Creme Anglaise
A pouring custard of milk, egg yolks, sugar and vanilla, cooked gently until it coats a spoon.
Photograph credit: Creme anglaise p1050159 by David Monniaux · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons · this resized copy is shared under the same licence
Where This Goes Wrong
Stir all the time.
Keep the heat low.
Strain at once to stop the cooking.
Cover the surface to prevent a skin.
How to Make Creme Anglaise
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Warm the milk with the vanilla in a pan over medium heat for 3 minutes until steaming.
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Whisk the egg yolks, sugar and salt in a bowl until pale. Pour in the hot milk in a thin stream, whisking.
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Return to the pan and cook over low heat for 8 minutes, stirring constantly, until the sauce coats the back of a spoon.
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Strain into a cold jug at once. Serve warm or cold.
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Why the Method Works
Is it a custard or scrambled egg? That is the whole question, and the answer is a matter of heat and patience.
Warm the milk with the vanilla until steaming, then whisk it slowly into the yolks and sugar. This is called tempering, and it raises the temperature of the eggs gradually so that they do not scramble. Stir constantly over low heat. The sauce thickens at about 82°C / 180°F, and above 85°C / 185°F the eggs begin to curdle.
Cook for about 8 minutes, stirring in a figure of eight, until the sauce coats the back of a wooden spoon and a finger drawn across it leaves a clean line. Take it off the heat at once and pour it through a sieve into a cold jug, to stop the cooking.
If the sauce starts to curdle, plunge the pan base into cold water and whisk hard. Serve warm over a pudding or cold with fruit. Cover the surface with cling film to prevent a skin.
Leftovers, Reheating and Keeping
Keeps in the fridge for 3 days.
Serving Creme Anglaise
- Apple crumble
- Chocolate cake
- Poached pears
- Fresh berries
Nutrition per Serving
Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.
Your notes on this recipe
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Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published ; last changed .
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