The blueberry tart from Hereghty Heavenly Delicious in Raleigh, NC, is divine! This dessert paved the road to a foray into the making and uses of pastry cream.
Pastry cream is used, though not limited to, filling cream puffs, éclairs, Napoleons, and sometimes Boston cream pies. It is primarily a combination of milk / cream, eggs, starch, sugar, and a bit of flavoring.
The production of pastry cream varies widely.
Pastry Chef Jacques Torres uses whole milk, pastry flour, cornstarch, egg yolks, whole eggs, and sugar. The recipe from his book, Dessert Circus, instructs the reader to mix all dry ingredients and eggs together while the whole milk comes to a boil. The egg mixture is tempered by half of the hot milk (slowly bringing the eggs close to the temperature of the hot liquid). This new mix is returned to the pot of milk, brought to a boil then boiled for two minutes.
Other pastry cream recipes differ in several ways: the use of a combination of whole milk and heavy cream, all-purpose flour and cornstarch, corn starch only, egg yolks only, and a tiny bit of salt. The milk may not be brought to a boil, some of the sugar may be added to the milk as it boils, and the final pastry cream is sometimes strained.
If the pastry cream is flavored with a vanilla bean, it is added to the heated milk. Otherwise, extracts, liquor, chocolate, and butter are added once the pastry cream is completely cooked.
Pastry cream is cooled to room temperature before being placed in the fridge. Some chefs leave the cream in a bowl while others spread the pastry cream on a parchment-lined baking sheet. The pastry cream is always covered with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming.
Remember that flour, butter, milk, cream, and eggs can vary greatly between brands (water, protein, fat, and starch content). The rate of heating also changes the thickness of the end product.
Making pastry cream is a science. Unseen to the naked eye, it is all about the molecules, temperature, agitation, bonds breaking, bonds forming.
Let's make it simple: once you find a recipe you like and works in your kitchen, stick with it!
Stay tuned for more pictures of pastry cream in the Triangle:
Café Buongiorno's Amelia Café ….and more!
REFERENCE
Corriher, Shirley O. (2008). BakeWise. New York: Scribner.
Figoni, Paula. (2008). How Baking Works. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.
Torres, Jacques. (1998). Dessert Circus. New York: William Morrow and company, Inc.
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