Green's Egg Custard Mix - 54g

Egg custard sits in a very British corner of pudding: plain, pale and taken entirely seriously. It is the custard tart from the high street bakery, the baked custard in a dish, the one the older relatives always went for first while everyone else squabbled over the chocolate.

Out here it is one of those flavours that ambushes you. You suddenly want it, then realise you have no idea how your mum actually made it. You could try from scratch and hope. Or you could open the same packet she used and get it right first time.

It is a small, flat packet, so it slides into the baking cupboard without fuss and waits there for the next pudding emergency. Follow the instructions on the back, and most people bake it in a pastry case for a tart or in an ovenproof dish on its own.

Green's is a familiar name in British baking cupboards for packet mixes, and this one usually ends up in a basket with other bits from home, plus a box of proper British tea for the moment it comes out of the oven.