Foodies in the Lounge.. I have a question for the food science minded re: Pastry Cream

[A HERETIC I AM]

I just put this up in the Cooking and Baking group, but I'm hoping for a diverse set of answers!



A couple days ago I made about 3 cups worth of classic Pastry Cream and outside of using it for tarts and as filling for puffs and eclairs, I'm wondering if I can add it to a custard style pie filling.

To wit;

I am in the process of making a Key Lime Pie and since Pastry Cream is simply cooked egg yolks and flavored, sweetened milk, and most recipes for Key Lime Pie call for Lime juice, sweetened condensed milk and eggs, what would be the effect if I added an amount - say 50% of the total volume of the pie filling, of the pastry cream to the condensed milk and eggs?

Keep in mind that the pie gets baked, but I would be combining what is essentially a cooked custard (the Pastry Cream) to raw eggs and the condensed milk AND THEN baking it.

Any ideas? Anyone ever tried this or anything similar?

I would imagine it would work just fine - I can't think of any reason it would split or not set......

But this is new territory.

Thoughts?

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

1. Experiments like this are why I Love Science!

Test your hypothesis. Many tests may be necessary for this fine sounding treat.

[A HERETIC I AM]

2. LO...I'm going ahead with it regardless!

I'm just curious if anyone else has ever combined these two basics.

What's the worse than can happen? I'll get Salmonella and die fr4om eating delicious pie, and that will be that!

[justhanginon]

3. Might affect the texture with the combo of cooked and uncooked filling.

Probably worth a try and if anyone notices but no one dies, do what I do and just just rename the pie.

[A HERETIC I AM]

4. Yeah...texture is probably going to be affected.

It's in the oven, so we shall see.

Neither item - the traditional Key Lime pie filling nor the Pastry Cream will expand, nor is it supposed to - like a Souffle' for instance.

The one thing I'm a little concerned about now is that the cream has vanilla in it. I tasted the mix before I put it in the oven and it was certainly different. The combination of the lime juice and the vanilla, I mean.

We'll see. About 15 minutes left in the oven and then several hours to cool in the fridge before tasting the final result.

[GemDigger]

5. The best idea... take a spoon to it!

again and again until gone.

[A HERETIC I AM]

6. LOL.

Good advice! See below for the finished product

[A HERETIC I AM]

7. Here it is out of the oven;

Might have let it go juuuuust a tad too long, as evidenced by the crack, but I wanted to make sure I got it cooked all the way through.

It's got to sit to cool and then sit in the fridge for several hours before tasting, so I'll know in the wee hours!

By the way, the crust has Cap'n Crunch cereal added!

I make this type of crust with half Graham Cracker crumbs and half crushed Cap'n Crunch cereal. It makes for a nice taste and you don't have to add much extra sugar because...well...Cap'n Crunch is basically candy you put milk on!

[GemDigger]

8. Ok, so that would work (it looks yummy) too but I

would have saved a spoonful or five in the bowl.

[A HERETIC I AM]

9. How do you know I didn't?

[GemDigger]

10. Nice!!

I had to google pastry cream and it made my mouth water. That is not the kind that is in a Dunkin donut.

[A HERETIC I AM]

12. NO! Surprisingly easy, however.

By that I mean not technically hard. If you can heat something in a pot and whisk something in a bowl, you're there!

I don't use a whole vanilla bean however, and there are recipes that call for using corn starch and some that call for flour. The French have a name for the difference, but it escapes me for the moment. You may recall the very fine PBS series "Great Chefs of...." (New Orleans, Chicago, New York, etc.) and one of those episodes highlights a chef making this cream using flour wherein the narrator states that difference by name. I prefer doing it that way as opposed to using corn starch. I just think it tastes better, that's all.

Easy....egg yolks beaten with sugar, then add flour. Milk scalded with vanilla. Temper the yolks slowly with a bit of the milk at a time, then add the yolks to the remaining milk and cook till thickened. Easy. Peasy, French Polynesie!

Here's Jamie Oliver's method;

FWIW, the way I have settled on doing it gives a much thicker custard than what he shows. There are dozens of videos all with slightly varying methods to make this. Pick the one you like!

Edit to add another variation;

[GemDigger]

13. Oh ho ho ha. I see what you did there.

Thanks for them. I am sure it will bring me onto a youtube tunnel about this stuff. Watching this and all I have is candy corn.

Edit: Oh my, I used to make this stuff when I was a kid! It had the recipe on the cornstarch box.

[3catwoman3]

11. It looks positively...

...yummy from here -

[A HERETIC I AM]

14. Thanks!

I'll know if it worked in a few hours! (gotta let it chill completely)