Curd is Way Hard

Last night I had a couple friends over for dinner. I made a pretty simple dinner, fish tacos and a salad, but I was really excited about dessert. I had planned to make mini tarts with grapefruit curd and cinnamon whipped cream. I've never made a curd before, neither lemon nor orange. And I couldn't find a recipe for grapefruit curd, which is what I wanted to make. My usual go to books didn't have any recipes for lemon curd, which I figured I could adapt to make grapefruit curd, so I ended up looking in my Joy of Cooking. Kickin it old skool, well, new old skool, since I have the revised edition. Joy of Cooking had two recipes, one for lemon and one for orange, which were surprisingly different. I decided that grapefruits were sweeter than lemons, so I would try the orange recipe. This may have been my first mistake.

The instructions were somewhat vague, as in whisk the mixture until it's lighter in color. Lighter than what? Depending on what eggs you use, it could have started out pretty light. I assumed they meant lighter than it started, but that requires a lot of whisking, and I soon got tired. When my arm gave out, I decided they were light enough. This may have been my second mistake. Then you put the mixture on the stove and whisk over medium heat until it thickens. It's one of those instant transformations. I was whisking and whisking and then suddenly it was thick. Once it thickens, let it simmer for a few seconds, and then remove from the heat to cool. I may have let it simmer for a few more seconds than I should have, which could have been my third mistake. After it cooled, I put it in the fridge to set, as per the directions. And the result is what you see below.



The flavor is good, I'm happy about that. But the texture is plain awful. My friends, kind as they are, didn't think so, but I think it's sandy—not smooth, tart, and creamy, like curd should be. I think I might have to try again this afternoon. I'll keep you posted.