Mandarin Eggnog Custard—puzzling over clementines and thinking about my favorite flavor combination

In November, a family’s fancy turns to clementines. These cute, peelable oranges are bright and festive, not to mention Santa’s trademark (at least according to the Dr Who 2014 Christmas special.) So perhaps it makes sense that I have been thinking about them recently.

Clementines used to come in nifty wooden crates that were so iconic that the comic Rhymes With Orange had a strip about them. Now they show up in mesh bags labeled “Halos”, or “Cuties”, and seem to be around for a longer time. Sometimes the clementines are very, very good, and sometimes they are not. Are these all the same fruit?

My husband and I used to think maybe it was their origin. Some of the best ones seemed to come from Spain. Or was it the time of year that mattered? Right around Thanksgiving was the time for the best clementines. And what is a clementine anyway?

After browsing online, I discovered that (a) clementines are a kind of small mandarin, along with tangerines (which might be a catch-all term for larger mandarins) and something called a satsuma. I also discovered that (b) there are many varieties of small mandarin, and the bags labeled “Halo”or “Cutie”, which come from California, may contain different varieties depending on the time of year.

Good to know! I’ve been enjoying the Halos after being disappointed by Sun Pacific (?) early on, but apparently by February the Halos will actually be a different variety of mandarin from the ones I am getting now. I wonder if that is the reason they seem so good early in the season, and disappointing later on. Perhaps I like the earlier varieties better. Also, perhaps the Sun Pacific mandarins wouldn’t have disappointed me had I tried them later on when they were a different variety.

Last post, I described making a braided bread based on a hot cross bun recipe using (one of ) my favorite flavor combinations: orange, lemon, cinnamon, and nutmeg. I was thinking about this flavor combination when I was doing laundry this week. The laundry soap I was using was Indigo Wild’s Sea Salt, and I started wondering if the scent had a hint of nutmeg in it. (It also reminded faintly of Coca-Cola and A-1 steak sauce, which I swear have something in common, even though my family doesn’t notice any resemblance.)

So I decided to take just part of my favorite flavor combo and work on an orange and nutmeg pudding. Nutmeg is a big part of the appeal of eggnog, which is a seasonal flavor, and clementines also go with Christmas (and I still had some in the house), so it could be a festive Christmas pudding (only not in the British sense.)

Mandarin-nutmeg custard in cups

The first version was a regular cornstarch pudding with mandarin zest and nutmeg, but it looked and tasted a bit thin for something that was supposed to be festive. Also, without eggs, it wasn’t really eggnoggy. So I tried a custard version, combining elements from microwave vanilla pudding and Dangerously Easy Vanilla Custard, to get a Mandarin Eggnog Custard which was pretty good.

The recipe is as follows:

Stir together in 4-cup glass measuring cup

• 3 Tblsp cornstarch
• 3 Tblsp sugar
• ¼ tsp nutmeg
• 2 cups milk
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 Tblsp heavy cream (if you have it)

(I prefer to mix the dry stuff, mix in some of the milk, mix in the eggs, then add the remaining milk and cream. But suit yourself.)

Then zest and set aside the zest of

• 1 clementine/small mandarin

I love my microplane grater!

Microwave 1 minute, then for 20 seconds at a time, stirring with whisk after each till it thickens.

When mixture thickens, add the zest and microwave 10 seconds more before pouring into bowls or cups and allowing to cool.

Mixture before microwaving

Mixture after microwaving

This makes a very thick custard. If you want it thinner, try adding less cornstarch. I probably didn’t need to add quite so much. 

I haven't yet tried adding vanilla. If you try a mandarin-nutmeg-vanilla custard, let me know how it works.

Till next post.