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{{Short description|Semi-solid cooked mixture of milk and egg}}{{About|egg-thickened custards}}{{pp-semi-indef|small=yes}}

factoids

Custard is a variety of culinary preparations based on sweetened milk, cheese, or cream cooked with egg or egg yolk to thicken it, and sometimes also flour, corn starch, or gelatin. Depending on the recipe, custard may vary in consistency from a thin pouring sauce () to the thick pastry cream () used to fill éclairs. The most common custards are used in custard desserts or dessert sauces and typically include sugar and vanilla; however, savory custards are also found, e.g., in quiche.

Preparation

Custard is usually cooked in a double boiler (bain-marie), or heated very gently in a saucepan on a stove, though custard can also be steamed, baked in the oven with or without a water bath, or even cooked in a pressure cooker. Custard preparation is a delicate operation because a temperature increase of 3–6 Â°C (5–10 Â°F) leads to overcooking and curdling. Generally, a fully cooked custard should not exceed 80 Â°C (~175 Â°F); it begins setting at 70 Â°C (~160 Â°F).BOOK, Barham, Peter,archive.org/details/isbn_9783540674665/page/126, The science of cooking, Springer, 2001, 978-3-540-67466-5, Berlin, 126, registration, A water bath slows heat transfer and makes it easier to remove the custard from the oven before it curdles.BOOK, McGee, Harold,archive.org/details/onfoodcookingsci0000mcge, On Food and Cooking, 1984, 978-0-684-18132-5, 71, Scribner, registration, Adding a small amount of cornflour to the egg-sugar mixture stabilises the resulting custard, allowing it to be cooked in a single pan as well as in a double-boiler. A sous-vide water bath may be used to precisely control temperature.

Variations

(File:Dessertcustard.jpg|right|thumb|A formal custard preparation, garnished with raspberries)While custard may refer to a wide variety of thickened dishes, technically (and in French cookery) the word custard (crème or more precisely crème moulée, {{IPA-fr|kʁɛm mule|}}) refers only to an egg-thickened custard.When starch is added, the result is called pastry cream (, {{IPA-fr|kʁɛm pÉ‘tisjɛːʁ|pron}}) or confectioners’ custard, made with a combination of milk or cream, egg yolks, fine sugar, flour or some other starch, and usually a flavoring such as vanilla, chocolate, or lemon. Crème pâtissière is a key ingredient in many French desserts, including mille-feuille (or Napoleons) and filled tarts. It is also used in Italian pastry and sometimes in Boston cream pie. The thickening of the custard is caused by the combination of egg and starch. Corn flour or flour thickens at 100 Â°C (212ËšF) and as such many recipes instruct the pastry cream to be boiled. In a traditional custard such as a crème anglaise, where eggs are used alone as a thickener, boiling results in the over-cooking and subsequent ‘curdling’ of the custard; however, in a pastry cream, starch prevents this. Once cooled, the amount of starch in pastry cream ‘sets’ the cream and requires it to be beaten or whipped before use.File:Trifle-(cream-layer)-profile.jpg|right|thumb|Layers of a trifle showing the custard in between cake, fruit and whipped creamwhipped cream(File:Pastry cream.jpg|thumb|Pastry cream)When gelatin is added, it is known as crème anglaise collée ({{IPA-fr|kʁɛm ɑ̃ɡlÉ›z kÉ”le|}}). When gelatin is added and whipped cream is folded in, and it sets in a mold, it is bavarois. When starch is used alone as a thickener (without eggs), the result is a blancmange. In the United Kingdom, custard has various traditional recipes some thickened principally with cornflour (cornstarch) rather than the egg component, others involving regular flour; see custard powder.After the custard has thickened, it may be mixed with other ingredients: mixed with stiffly beaten egg whites and gelatin, it is chiboust cream; mixed with whipped cream, it is crème légère, {{IPA-fr|kʁɛm leʒɛːʁ|}}. Beating in softened butter produces German buttercream or crème mousseline.A quiche is a savoury custard tart. Some kinds of timbale or vegetable loaf are made of a custard base mixed with chopped savoury ingredients. Custard royale is a thick custard cut into decorative shapes and used to garnish soup, stew or broth. In German, it is known as Eierstich and is used as a garnish in German Wedding Soup (Hochzeitssuppe).WEB, McGavin, Jennifer, Easy Eierstich Recipe- Royale as a Soup Garnish,germanfood.about.com/od/soupsandstews/r/eierstich-recipe.htm, 4 November 2013, About.com, 20 December 2016,germanfood.about.com/od/soupsandstews/r/eierstich-recipe.htm," title="web.archive.org/web/20161220094457germanfood.about.com/od/soupsandstews/r/eierstich-recipe.htm,">web.archive.org/web/20161220094457germanfood.about.com/od/soupsandstews/r/eierstich-recipe.htm, dead, Chawanmushi is a Japanese savoury custard, steamed and served in a small bowl or on a saucer. Chinese steamed egg is a similar but larger savoury egg dish. Bougatsa is a Greek breakfast pastry whose sweet version consists of semolina custard filling between layers of phyllo.Custard may also be used as a top layer in gratins, such as the South African bobotie and many Balkan versions of moussaka.In Peru, leche asada (“baked milk“) is custard baked in individual molds.BOOK, Margarita, Elichondo,books.google.com/books?id=LV_33krxpx8C&pg=PA207, La comida criolla: memorias y recetas, Ediciones Del Sol, 1997, 978-950-9413-76-4, 207, It is considered a restaurant dish.BOOK, Morena, Cuadra,books.google.com/books?id=gx7sDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT420, The Everything Peruvian Cookbook: Includes Conchitas a la Parmesana, Chicken Empanadas, Arroz con Mariscos, Classic Fish Cebiche, Tres Leches Cake and hundreds more!, Morena, Escardo, 18 January 2013, Adams Media, 978-1-4405-5678-4, 420,

