Custard filling, what went wrong?

Quoted message said:

I made a custard filling from an internet recipe. It made a
big stickly lump... what went wrong?

First, this recipe isn't very clear... 1/2 cup of flour and
cornstarch... does this mean 1/2 cup _each_ of flour and
cornstarch, or
1/2 total (which would be 1/4 cup each) ??? Well I used 1/2
cup each, so maybe that was my problem.

I mixed the egg yolks, sugar and salt and things were
looking good up to this point. Then I added the
flour/cornstarch mixture and all of a sudden I had a big
solid ball of goo. Adding the milk and butter gave me a
sloshy liquid with lots of medium size lumps.

After lots of stirring, straining the mixture, adding more
milk to disolve the lumps, and straining again, I wound up
with a thin, floury tasting mixture. Even after chilling it
was pretty thin. I tried using this as a filling for
eclairs... I had to keep the eclairs stored upright,
otherwise the filling wanted to run out. Bleck :-<

I'm not trying this guy's recipies again.

maki.typepad.comcream puffs.htmlOpen ↗

6 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar a pinch of salt 2 cups whole milk, or
light cream
1/2 cup of flour and cornstarch, blended and sifted 2 Tbs
unsalted butter 1 tsp vanilla extract

(1) Heat the milk.
(2) Beat the egg yolks with the sugar and salt with a whisk
until the mixture is a pale lemony yellow. This
indicates that the sugar has melted into the yolks. Add
the flour-cornstarch mixture.
(3) Add the milk in dribbles to the egg mixture, stirring
constantly. Heat over a low to medium heat, stirring
with a wooden spoon, for about 2-3 minutes until you
can't detect any floury taste.
(4) Mix in the butter and vanilla.
(5) Let cool for several hours, covered.

I think you're right in assuming you added too much flour.
You should have only added 1/2 cup total flour/cornstarch.
Also most custard recipes I've seen say to combine the milk,
sugar, and cornstarch/flour and cook that until it comes to
a boil and the starchy taste is gone. The egg yolks are
slightly beaten and a small amount of the cooked mixture is
added to them to temper them. This is then poured back into
the rest of the cooked mixture and the mixture is cooked
over low heat until it thickens. Make sure the mixture
doesn't actually come to a boil or the egg yolks will
curdle. The custard can then be poured through a strainer to
remove any bits of cooked egg yolk.

In article <[email hidden]>,

IronMaster said:

I made a custard filling from an internet recipe. It made
a big stickly lump... what went wrong?

First, this recipe isn't very clear... 1/2 cup of flour
and cornstarch... does this mean 1/2 cup _each_ of flour
and cornstarch, or
1/2 total (which would be 1/4 cup each) ??? Well I used
1/2 cup each, so maybe that was my problem.

(snip)

Quoted message said:

maki.typepad.comcream puOpen ↗
ffs.html

6 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar a pinch of salt 2 cups whole milk, or
light cream
1/2 cup of flour and cornstarch, blended and sifted 2 Tbs
unsalted butter 1 tsp vanilla extract

Sounds awful. Custard is thickened by the eggs not with
additional starch. First rule, though, would have been to
trash the recipe if I'd had a question about it -- e.g., if
it wasn't clearly written. Looks like a bad recipe to me.
--
-Barb, <www.jamlady.eboard.com> Sam I Am updated 5/30/04.
Only 3-1/2 weeks until my birthday. "Shop early, shop often,
shop big." Good gin and cheap chocolate preferred. Or is it
cheap gin and good chocolate? I can never remember. . . .

"IronMaster" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I made a custard filling from an internet recipe. It made
a big stickly lump... what went wrong?

First, this recipe isn't very clear... 1/2 cup of flour
and cornstarch... does this mean 1/2 cup _each_ of flour
and cornstarch, or
1/2 total (which would be 1/4 cup each) ??? Well I used
1/2 cup each, so maybe that was my problem.

I mixed the egg yolks, sugar and salt and things were
looking good up to this point. Then I added the
flour/cornstarch mixture and all of a sudden I had a big
solid ball of goo. Adding the milk and butter gave me a
sloshy liquid with lots of medium size lumps.

