Crème Anglaise is the French word for “English Cream”. It is a custard made to pouring consistency that is made by whipping egg yolks and sugar until the yolk is almost colourless and then adding hot milk and some real vanilla for those beautifully fragrant speckles. It’s the perfect compliment to choux pastry, meringue, cake or simply on its own.
Here is a step-by-step recipe on how to create this luxurious and delicious dessert.
Makes 400 ml approximately
½ Vanilla pod
250 ml Milk
3 Free-range egg yolks
65g Castor sugar
Split and scrape the seeds from the vanilla pod. Bring the milk, vanilla pod and seeds to the boil in a heavy-based saucepan. Remove from the heat and allow the vanilla to infuse for 15 minutes.
In a bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugar together until doubled in volume and the sugar has dissolved. Pour half the milk onto the egg yolk mix, and whisk together. Pour this back into the saucepan with the remaining milk and whisk.
The Anglaise is ready when it coats the back of a spoon and your finger leaves a clear path when run through the crème.
Remove the saucepan from the heat and pass the Anglaise through a fine sieve into a clean bowl. Set the bowl over a larger bowl filled with ice to cool the Anglaise as quickly as possible, stirring from time to time to prevent a skin from forming.
