Split the half vanilla pod and scrape out the seeds.

Place the sugar on a cutting board and mash the vanilla seeds in a bit of it. This way, the vanilla seeds will spread, and you'll get "vanilla sugar".

Put the cream, milk, and vanilla pod in a saucepan over medium-high heat.

Bring it to 70-72 degrees Celsius (158-162 degrees Fahrenheit) while stirring.

Put the sugar, egg yolks, and vanilla seeds into a bowl.

Stir the sugar into the egg yolks with a spatula.

Continue stirring the cream/milk mixture, so the milk doesn't burn.

When the cream mixture is just below boiling point, pour half of it into the egg mixture and combine to form a homogeneous mixture, so the egg mixture does not coagulate/separate and turn into scrambled eggs.

Pour the egg mixture back into the pot with the cream and stir together. Continue using the spatula to mix everything together.

Now heat your creme anglaise while stirring over medium heat until the cream reaches 80-82 degrees Celsius (176-180 degrees Fahrenheit).

Make sure to stir all around the pot so it doesn't burn on the bottom.

When it (while stirring) starts to leave trails in the cream, it is almost ready.

You can test if your creme anglaise is ready in the following way:

Take the spatula with cream on it out of the pot and hold the spatula horizontally. Draw a line horizontally through the cream on the spatula with a finger.

If a path forms through the cream and it doesn't run down, it is ready.

It can be enjoyed either cold or warm.