In French cuisine

French cuisine has several named variations on custard:BOOK, Beck, Simone, Mastering the art of French cooking, Bertholle, Louisette, Child, Julia, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1964, New York, Desserts and Cakes, 1961, BOOK, Gisslen, Wayne, Professional baking, John Wiley & Sons, 2013, 978-1-118-08374-1, 6th, Hoboken, NJ, Basic Syrups, Creams, and Sauces, 753351232,

• Crème anglaise is a light custard made with eggs, sugar, milk, and vanilla (with the possible addition of starch), with other flavoring agents as desired
  • With cream instead of milk, and more sugar, it is the basis of crème brûlée
  • With egg yolks and heavy cream, it is the basis of ice cream
  • With egg yolks and whipped cream, and stabilised with gelatin, it is the basis of Bavarian cream
  • Thickened with butter, chocolate, or gelatin, it is a popular basis for a crémeux
• Crème pâtissière (pastry cream) is similar to crème anglaise, but thickened with flour
  • With added flavoring or fresh fruit, it is the basis of crème plombières
• Crème Saint-Honoré is crème pâtissière enriched with whipped egg whites
• Crème chiboust is similar to crème Saint-Honoré, but stabilised with gelatin

• Crème diplomate and crème légère are variations of crème pâtissière enriched with whipped cream
• Crème mousseline is a variation of crème pâtissière enriched with butter
• Frangipane is crème pâtissière mixed with powdered macarons or almond powder

Uses

{{see also|List of custard desserts}}Recipes involving sweet custard are listed in the (:Category:Custard desserts|custard dessert category), and include:{{Div col|colwidth=15em}}

