Lemon curd rescue help
I made a Meyer Lemon curd yesterday, recipe was from Epicurious. It was beautiful, light and silken, but, to my taste, came out tasting too much of butter and egg yolk. The recipe may be perfect, I just have a preference for lighter curd. I'd love to add something to lighten it up.
I contemplated adding more lemon juice, either raw or cooked, or lemon juice cooked with a little thickener, like cornstarch. Those might be disastrous, of course. I'm afraid to toy with it, because I don't want to ruin it. It is really good, I just often find curd a little too eggy tasting, and in this case, it's also too buttery.
I'm planning on freezing it but would love to get it just right before freezing in small batches. I don't want to risk ruining it, since it's pretty good and I used those wonderful lemons.
tia
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Thanks to all for the replies. hotoynoodle, I don't think I overcooked. I was really careful to cook it slowly, and didn't let it go over 160. I then strained it through a fine-mesh strainer.
I'm going to try the extra lemon zest, and maybe a tiny bit of juice.
chowser, I'm going to do that whipped cream thing, just to lighten it up. I did that once after I felt a lime curd came out too eggy (when will I learn?) and it really helped.
jmnewel, I did use whole eggs. Maybe next time I should go with few eggs than the recipe calls for, although then it might not thicken.
I'm going to take everybody's advice and not freeze. I'd thought I remembered reading somewhere that it could be frozen, but if three of you say otherwise, I trust you. Time to come up with a bunch of lemon curd occasions, because I made a double recipe.
Thank you all for your advice.
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re: Clarissa
babette feasts
Feb 10, 2009 09:27 PM
When you freeze lemon curd, the butter gets a little grainy, so you have to warm it enough to melt the butter to get it smooth again. I don't think freezing will ruin it completely, but butterfat molecules do like to stick together when frozen.
I think more yolks and fewer whole eggs will taste less eggy, try using two yolks for one whole egg to replace a couple of the eggs. Whole eggs will make a stiffer curd because whites set up firmer than yolks when cooked, but if you cook it for a long time over a double boiler, you can still get a fairly thick curd with only yolks - of course the amount of butter will also help determine the consistency of the chilled product. I use 6 yolks and 1 whole egg for a cup of lemon juice, with about a cup and a half of sugar and half cup (one stick) butter. Another variation, if you don't like the taste of butter, is I was making a lemon cream sauce and instead of butter I reduced some cream down to about half the original volume and added that instead - 2 cups of cream reduced to 1-1/4 cups for the amounts listed above. It comes out softer and won't keep as long in the fridge, but is nice and lemony and creamy, would be good to dip strawberries into, or you could add a little gelatin if you wanted a tart filling.
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chowser
Feb 10, 2009 08:10 AM
Could you make a lemon curd mousse by whipping cream and folding in with the curd, or is that too light? You could also fold in small amounts of creme fraiche or Greek yogurt but that's also less curd-like. They're all really good ways to serve lemon curd, though. And, I wouldn't freeze any of them.
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hotoynoodle
Feb 10, 2009 07:03 AM
to start at the bottom, i'd advise against freezing the curd. it's essentially a custard and they don't freeze well. most citrus curds will keep safely for weeks in the fridge.
if it tastes eggy, it's possible you may have inadvertently scrambled some of the egg when you added it to the heat. it's important to add it very slowly, over very low heat and keep a constant eye while stirring.
you can try warming it back up (gently!) and adding lemon zest or lemon extract to zing it up a bit. don't monkey with any cornstarch -- you're right on that.
i use a scottish recipe for curd that calls for honey rather than sugar and find that much lighter than the english versions.
