Making lemon curd the traditional way is an exercise that would normally combine as much scientific pursuit and understanding as it does expertise and jeopardy. As for a crème anglaise (otherwise known as a custard), the trick is to combine a specialist pan, with precision of temperature, and the degree of experience, skill and patience required to bring a set of ingredients together at the exact moment when they are cooked to perfection – not a moment too soon – when the result will be too thin – or a degree of heat too much – when the result will turn to scrambled disaster.
Unsurprising then that home-made lemon curd is not often to be found on the average home menu!
With a steam oven, however, foolproof lemon curd is ours for the making for the price of a sealable glass jar and a few super simple ingredients – no further skill or experience are required beyond mixing the ingredients together, closing the jar, and setting the oven in motion.
If you happen to have just made yourself an Angel Food Cake, from a previous recipe, or something else that is either eqq-white ‘exclusive’ or egg-white ‘heavy’ – like a meringue – you are likely to have some spare egg yolks available to underpin this recipe. Contrarywise, if you happen to want to make some lemon curd, you might want to make yourself an angel food cake or a meringue with the egg whites you will have left over – or you can freeze them and use them later (the egg whites that is, not the yolks) – just remember to label them clearly if you do.
Anyway, enough of this preamble – let’s get onto with this easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy recipe …
RECIPE:
Ingredients:
- 4 egg yolks
- 100 sugar (granulated or caster)
- zest of 2 lemons, juice of 3 lemons
- 50g butter (melted, cooled, and fluid)
Equipment:
- Bowl + whisk + grater
- 1 or 2 sterlised jar(s), with lid(s) (enough to hold ingredients)
Method:
- Grate zest of lemon(s) into the sugar and rub these two ingredients together (releases the oils, enhances the perfume)
- Add egg yolks with a pinch of salt to the sugar and whisk together until they are well combined.
- Gradually whisk the melted butter into the eggs and sugar, then do the same with the lemon juice.
- Pre-heat the oven to 82ºC steam (we used a VZug combi-steam oven, but any steam oven with precision temperature settings will do the same).
- Spoon or pour the mixture into the jars, put the lids on, then place in the oven to steam for 45 minutes.
- When the time is done, take the jars out of the oven, carefully take off the lids, and whisk or stir to make sure all is homogenous.
- Chill, then keep in the fridge.
- The lemon curd will keep for up to a week at fridge temperature (ie cooler than 5ºC).
Variation: Preserved Lemon Curd
(see recipe for instant Preserved Lemons)
Ingredients:
- 4 x egg yolks
- 100g sugar
- zest of 2 lemons, juice of 3 lemons
- 40-50ml preserved lemon brine
- 50g butter (melted and cooled weight)
Method:
Make this version using the method above, omitting the pinch of salt with the sugar and adding 40-50ml lemon brine to the juice of the lemons.
Hints and tips:
Once the lemons are zested, and while the oven is pre-heating with steam, adding the lemons for 5 minutes to the steamy oven cavity will help them release more juice than they will at room temperature.
Suggestions for Eating:
- stirred into yoghurt and served with berries as breakfast
- as topping for a Pavlova, or alongside an Angel Food Cake (recipe here), with whipped cream and berries
- on toast
- with whipped cream, as a lemon fool
- with scones and cream
- as filling for a sponge cake
- with Limoncello stirred through (for extra kick(s))
- spoon straight from the jar direct to your mouth – only kidding – (although we may have done this!).
