How to get my cooking confidence back?

[tallyollyopia]

A little bit of back story--I've been cooking for the house for years, and primarily I make desserts and roasts. Yesterday I was making custard--which is something I should  be able to do in my sleep. The custard was--horrible. The first batch curdled, the second batch tasted like sweet scrambled eggs (with similar texture), and the third batch tasted like sweet scrambled eggs (but had the texture of custard). I want to try again--but my confidence has really been shaken by this. I mean, I've been cooking since I was twelve! Twelve! This is something I should  be able to do--but for some reason I haven't been able to!

Does anyone know how I can get my cooking confidence back?

 

[denice]

I am so sorry but I think this sort of thing happens a lot.  The whole thing with tempering eggs and/or desserts that use a lot of egg yolk in a custard or sauce is very temperamental.  The scrambled eggs thing happens a lot as do sauces that  'break'.  Have you been successful with custards in the past?  I think some times because they are so temperamental it could be something like the quality of the eggs.

 

[tallyollyopia]

I've made custard pie before, and that came out perfectly. I've made egg dishes and cream sauces with no trouble. I feel like I should have been able to do this, at least once in three tries.

 

[Caspers Human]

You've done the tempering thing and I assume that you're bringing the eggs up to room temperature before starting.  Are you cooking the custard in a pan over the fire or are you using a double boiler?

That's the only thing I can think of. 

 

[tallyollyopia]

Neither--it gets baked. 

 

[Winchester]

I had that happen when I was making rice pudding a couple times and I don't know why it happened. For some reason, it never thickened up at all and it was a runny mess; that got baked, too. Rick ate it anyway; he said it had a good flavor, so it wasn't a total waste, but I hate it when something doesn't work out. I have a recipe for bread pudding that has a custard bottom; it's baked in the oven and, sometimes, the custard will be a little more runny than others. (I honestly swear sometimes that the weather plays a huge part in cooking; I know I can't make candy or meringues when there's a low pressure in the area; it never sets right. I don't know if it matters with custard.)

Is this recipe the same once that you've used in the past with consistent results? Did you use the same ingredients called for in the recipe or did you switch something, meaning did you sub skim milk for the other milk/cream called for in the recipe? Did you use larger eggs than the recipe calls for? Did you "mess up" and add more liquid (I've done that)? Custard can be temperamental. 

My idea would be to try a different recipe for custard and see if that will work.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Just to build the confidence, try making something similar, but not quite the same, that you've successfully done before.  Just to shake the fidgets off and get the mojo back.