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When we were small, our mom would occasionally treat us to an afternoon at the wonderfully over-the-top Queen Mary tea room, a “theatrical Victorian fantasy land” (according to their website) that serves high tea complete with mismatched bone china tea cups and piles of goodies. While there were many things we liked about high tea--scones, clotted cream, crumpets--what we loved was the lemon curd.
Powerfully tangy with a mellow, unctuous texture, curd showcases all of the lemon’s unique brightness with none of its harsh qualities. Curd is technically a custard; slowly cooked on the stove and thickened with egg yolks and butter. It’s most commonly made with lemons, but can be made with any fruit that is very high in acid: limes, seville oranges, cranberries and even passionfruit.
Fresh curd is so delicious that you’ll want to eat it all of the time; as it is good with almost everything, you can. Lemon curd is classic with scones or shortbread, it’s lovely as a tart or cake filling or on vanilla ice cream. And if you are lucky enough to own an ice cream freezer, lemon curd can even be transformed into the best lemon ice cream ever.
Sadly, both the citrus season and the time for sitting inside with very hot cups of tea will soon be drawing to a close, so now’s the time to whip up a batch of lemon curd. Or at the very least, beg your mother to take you to the Queen Mary.
A recipe for lemon curd is after the break. Enjoy.
Photo and food by Rachael Coyle
Lemon Curd
This lemon curd recipe comes from straight from the Ball Blue Book of Canning and Preserving and it is spot on. It is especially delicious made with the slightly orange-y, aromatic Meyer lemon.
6 large egg yolks
3/4 cup granulated sugar (1 cup if you will be turning the curd into ice cream*)
1 cup lemon juice
zest of one lemon
4 ounces (one stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2” pieces
In a heavy-bottomed saucepan whisk together the yolks, sugar, lemon juice and zest. Over medium to low heat, cook the curd very slowly, stirring constantly (stirring, not whisking--you don’t want to be adding air) until the curd is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. This sounds difficult, but don’t fret. You will see the curd get noticeably thicker, at this point, stick a wooded spoon into the curd and lift it out; does it run right off the spoon like liquid or does it coat the spoon in a thick layer? If all of this makes you nervous and you have a thermometer, you can just cook the curd until it reaches 170 F. Just remember, you don’t want the curd to boil or it could curdle.
Pour the curd through a strainer into a clean bowl and whisk the butter into the strained curd until it melts. Cover the curd by pressing plastic wrap directly to the surface of the curd to prevent a skin from forming. Chill until completely cool.
*If you want to make lemon ice cream, simply proceed with the above recipe (with the additional sugar). Once the curd has chilled completely, whisk in one cup of heavy cream and freeze according to your machine’s instructions.
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