Custard Cravings

Both times I have been pregnant I've had strong cravings for dairy - favourite fixes in the first trimester included raita and breadsticks or custard and fruit.

Because we were spending a small fortune on buying cans of Devon's custard from the small shop around the corner, we bought some Bird's custard powder and I discovered that Bird's custard was not for me.  I cant describe what I find exactly wrong with it - its just too yellow and tastes funny.  I grew up in New Zealand with Edmond's custard - which, to me, is how custard *should* taste.  We also sometimes had sea-meal custard - which had a kind of salty taste and for the life of me I've never been able to find it as an adult.

When I was 14 I worked for a time as a waitress in a short lived Greek restaurant in Auckland called The Parthenon.  My favourite desert from the restaurant was a custard pie called Galaktaboureko but I found it difficult to find when on holiday in Greece.  The desert menus all have Baklava and Kataifi but never Galaktaboureko until we went to a place in a tiny beach in Lefkada. Looking at the Greek spelling on the menu the 'traditional desert' looked like it might be the custard pie I remembered from the past and indeed it was - a heavenly creamy custard encased in crisp filo pastry sprinkled with cinnamon.  Yum!

This started me thinking about the different types of custard found around the world - from Creme Brulee in France to a Mexican Caramel Flan.  Even some New York Cheesecake recipes are basically baked custard at heart.  In this blog I am going to try different types of custard and custard dishes from around the world.