A curd is usually a thick cooked citrus mixture mde of citrus (or other tangy) juice, eggs, yolks, sugar and butter. It is tangy and delightful. The best curds have a perfect balance of tangy and sweet. Lovely.
What' You'll Need
- 3 eggs
- 3 yolks
- 3 oz. sugar (more or less, depending on your tangy tolerance)
- heavy pinch of salt
- 6 oz. lemon juice, key lime juice, passion fruit juice, grapefruit juice, cranberry juice, etc juice...
- 2-4 oz. butter
How to Make It
Whisk eggs, yolks and salt together in a metal bowl.
In a heavy-bottomed sauce pan, combine juice and sugar. Stir and heat to just below boiling.
Temper into eggs and pour everything back into the pot.
Heat over medium, whisking constantly and fairly quickly until thickened (temp will be about 160 degrees, F, if you're using a thermometer). As you are whisking, the curd will get very foamy on top. As it heats and thickens, the foam will diminish. When the foam is completely gone, this is a good signal that it's done and you can stop whisking and immediately strain into a bowl and stir in butter until melted and combined.
Depending on how thick and buttery you want your curd to be, use more or less butter. More butter will yield a firmer curd when chilled, but the texture will be silkier if you use less butter.
***You can also thicken your curd enough to slice (as for a pie filling) with some bloomed gelatin stirred in after you remove the curd from the heat. Start with about 1/2 teaspoon of powdered gelatin bloomed in a about 1 ounce of water or citrus juice. Add it before straining but after you take it off the heat. Don't let it boil, or the gelatin will lose some of its oomph. Use more or less to achieve the texture you want. Too much, though, and you'll get rubber curd, so err on the side of caution here.***
Put plastic wrap directly on curd and chill until you are ready to eat it with a spoon use it. Or, for a pie or tart, pour directly into your pre-baked pie or tart shell and let it set up in the fridge.
To read more about citrus curd, check out my blog post, Show Lemon Curd a Little Love.
