Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
the flavors became, but also the more the fruit flavor was masked. I preferred about 6 ta-
blespoons of butter. I can certainly see the argument in favor of less, though, particularly
if you want a cleaner, fresher flavor.
I also made curds with different citrus fruits. Although lemon was the exemplar (and Mey-
er lemon even better), lime was very nice, with a pointed acidity and a slightly grassy,
herbal quality. Orange was softly acidic and delicately floral. I tried blood oranges, too,
but that was the only washout. When blood oranges are cooked, the vivid red color fades
to a bruised purple, and the intriguing berry quality becomes nasty and artificialtasting.
Most interestingly (at least to a food wonk), I tried to make curd with plain water to test the
effect of liquid with no acidity and wound up with sweet, watery scrambled eggs. Acidity
lowers the coagulation temperature and obviously plays a very important role in temper-
ing the action of the sugar.
The most amazing thing about curd isn't its many variations but the one thing all versions
have in common: curd is dead simple to make. In fact, as delicate as it may seem, you
don't even need to use a double boiler; you can make it in a single small saucepan. Just
use a common pastry chef's trick: bring the mixture quickly to a boil over high heat, then
strain out any bits of curdled egg. I recommend a path somewhere between the cautious
double boiler and the bold chef's methods - cooking the curd over medium heat while us-
ing cold butter to moderate its temperature, then reducing the heat once the butter melts
and continuing to cook until the curd thickens.
When the curd is done, it should coat the back of a spoon like a moderately thick hol-
landaise. It should be thick enough that when you draw your finger across the spoon, you
divide the coating into two distinct sections. It will set more as it cools. Curious about the
temperature, I measured it a couple of times and found that the mixture began to smooth
out and thicken slightly at about 165 degrees and was finished at about 185 degrees.
The key to success is making sure the eggs and sugar are well beaten before you add the
remaining ingredients. That's the only way to temper the proteins sufficiently. When I tried
making curd by simply mixing everything together, I got fine bits of curdled whites, even
after straining.
Meyer Lemon Granita