After lots of stirring, straining the mixture, adding more
milk to disolve the lumps, and straining again, I wound up
with a thin, floury tasting mixture. Even after chilling
it was pretty thin. I tried using this as a filling for
eclairs... I had to keep the eclairs stored upright,
otherwise the filling wanted to run out. Bleck :-<

I'm not trying this guy's recipies again.

<snip recipe>

It was definitely the flour/cornstarch mixture. You should
have used 1/4 cup each. If he'd meant for you to use 1/2 cup
of each, the ingredient list would have said "1/2 cup *each*
flour and cornstarch, blended and sifted". Here's a basic,
simple recipe: Crème Pâtisserie
----------------------------
2 cups half and half 2 cups milk 1 cup sugar 4 large eggs 2
large egg yolk
1/2 cup all purpose flour 1 vanilla bean

Split the vanilla bean, scraping seeds into the cream. Bring
half and half & milk to simmer in heavy medium saucepan.
Whisk sugar, eggs, egg yolk and flour in medium bowl to
blend. Gradually whisk in hot half and half. Transfer to
saucepan. Whisk over medium heat until mixture thickens and
comes to boil, about 5 minutes. Boil 1 minute. Pour into
medium bowl. Press plastic onto surface of pastry cream.
Cover; chill until cold, about 4 hours. (Can be made 1 day
ahead. Keep chilled.)

You can flavor this many ways. Add a couple ounces of
bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled for a chocolate
crème. Add 1/4 cup of orange juice and 1/2 tsp of orange
oil for a really tasty accompaniment to strawberry slices
in a cream puff. You can do the same with lemon, adding a
couple tablespoons of lemon juice and some lemon oil. Add 1
tsp of Penzey's Vietnamese Cinnamon to the flour.
Experiment, and enjoy 🙂

kimberly

"DJS0302" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I made a custard filling from an internet recipe. It made
a big stickly lump... what went wrong?

First, this recipe isn't very clear... 1/2 cup of flour
and cornstarch... does this mean 1/2 cup _each_ of flour
and cornstarch, or
1/2 total (which would be 1/4 cup each) ??? Well I used
1/2 cup each, so maybe that was my problem.

I mixed the egg yolks, sugar and salt and things were
looking good up to this point. Then I added the
flour/cornstarch mixture and all of a sudden I had a big
solid ball of goo. Adding the milk and butter gave me a
sloshy liquid with lots of medium size lumps.

After lots of stirring, straining the mixture, adding
more milk to disolve the lumps, and straining again, I
wound up with a thin, floury tasting mixture. Even
after chilling it was pretty thin. I tried using this
as a filling for eclairs... I had to keep the eclairs
stored upright, otherwise the filling wanted to run
out. Bleck :-<

I'm not trying this guy's recipies again.

maki.typepad.comcream pufOpen ↗
fs.html

6 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar a pinch of salt 2 cups whole milk, or light
cream
1/2 cup of flour and cornstarch, blended and sifted 2 Tbs
unsalted butter 1 tsp vanilla extract

(1) Heat the milk.
(2) Beat the egg yolks with the sugar and salt with a
whisk until the mixture is a pale lemony yellow. This
indicates that the sugar has melted into the yolks.
Add the flour-cornstarch mixture.
(3) Add the milk in dribbles to the egg mixture, stirring
constantly. Heat over a low to medium heat, stirring
with a wooden spoon, for about 2-3 minutes until you
can't detect any floury taste.
(4) Mix in the butter and vanilla.
(5) Let cool for several hours, covered.

I think you're right in assuming you added too much flour.
You should

have

Quoted message said:

only added 1/2 cup total flour/cornstarch. Also most
custard recipes I've

seen

Quoted message said:

say to combine the milk, sugar, and cornstarch/flour and
cook that until

it

Quoted message said:

comes to a boil and the starchy taste is gone. The egg
yolks are slightly beaten and a small amount of the cooked
mixture is added to them to temper them. This is then
poured back into the rest of the cooked mixture and

the

Quoted message said:

mixture is cooked over low heat until it thickens. Make
sure the mixture doesn't actually come to a boil or the
egg yolks will curdle. The custard

can

Quoted message said:

then be poured through a strainer to remove any bits of
cooked egg yolk.

No worries about curdling when the custard contains a starch
like flour or cornstarch. Creme angalise, having neither,
has to be watched carefully though.

-Scott