. I halved the recipe, but then I wasn't sure about how that would affect cooking time. Also, the cups I used were maybe wider than the cups envisioned in this recipe, so the custard didn't come up as far on the cups, and so when I added the water, it was actually too much water. My understanding is that the water acts as a heat bank, absorbing the heat from the oven and only gradually giving it to the custard so it cooks evenly and slowly, but I think too much water makes the custard not cook fully. I added the water halfway up the cups, but I think it should have been halfway up the custard instead.

Anyway, all this means is that the cooking time was off. It still wasn't done after 50min, so I took some water out with a turkey baster (which I bought the one time I ever made a turkey and have carried around with me ever since) and put them back in. I think I took too much out, though, because when I pulled them out a couple minutes later, I think the eggs were starting to separate (if you overcook eggs, they start to lose their water). Also, I may have underbeat the eggs, since the cookbook says to be careful not to overbeat; I had a big glob of egg white in one of them. It was still delicious, though. I also added some more syrup on top, just for good measure. Brad and Suz were kind enough to try some when they picked me up for karaoke, and they liked it, too.

Casualties: one burnt finger. I unknowingly spilled some water on my oven mitt when I sucked some of it out with the turkey baster. Be very careful, water pretty much makes oven mitts useless. Luckily, I touched the casserole dish (which, as we know, is not terribly hot because the water is sucking up all the heat) instead of the oven rack (which I've done before), so it wasn't so bad. When the custards are finished, I would definitely recommend taking them out of the water (with tongs, if possible) and leaving the water and the casserole dish in the oven until it all cools down.