Vada Pav

Tempering a custard 59 recipes

• The hot liquid went into the eggs a little at a time with constant whisking, and only then did everything go back to the pot.
• The heat under it stayed gentle throughout and it was never allowed to boil.
• Stirred continuously and right into the corners of the pan, where it thickens first and sets unnoticed.
• Judged by behaviour: it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon and hold a clean line when a finger is drawn through it.
• Taken off before it looks finished, and strained. Residual heat carries it the rest of the way, and a custard held on the heat until it looks right arrives past right.

Where it goes wrong The hot liquid went in too fast, or the pot went back over full heat to save time. The yolks set into threads before they could thicken smoothly, and a scrambled custard does not come back; straining hides a little of it and nothing hides the rest.

Deep frying 96 recipes

• The oil was at temperature before anything went in, measured rather than guessed, and the vessel is no more than two-thirds full.
• Everything went in dry. Surfaces are patted down and any coating is not dripping, because water hitting hot oil erupts and is the one accident this technique actually has.
• The oil recovers between batches. It is back at temperature before the next load goes in rather than falling further with each one.
• A steady vigorous bubbling that slows as it finishes: the bubbles are the food’s own water leaving, so a piece that has gone quiet has stopped drying out and is done.
• Seasoned or finished in the first seconds out of the oil, while the surface is still hot and will hold what lands on it. Anything applied to a cooled crust sits on top and falls off.

Where it goes wrong Too much went in at once and the oil temperature collapsed. The crust forms slowly while the food sits in warm fat absorbing it rather than shedding steam, and it comes out heavy and greasy instead of crisp, which no amount of draining afterwards will fix.