Ingredient guide: vanilla beans

Vanilla beans impart a wonderful depth of flavour to dishes, and using one to make a custard can elevate a simple dessert to something magical.

For custard, scrape seeds from a vanilla bean into a saucepan. Add bean and 600ml milk then slowly bring almost to the boil over low-medium heat. Whisk together 6 egg yolks and 150g caster sugar until pale then gradually whisk in milk mixture. Return mixture to pan and stir continuously over low-medium heat until mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Do not boil. Strain through a fine sieve then serve.

More ideas:

• For vanilla-scented sugar, place a rinsed and dried used bean in a canister with sugar and leave for a minimum of 3 days or indefinitely.  
• Look for plump, moist and shiny vanilla beans that are dark brown
  to almost black; thin, brownish-red, dry-looking beans will lack flavour.

Bean basics
Vanilla beans are picked from the vanilla planifolia vine (see page 196 for more details). Beans are dried for three months then cured for three to eight months, during which time they develop their flavour.

 

Words: Sophia Young. Photography: Andrew Lehmann. Styling: Jane Hann.