[Sca-cooks] Helen and the Egg Custard Pie
chawkswrth at aol.com
chawkswrth at aol.com
Fri Apr 4 12:31:50 PDT 2008
Thank you.
I am listening, and I think I will try this, this weekend!
Helen
-----Original Message-----
From: Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius <adamantius1 at verizon.net>
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Sent: Fri, 4 Apr 2008 8:31 am
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Helen and the Egg Custard Pie
All right, I did a little looking around per Johnnae's recommendation,
nd it seems like most people view this Egg Custard Pie as a fairly
tandard baked custard tart.
Standard restaurant-ey wisdom (such as it is) would be to blind-bake 2
ine-inch (or maybe two eight-inch, if they're "deep-dish") for
erhaps 10 minutes in a preheated oven at 350°F, and let them cool a
ittle. Leave the oven on...
Slowly and gently scald a quart of milk, half-and-half, or cream (I
ften use half-and-half for such jobs). It should have some bubbles
oming to the surface around the edges, but not come to a boil.
While it's heating, beat six eggs _or_ twelve yolks in a large mixing
owl (if you have a bowl with a pouring lip, even better) with 1/2 cup
ugar and a teaspoon of vanilla extract (or scald a real vanilla bean
ith your milk/cream, or use vanilla sugar, or whatever). If you want
o be really fastidious you can strain your eggs to remove the little
helazae and membranes, but I don't. A pinch of salt here is optional,
nd some people prefer a spice like nutmeg instead of vanilla.
Sloooooooowly pour your milk or cream in a thin stream with one hand,
nto the yolks and sugar mixture, while beating constantly with the
ther. You want to raise the temperature of all without cooking any of
t. Yet.
Carefully pour your custard into your shells and bake (if things start
o brown too quickly, you can lower the oven heat to 325°F, or use a
ittle strip of foil to protect your crust edges from burning). It'll
robably take anywhere from 25 to 40 minutes -- generally closer to 25
- to bake. The trick is to watch them closely, at least until
xperience shows you what little visual clues to look for. They should
ot bake "until firm", as some recipes suggest: it's pretty much a
uarantee of overcooking. What you're looking for is for the egg
rotein to set into a matrix that holds all the liquid in in the form
f a gel, so one of the great tricks is to tap your pie with your
inger (don't move it all over creation or you'll spill it). Watch the
hock wave ripply thing, and see if it just randomly sloshes liquid
ll around, or if things sort of snap back into place. The difference
etween liquid and gel is very subtle and can happen in seconds. Other
ests include a toothpick or knife point, which should not really come
ut clean, but with just a speck or two, rather than being coated with
ustard. And then there's the old instant-read thermometer, which
hould read 140°F. You may get a few little brown spots on top
watching how they move when you tap it is one of my standard methods
f testing doneness these days), and when you remove your tarts from
he oven, they will have just _barely_ begun to puff up a little bit
nside their shells: if you see that happening, be ready to take them
ut on a moment's notice. If they puff up too much, they're
vercooked, the tops become tough, and the custard becomes spongy,
urdled, and wet instead of moist, and then the fat, sugar, and other
lavorings sort of seep out of it, leaving behind an insipid, wet,
pongy mass.
If it passes those tests and isn't solid in the middle, don't worry;
t'll continue to cook as it cools, and it'll firm up.
Still, this is ultimately a judgement call that takes some experience
o get right all the time...
HTH,
Adamantius
Most men worry about their own bellies, and other people's souls,
hen we all ought to worry about our own souls, and other people's
ellies."
-- Rabbi Israel Salanter
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