Peter Rhodes on custard, computers and preparing for death by hurricane
“I haven't made custard, real custard, in years,” declares Prue Leith, sending shock-waves through the genteel world of kitchen journalism. Apparently, she much prefers the ready-made stuff in cartons. But what does she mean by “real custard?”
Is she referring to the old-fashioned custard powder, which has been around for decades, that you mix with sugar and warm milk? Or is Prue Leith thinking of an even more ancient option, making custard from scratch using eggs, flour, sugar and vanilla essence? That's how my grandmother used to make custard in the 1950s. It was delicious and would have been the perfect finale for Sunday dinner, were it not so labour-intensive. Gran, a strict Methodist, did not labour on the Sabbath. Her custard was a week-day treat and she would probably have regarded the carton stuff as cheating, if not the work of the Devil. Just desserts?
Even allowing for the hit-and-miss nature of weather forecasting, the Met Office website a few days ago was a rum affair, predicting on my computer “hurricane-force winds” of 527 mph in the Midlands.
