✓Plant-free ✓Low-carb ✓Gluten-free ✓Grain-free ✓Ketogenic (with more cream) ✓Cow milk-free option
This baked egg custard was my first attempt at modifying a recipe to make it completely plant-free (i.e. the exact opposite of vegan) and it turned out brilliantly!
All of the ingredients are from animal products — there is nothing of plant origin: no vanilla, sugar, or nutmeg… which might get you wondering what the topping is? Read on…
Many people are discovering that their health improves when they remove all plant products from their diet, effectively eating a carnivore diet. At the extreme end proponents only eat beef and salt — so this recipe is not for them — but for those that eat a broader carnivore diet, including eggs and dairy, this recipe is a boon. Of course you don’t have to be a carnivore to try it, and I’m sure it would go well with stewed fruit for example.
This dish shows that even if you are eating a very restricted diet, it is possible to make a desert that is visually appealing visually and texturally interesting. Oh, and it tastes great too!
Ingredients ‘Baked Egg Carnivore Custard’
Makes 4 x large (100g) servings
- Milk 450ml (1 pint) – use cow, goat or sheep’s milk
- Single or double cream (optional: replace up to half of the milk with cream for higher fat or keto diet)
- 3 medium eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 rasher of crispy bacon, crumbled (for the topping)
- 1 – 3 tsp honey (optional)
Pre-prep: Topping
1. If you want the topping – and it does look very nice doesn’t it? – cook some bacon ahead of time. You want to get it as crisp as you can without burning it, so that it is easy to crumble.
I broke mine up by hand into a mortar then used the tip of a spoon to break the pieces up further. I found that using a pestle did not work because the crushing action made the bacon pieces stick together.
Main Recipe
2. Preheat the oven to 180ºC (350ºF,gas mark 4).
3. Beat your eggs lightly in a bowl.
4. In a pan, heat the milk and optionally cream and honey if you want it until it is close to boiling, then pour the mixture over the beaten egg, stirring continuously.
5. Strain the mixture through a sieve into a 600ml (1 pint) oven-proof dish. This removes any lumps making the finished dish smoother.
6. Place in the preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes at 180ºC (350ºF,gas mark 4).
7. Take out of the oven. It should have started to set at the top but will be wobbly as the centre. This is a good time to adjust the temperature of the oven. If it has starting to burn you may want to turn it down to 120ºC
8. Now the top is firm you can sprinkle the crumbled bacon over the top.
9. Return to the oven and bake for a further 20-40 minutes until cooked through.
10. Remove from the oven and allow to cool
Results
I made two: one with cow milk and cream (above left) and a larger one with goat milk and cream (above right).
The goat’s milk one went in the oven first and browned up more, but it isn’t actually burned; It has formed a skin a bit like rice pudding!
Here it is served for desert. You can add cream or eat it naked. It has a very nice texture and a clean, creamy flavour. I’m impressed that it tastes so good even without vanilla. The bacon adds a nice textural contrast and a hint of saltiness without ever seeming out of place.
Tip: I have found that the bacon gets softer over time, which is OK, but it was nicer when it was still crisp. So it might be better to skip step 8 and add the bacon just before serving, or let people add their own at the table.
Macronutrients per serving*
(recipe above makes 4 large servings)
Version #1 P: 9g C: 6.5g F: 8g E: 134 kCal
Version #2 P: 6g C: 3.5g F: 19g E: 210 kCal (Keto ratio 2:1)
* Version #1: Recipe as above, using 3:1 full-fat milk to single cream and 2 tsp honey
* Version #2: Recipe as above, but using half and half full-fat milk to double cream and 1 tsp honey
This looks lovely but Have I missed something? Your post suggests that a meat only diet is good for you? I am surprised and interested to see the turnaround from the usual grain free recipes like you say this is the opposite of what you have done in the past. I mean this with respect, I hope that you don’t feel I am being challenging, its just that your blog has been a great source of information about diet and it seems like an about turn and it has peeked my interest.
Hi Fred,
Thats a good question! And it’s prompted a rather long response. Hope that’s all right.
The areas of nutrition we tend to focus on are driven by the medical needs of the patients that come to Afifah’s clinic. They come with a very wide range of medical conditions so there is no one-size-fits-all solution. For example, where their condition is principally metabolic (think diabetes, heart conditions etc) some form of low-carb diet is often appropriate to control blood sugar. On the other hand Afifah sees many people with immunological/auto-immune conditions which are very frequently forms of coeliac disease – so gluten or grain-free diets are needed.
