Baked vanilla custard

Warm the milk on medium heat with the vanilla seeds and the pod, breaking up any clumps of seeds. The only reason to warm it is to speed up the diffusion of flavour; cold milk infused in the fridge for a few hours or overnight works too.

Preheat the oven to 150C.

Mix the sugar with the three whole eggs and the three yolks.

Pour a little of the warm milk in first to bring the eggs to temperature so they do not scramble, then the rest.

Strain the mixture to catch the hard bits and the excess vanilla residue.

Put the empty dish inside the roasting tray first, then fill it with the strained custard, filtering again as you go -- never carry a filled dish into the tray.

Boil a kettle and pour warm water into the roasting tray, three quarters of the way up the side of the dish, or halfway at a minimum, or it will not cook properly.

Do not carry a full water bath to the oven: put the tray in the open oven first and pour the water in there, then slide it in and close the door.

Bake at 150C. At 180C the water can boil, overcook the cream and splash into the dish, so 150C is the safe zone.

Cook about 30 to 40 minutes, until the wobble stops -- it took barely 25 minutes in a shallow dish, and he says 20 minutes would have done.

It is done when only a little wobble is left in the middle and a knife comes out dry with no wet patch.

Cool, then refrigerate; it is better served cold, and does not need overnight.

Optional: put it under the grill very briefly for colour and a browned crust.