Talk about a simple old fashioned recipe. For a taste of the past, it's hard to beat a cup of baked custard. With it's light sprinkling of nutmeg and just enough sweetness. This is something every cook should try some time. There are many ways for it to go wrong, but if you are careful it should come out cool, creamy and delicious.

This is the original recipe. Below, I have adapted it to make it a little easier to make it right the first time.

5 Servings Scald:

Pour these ingredients slowly over:

Beat the custard until it is well blended. Pour it into a baking dish or into individual molds. Place the molds in a pan of hot water in a moderate oven 325° for about 3/4 hour or until the custard is set. To test, insert a silver knife or spoon. If the custard does not adhere to the spoon it is ready to be removed from the oven. Chill and serve.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Start a kettle of water and heat to boiling. Scald the milk by heating in a microwave until it is very hot but not yet boiling. Stir in the sugar and salt until dissolved.

In a medium bowl or measuring cup with a pouring spout, beat the eggs until well combined. Stir into the eggs ¼ cup of the hot milk mixture. Then stir in ½ cup of the hot milk. Then slowly stir in the rest of the milk mixture. (This process is called tempering the eggs. If you were to add all the hot milk at once it would partly cook the eggs leading to curdled custard. Basically you would end up with very sweet scrambled eggs. Yuck.) Mix the custard until it is well blended.

Place a clean dish towel into the bottom of a 9x13 baking pan. Place six custard cups, each about 4 ounces, in the pan on top of the towel. (The towel keeps the cups in place and helps prevent the water from sloshing around too much.) Pour custard mixture into individual custard cups.

Place the baking pan onto the oven rack and pour boiling water into pan to half way up the sides of the cups. Bake in a moderate oven, 325 degrees, for about 45 minutes or until the custard is just set. The center will still juggle slightly. I use a pancake spatula to lift the cups out of the water.

Cool to room temperature and chill. You may add the nutmeg to the custard before it goes into the oven or sprinkle it on top after it is chilled.