Autoimmune diseases are often rooted in the gut where a leaky-gut exposes the immune system to undigested food proteins. Reactivity to such proteins can extend beyond grains to almost any food (although we have never seen a case where this includes meat). Testing can be helpful in identifying the triggers, although not always sufficient. To identify the food/s that are triggering symptoms some people have to remove almost everything, eating only, say bone broth or just beef for a week or more, at which point they start to improve. Then it is possible to start introducing additional foods one at a time and seeing if they are tolerated. Afifah has many patients she has coached through this route who made remarkable recoveries. (See her testimonial page)
To appreciate how life changing a meat only diet can be for some people watch this video: https://blog.rosemarycottageclinic.co.uk/2018/08/07/jordan-peterson-the-carnivore-diet-changed-my-life-video/ The point here is that Neither Dr Peterson, nor his daughter chose this route out of ideology. For them it is an absolute necessity. The important question is to try and unravel why it works.
So initially our blog is there to support the people/patients who have to eat a restricted diet, and we try and make it as easy as possible for them by including recipes that make restrictive eating a bit more tolerable, and even, perhaps, fun and creative.
Secondly, when we study the medical literature around such diets, especially from an evolutionary viewpoint, a lot of things start to make sense. For example, some of these dietary interventions (e.g. going grain-free) appear to benefit everyone to some degree.
Finally, as a family we try out as many of these diets ourselves so that we can appreciate what people have to go through, the side effects, and how to manage the shopping/cooking/eating out/social eating. It pushes us to try new recipes.
Everyone is at a different place in their health and diet journey and I think we have something for everyone here (except the most ardent vegans perhaps). It’s not dogmatic or ideological I hope!
I wish this recipe was printable…
Your wish is my command!
It is done.
Print away!
This is very helpful. Once I started to get bored with steaks I was like… what about custard? I’ve completely forgotten how to make it and your reminder is very timely.
So glad I could help. Custard is a great food, and I think it needs to take its rightful place on our tables once again!
Merry Christmas, and make sure you look at my real meat mince pies. I think you’ll love them.
This was delicious and a nice change of pace for me. I had a bunch of English double cream laying around so my ratio was about 3/4 cream 1/4 half n half. Super creamy in the end. It’s amazingly sweet on it’s own, taste buds have changed!
Thank you so much for this recipe! I have been looking for custard/pudding recipes without starch or flour and I found a couple, but they used large amounts of white sugar. I was resigned to experimenting when I came across this recipe on Pinterest. I have just recently (a week or so ago) started a carnivore/animal-based diet to heal my inflammation, autoimmune diseases, and arthritis to name just a few of my (all related) issues! I’m loving it and beginning to feel positive changes happening already. I raise chickens and dairy goats so I have access to healthy eggs and raw, unprocessed dairy, I was hoping to be able to have at least one dessert option for special occasions and thanks to you, I do!
I am pleased that you have found this so useful. You are not alone in this! There is something about a dessert that just hits the spot.
Have you read our article on glycine? If not, you will be very pleased with what you find as glycine tastes sweet, and yet can be used in a carnivore diet. You can also use glycine as the sweetener in jellies. Combine glycine and vitamin C powder (in a pure form) and use in a home made jelly, using gelatine. This will pass on a carnivore diet too. Serve it with goat’s cream and you will feel well satisfied.
Thanks for the tips!
I love this recipe ,I cannot have dairy and would love to figure out a way to still make this . I was thinking using some ghee and some sort of liquid to substitute the milk …
No honey, please, it’s not carnivore, and neither is Paul Saladino.
Easy to leave out the honey. Personal preference. What do you think of glycine as a sweetener? It’s an amino acid, so present in all meat, and all diets are deficient in it, even carnivore.
Since honey is an animal product I know that some people on a carnivorous diet do include honey in their diets, and it is certainly present in specific hunter gatherer diets. There are even a handful of bird species, in Africa and Asia, that are known as honeyguides, who have evolved a relationship with humans to show them where the honey is, and in exchange the people make the honey or the bee grubs accessible to the birds. That is a very old (in evolutionary terms) relationship.
I don’t know why you mentioned Dr Paul Saladino. He’s not in the article.
Have you adopted a carnivore eating pattern? If so please let us know what your assessment of the effects is. I have seen a mixture of changes in those who have taken this path, some great, and some troublesome, and some very neutral.