Anonymous wrote:I would like to give an honorable mention to the Italian Zuppa Inglese. I'd thought it was simply custard, but it's a whole trifle affair. Absolutely delicious.

Well, if we are lauding the world’s custards, how about flan? My absolute favorite. And because it is baked you can’t mess it up like you can mess up a stove too cooked custard.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The notion that serving something with custard is putting on airs is making me chuckle.

It's a cheap alternative to cream. Made with a powder that comes from a tin.

It isn’t a cheap alternative to cream - it is made with cream, or at least whole milk. Cream, sugar, egg yolks, and vanilla. The number of eggs (and to some extent the cooking time) determines whether you get pourable custard or set custard.

Yes, you can buy a powder and add milk, but it is is no way the same texture or flavor. The packages use corn starch to thicken, not egg yolk.

Never used eggs in custard where I grew up. That's some fancy custard. Milk and custard powder. Poured over canned fruit or a steamed pudding.

I don’t know about fancy, but it’s damn good!

Anonymous wrote:Would have called it creme anglaise before. Now that I've watched Great British Bake Off, I know people also call it pouring custard.

Came here to say this.

I didn't grow up with dishes that used this element, so I guess I've never called it anything, or I would call it whatever the person serving it to me called it. I have no "native" term for it.

But as someone who had never had it as a child, I think "pouring custard" makes more sense because it describes what it is and therefore I'd know what I was getting into. If someone told me they were serving something with a creme anglaise, I'd likely still try it but I wouldn't really have any frame of reference for what I was getting.

I would like to give an honorable mention to the Italian Zuppa Inglese. I'd thought it was simply custard, but it's a whole trifle affair. Absolutely delicious.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The notion that serving something with custard is putting on airs is making me chuckle.

It's a cheap alternative to cream. Made with a powder that comes from a tin.

It isn’t a cheap alternative to cream - it is made with cream, or at least whole milk. Cream, sugar, egg yolks, and vanilla. The number of eggs (and to some extent the cooking time) determines whether you get pourable custard or set custard.

Yes, you can buy a powder and add milk, but it is is no way the same texture or flavor. The packages use corn starch to thicken, not egg yolk.

Never used eggs in custard where I grew up. That's some fancy custard. Milk and custard powder. Poured over canned fruit or a steamed pudding.

Anonymous wrote:The notion that serving something with custard is putting on airs is making me chuckle.

It's a cheap alternative to cream. Made with a powder that comes from a tin.

It isn’t a cheap alternative to cream - it is made with cream, or at least whole milk. Cream, sugar, egg yolks, and vanilla. The number of eggs (and to some extent the cooking time) determines whether you get pourable custard or set custard.

Yes, you can buy a powder and add milk, but it is is no way the same texture or flavor. The packages use corn starch to thicken, not egg yolk.

I think the BIL created the term because he wanted to mock his SIL. Pouring custard isn't a term, it's always either creme anglais or custard. Americans are more likely to say creme anglais because custard in the US typically means the thick stodgy stuff in packaged containers like custard pudding. The BIL was thinking of custard pudding and saw creme anglais as the pourable version and mocked his SIL for calling it creme anglais. But SIL is correct.

Anonymous wrote:I’ve only heard it referenced as creme anglais here, which of course translates to English cream so as I think about it is maybe a little pretentious? Why do we use a French term to describe an English thing?

Custard is a staple in the UK and is sold in the grocery store, to pour over whatever you are having for dessert, similar to how we use ice cream as an accompaniment to some desserts. I’ve never heard it referred to as pourable custard though, it’s just custard.

Same, and I grew up on the stuff.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have *only* ever heard or used the term 'crème Anglaise.'

+1
And I grew up in an unpretentious Midwest suburb. Thanks to the Martha Stewart show, I guess.

Same.

I think I got it from Barefoot Contessa who recommended just letting vanilla ice cream melt and pour it over a dessert as custard, still calling it crème Anglaise, a fancy name for a pretty low brow sauce.

Melted ice cream is definitely not a custard. Not even melted frozen custard. Delicious, but not the same.

To answer OP's question, I have also only ever heard the term 'Creme Anglaise'. I have watched every episode of GBBS, and don't remember hearing pouring custard mentioned there.

I’ve only heard it referenced as creme anglais here, which of course translates to English cream so as I think about it is maybe a little pretentious? Why do we use a French term to describe an English thing?

Custard is a staple in the UK and is sold in the grocery store, to pour over whatever you are having for dessert, similar to how we use ice cream as an accompaniment to some desserts. I’ve never heard it referred to as pourable custard though, it’s just custard.

I’ve lived all over and never heard pouring custard. Crème anglaise, yes, custard sauce, yes.

Maybe pouring custard isn’t regional, but a term of art? Perhaps it’s a category that would come up in home ec or cooking school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am apparently very uneducated; I've never heard of either.

same here

Same! And I've lived in the UK. Maybe I avoided any mention of custard because I can't stand it, regardless of form or verbiage.

No, we just called it custard.

And that ladies husband is an ahole.

Anonymous wrote:The notion that serving something with custard is putting on airs is making me chuckle.

It's a cheap alternative to cream. Made with a powder that comes from a tin.

I chuckled at it too. This lady’s husband is a jerk.

I would probably just call it custard. I know what crème anglaise is, but only because I watched a lot of Chopped in my 20s! I don’t think I’d use the term myself, but also wouldn’t think someone was pretentious if they used it— I’d just think they watch cooking shows.