Copyright © 2000 Sarah Phillips Sarah Phillips, Inc. All rights reserved.
STIRRED (STOVETOP) CUSTARDS
Stirred custards, also known as soft custard, custard sauce or, erroneously, boiled custard, are stirred while being cooked over low heat or in a double boiler to a smooth, creamy and thickened fluid consistency. The recipe is then refrigerated where it will continue to thicken more. Stirred custards never gel like baked custards do; the repeated stirring prevents the formation of a gel, primarily from eggs, leaving the resulting custards perfect to use as fillings, sauces or ice cream bases. For these recipes, the eggs are cooked to the proper doneness when a thin film adheres to a metal spoon dipped into the custard. The point of coating a metal spoon is 20 to 30 degrees below boiling.
Bavarian Cream: A cold dessert composed of a cooked, rich custard, whipped cream, various flavorings, such as fruit puree, chocolate, liqueurs, stabilized with gelatin. The mixture may be spooned into stemmed glasses or into a decorative mold to be unmolded when set.
Charlotte: This classic molded dessert begins with a mold lined with sponge cake, ladyfingers or buttered bread. The traditional charlotte container is pail-shaped, but almost any mold is acceptable. The lined mold is then filled with layers (or a mixture) of fruit and cooked custard or whipped cream that has been fortified with gelatin. The dessert is chilled thoroughly and unmolded before serving.
Charlotte Russe, said to have been created for the Russian Czar Alexander, is a ladyfinger shell filled with the ethereal bavarian cream, and decorated elaborately with whipped-cream rosettes. The classic Apple Charlotte is a buttered-bread shell filled with spiced, sautéed apples. Unlike other charlottes, this one is baked and served hot.
Citrus (Lemon) Curds: a custard made with lemon juice, butter, sugar, and eggs and used as a spread or filling.
Cream Pies: are where the filling is made from a cooked custard or mousse, spread in a cooled, pre-baked pie shell versus a baked custard pie when the filling, an uncooked custard, is poured into a pie shell and both are baked together. A Pumpkin Pie is considered to be a custard pie as is a Pecan Pie.
Creme Anglaise: The French term for a rich cooked custard sauce that can be served hot or cold over cake, fruit or other dessert. (See also: Cream or Custard Sauce or Vanilla Sauce).
Creme (Pastry Cream)
Pastry Cream: Considered the mother of all creams! It is classic stovetop custard made with starch, such as cornstarch. It is simply heated and stirred directly on the stove until boiling. It is then strained before cooling; with any stirred custard, it is a good idea to strain it right after cooking because it contains eggs. Straining removes any tell-tale signs of small, cooked egg white lumps also known as chalazae.
Vanilla Sauce: Vanilla sauce is considered a "mother sauce" in pastry. It is used as the base in many creams, mousses, ice cream and desserts. It is sometimes referred to as - Crème Anglaise, Cream or Custard Sauce and English crème/sauce. It is based on milk, sugar and egg yolks.
Zabaglione: is a classic Italian dessert cooked on the stovetop, that is an egg custard flavored with sweet wine. While traditional Tiramisu calls for raw egg yolks, often recipes use Zabaglione. Of course, you also serve just it on its own over a slice of plain cake or ladyfingers or even with fresh berries.
BAKED CUSTARDS
They are not stirred during the baking process, thus giving a more solid texture. Their very center still may not be quite done, but the heat retained in the mixture will continue to cook it after removal from the oven. Cooking longer may result in curdled and/or weeping custard. Cooking a shorter period may result in thickened but not set custard.
Cheesecakes: Sometimes classified as a flourless cake, a cheesecake is basically a custard baked in the oven, however, it can also be unbaked or typically molded in a dessert ring or springform pan then simply chilled before unmolding. It's sensitive to being baked under direct heat or being cooled too fast. The end result is usually a crack down the middle.
Crème Brûlée: is French for burnt custard baked in the oven. This delicate, silken, and sinfully rich dessert, which blends the cool velvet of custard with a crisp, caramelized layer of sugar, from which it derives it name, that sits atop its creamy base.
Crème Caramel: is custard baked in a ramekin or mold with a layer of caramel at the bottom, often thought of as Flan's cousin. In some respects, it is similar to Crème Brûlée that you see on many restaurant menus. They are both custards with a caramel layer. But crème caramel is made from egg yolks and egg whites (Crème Brûlée is made with yolks only) and its caramel is of a softer, more liquid consistency on the bottom (vs. the brittle caramel topping on a Crème Brûlée). When you unmold the crème caramel, there will be a topping of caramel on the custard as well as a sauce of caramel that pools around the custard. In Italy it's known as crema caramella and in Spain as flan.
SARAH SAYS: Note that Crème Caramel will usually cook much faster than the other custards because of the egg whites in the base. They are full of proteins that coagulate at a lower temperature than egg yolks.
Custard Pies: is when the filling, uncooked custard, is poured into a pie shell and both are baked together. (Versus a cream pie, where the filling is made from a cooked custard or mousse, spread in a cooled, pre-baked pie shell.) A Pumpkin Pie is considered to be a custard pie as is a Pecan Pie.
QUESTION: When making a custard pie, I have a problem with the custard soaking through the crust and ruined my whole pie. What can I do to prevent this ?
SARAH SAYS: Moisture proof the crust. Prebake the crust and allow it to cool. One way we like to do it is to coat the bottom with chocolate ganache; I discovered it won’t crack when you cut into it the same way hardened chocolate will. Fill the pie and bake. No soggy bottoms and better tasting pies!
Flan: is commonly used as a term to describe the Spanish or Mexican version of Crème caramel. When inverted, the caramel baked on the bottom becomes the topping.
Pots de Creme: French for "pot of cream," is traditionally served in small, lidded porcelain cups and are rich custard desserts, relatives of Crème Brûlée, Crème Caramel, and flan.
Pudding Cakes: They are basically baked egg custards.
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