This fancy, French Vanilla Custard Sauce is fairly easy to make, and to make ahead.
Vanilla Custard Sauce
Course: DessertCuisine: French12¼
oz.25
minutes15
minutes30
minutes1
hour10
minutesIngredients
1 cup whole milk
½ vanilla bean, split lengthwise
3 egg yolks
¼ cup sugar
Directions
- Place the milk and vanilla bean into a saucepan and bring to a boil over moderately-high heat.
- Remove from heat, cover, and allow to infuse for 15 minutes.
- Find a large, shallow pan that will be able to the accommodate the saucepan. Fill the large pan half-way with water. Add ice.
- Whisk the yolks and sugar in a small mixing bowl. Slowly pour in half of the milk mixture, while whisking constantly.
- Pour the yolk mixture into the milk saucepan and stir constantly over low heat until the sauce thickens and reaches 181°F. Immediately place the saucepan into the ice bath to stop cooking. Continue to stir frequently at first, and then intermittently, as you allow the sauce to cool for 30 minutes.
- Remove the vanilla bean and scrape any remaining seeds into the custard. If necessary, smooth out the sauce with an immersion blender.
Social Learning
Gaston Lenôtre was one of the most influential pastry chefs of the 20th-century. This custard is my first attempt at cooking one of the recipes from the recent, English-language, Helen Adedotun edition of his seminal work, “Pâtisserie en 10 leçons et 20 recettes.”
This is not a book for the feint of heart. When you cook from it – at least in my initial experience – you feel like you’re being trained, not entertained.
This is not a “quick and easy desserts” book. It assumes that you want to learn seriously. It’s closer to what I’d imagine a culinary school text to be than a lifestyle cookbook.
Vanilla Custard Sauce:
Having said all of that, I found this vanilla custard sauce (AKA crème anglaise) to be a pretty easy thing to make. Unproblematic, too. I suspect it might be one of the easier recipes in the book … but that helped to make it seem like a great place to start.
It keeps perfectly in the fridge, so it’s an easy make-ahead. However, it is best served chilled (but not cold) or warm (but not hot). Straight from the fridge, a quick whisk and a 10-15 minute stint on the countertop in a warm kitchen will get it into the “chilled” territory. To get it warm, you’ll want constant whisking and a very gentle, gradual heat. Bring it just above room temperature.
The Backstory
The book covers all of my greatest baking fears: classic pastries (éclairs, Paris‑Brest, mille‑feuille), entremets, tartlets, sauces and creams. It also covers my worst nightmare of all, decorative and finishing techniques. I decided that watching Great British Bake-Off “patisserie week” episodes has intimidated me long enough. I must confront all of this if I’m every going to fake my way through a British accent to wind up on that show.
Vanilla Custard Sauce
Credit for images on this page: Make It Like a Man! This content was not solicited by anyone, nor was it written in exchange for anything. References: Vanilla Custard Sauce, in French Pastries and Desserts by Lenôtre, ed. Helen Adedotun (Paris: Flammarion, S.A., 2021), 86. Thank you, Kesor. Thank you, ⌘+C. Make It Like a Man! is ranked by Feedspot as #5 in the Top 30 Men’s Cooking Blogs.
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