General Rules For Custards

1. Five eggs and as many tablespoonfuls of sugar for each quart of milk is a safe general rule for custard making.

2.   Do not let the milk really boil before adding it to the eggs.

3.   Do not stir the eggs and sugar into the milk, but pour gradually the hot milk upon them.

4.   A pinch of soda in the milk is a safeguard against curdling.

5.   Always cook custard in a double boiler, or in a vessel set within another of boiling water. Scorching, or "catching," is impossible if this precaution be taken.

6.   Experience is the only teacher as to the precise moment when a custard has thickened sufficiently. The mixture should be as smooth as rich cream and coat the spoon evenly. If the spoon, dipped in and withdrawn, has a thin, slightly granulated liquid clinging to it, the custard is still raw. Watch incessantly for the right instant of removal from the fire.

Boiled Custards

One quart of milk ; yolks of five eggs and the whites of seven ; six tablespoonfuls of sugar; two teaspoonfuls of vanilla.

Scald the milk, stir in the yolks, beaten light, with the sugar. Pour the hot milk upon these, " fold " in the whites of five eggs, return to the fire, and stir until it thickens. When cold, season and pour into small cups. Whip the whites of two eggs to a meringue with a tablespoonful of powdered sugar, and heap a large spoonful upon each cup.

The meringue is improved by the substitution of half a glass of currant jelly for the sugar. Whip it up with the whites until you have a pink froth.

Baked Custards

Make as above directed, but instead of returning to the fire, after pouring the hot milk upon the eggs, fill buttered custard-cups with the mixture; set in a pan of hot water and bake until set. Then draw to the door of the oven and heap the meringue high upon the custards. Close the oven door to color the meringue slightly.

Chocolate Custard

One quart of milk; five eggs; one cupful of sugar; four heaping tablespoonfuls of grated chocolate; two teaspoonfuls of vanilla extract. Scald the milk, rub the chocolate to a smooth paste in a little cold milk. Stir into the milk and cook two minutes in it. Beat up the yolks of the five eggs with the whites of two, and the sugar. Pour the hot mixture, gradually, upon them, stirring deeply. Turn into a buttered pudding-dish, and set in a dripping-pan of boiling water. Bake until firm. When "set" in the middle, spread quickly, without taking from the oven, with a meringue made by whipping the reserved whites stiff with a very little sugar. Bake until this is done. Eat cold.