What if I told you that you could get really rough with your lemon curd? Or anyfruit curd, for that matter?
Catherine Phipps, author ofModern Pressure Cooking, skips all the fuss of the traditional method—which involves a double boiler and constant whisking—and prepares her fruit curds in apressure cooker. It might seem counterintuitive, considering that pressure cookers like the Instant Pot operate at high temperatures, which you tend to avoid when you’re frantically whisking eggs, sugar and fruit juice over the gentlest of simmers. “You can’t imagine how cooking eggs at such a high temperature can work, and when you first open the cooker and see a slick of butter on top, you think it has failed,” Phipps says. “But, no it works perfectly.”
Phipps first wrote about this method inThe Pressure Cooker Cookbookin 2012 and learned about pressure cooking curd from Dianne Page’sPressure Cooking Properly Explained, originally published in the 1970s. Phipps has been making all sorts of different fruit curds in her pressure cooker over the last decade but never bothered with passion fruit since it’s even fussier than other curds: “I used to make it conventionally at work and would spend ages trying to separate pulp from seed before cooking.” She also tried cooking the pulp and seeds together rather than separating first, but found that pulp just clung to the seeds, resulting in bland curd.
“Then it occurred to me that if I pressure cooked, the pressure involved might be intense enough to help separate pulp and seed, and I was really psyched when it did,” Phipps tells me. The method works beautifully and couldn’t be simpler. Fill your pressure cooker with an inch or so of water, and place a trivet in the bottom. Mix your ingredients in a heatproof bowl, cover with foil, and cook under high pressure for 10 minutes. As Phipps cautions, it won’t look right at all when you remove the foil. I audibly groaned when I uncovered an amorphous blob suspended in melted butter, but a quick pass through a strainer and about 20 seconds of whisking turned the curd perfectly glossy, velvety smooth, with no scrambled egg flavor.
In fact, the curd was as good as any I’ve had, something that was important to Phipps as she was developing recipes for the book. “My mantra for this book is that each recipe has to have as good a texture and taste as their traditionally prepared counterparts,” she tells me. “I find that pressure cooking often intensifies flavor, and I think that happens with the curd, too.” I’m inclined to agree—I tried comparing Phipps’ curd with some I’d made the traditional way, and hers definitely had more of a tart punch, though both were very good.
The recipe is totally riffable too. You can use fresh or frozen passion fruit pulp, though Phipps suggests adding an extra minute to the cook time if you’re using frozen pulp. She also includes variations within the recipe for curds with citrus or berries. “You can also make much larger quantities if you like,” she says. “The speed and ease of the recipe means you don't feel as though you are wasting time by just making a small amount, but it will double, triple, or quadruple very easily too.”
With your curd cooking in the pressure cooker, all that’s left to do is make something to accompany it. Somescones, perhaps, or maybe it’s time you live out yourGreat British Bake Offfantasy and whip up aVictoria sponge. Of course, if low-fuss is the vibe you’re trying to maintain, a slice of buttered, toasted bread with a swipe of fruit curd is perfectly wonderful too.