• Banana custard
• Bavarian cream
• Boston cream pie
• Bougatsa
• Chiboust cream
• Cream pie
• Crème brûlée
• Crème caramel
• Cremeschnitte
• Custard tart
• Danish pastry
• Egg tart
• Eggnog
• English trifle
• Flan
• Floating island
• Frangipane, with almonds
• Frozen custard
• Fruit Salad
• Galaktoboureko
• Manchester tart
• Muhallebi
• Natillas
• Pastel de nata
• Pudding
• Taiyaki
• Vanilla slice
• Vla
• Zabaione

{{Div col end}}

History

(File:Egg custard tart by Stu Spivack.jpg|right|thumb|Custard tarts)Custards baked in pastry (custard tarts) were very popular in the Middle Ages, and are the origin of the English word ‘custard’: the French term croustade originally referred to the crust of a tart,BOOK, Davidson, Alan, Tom, Jaine,dx.doi.org/10.1093/acref/9780192806819.001.0001, The Oxford Companion to Food, 2006-01-01, 10.1093/acref/9780192806819.001.0001, 978-0-19-280681-9, and is derived from the Italian word crostata, and ultimately the Latin .BOOK, Skeat, Walter William,archive.org/stream/cu31924008779690#page/n145/mode/2up, A concise etymological dictionary of the English language, American Book Company (1890), American Book Company, 1911, Oxford, 11035890, 16525337M, Skeat, Page 125.Examples include Crustardes of flessh and Crustade, in the 14th century English collection The Forme of Cury. These recipes include solid ingredients such as meat, fish, and fruit bound by the custard.BOOK, Hieatt, Constance, Curye on Inglysch: English culinary manuscripts of the fourteenth century (including the forme of cury), Butler, Sharon, BOOK, Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery Books, 1964, Austin, Thomas, Stirred custards cooked in pots are also found under the names Creme Boylede and Creme boiled. Some custards especially in the Elizabethan era used marigold (calendula) to give the custard color.BOOK, DeBaggio, Thomas,books.google.com/books?id=7_KPgxEglHAC&q=calendula+colored+custard+marigold&pg=PA183, The Encyclopedia of Herbs: A Comprehensive Reference to Herbs of Flavor and Fragrance, September 2009, Timber Press, 9781604691344, Page 183.BOOK,books.google.com/books?id=htGD3Y7WNxwC, Rodale’s Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs, 9780875969640, Kowalchik, Claire, Hylton, William H., 15 January 1998, Rodale, In modern times, the name ‘custard’ is sometimes applied to starch-thickened preparations like blancmange and Bird’s Custard powder.

Chemistry

Stirred custard is thickened by coagulation of egg protein, while the same gives baked custard its gel structure. The type of milk used also impacts the result. Most important to a successfully stirred custard is to avoid excessive heat that will cause over-coagulation and syneresis that will result in a curdled custard.BOOK, Penfield, Marjorie P.,books.google.com/books?id=rlpRi4urAMkC&q=how+does+custard+thicken&pg=PA144, 144, Experimental Food Science, 2 December 2012, Academic Press, 9780323140041, 4 November 2013, Eggs contain the proteins necessary for the gel structure to form, and emulsifiers to maintain the structure. Egg yolk also contains enzymes like amylase, which can break down added starch. This enzyme activity contributes to the overall thinning of custard in the mouth. Egg yolk lecithin also helps to maintain the milk-egg interface. The proteins in egg whites are set at 60–80 °C (140–180 °F).JOURNAL, Kovacs-Nolan, Jennifer, Phillips, Marshall, Mine, Yoshinori, 2005-11-01, Advances in the Value of Eggs and Egg Components for Human Health, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 53, 22, 8421–8431, 10.1021/jf050964f, 0021-8561, 16248532, Starch is sometimes added to custard to prevent premature curdling. The starch acts as a heat buffer in the mixture: as they hydrate, they absorb heat and help maintain a constant rate of heat transfer. Starches also make for a smoother texture and thicker mouth feel.BOOK, McGee, Harold, On Food and Cooking, 2004, 978-0-684-18132-5, 71, Scribner, If the mixture pH is 9 or higher, the gel is too hard; if it is below 5, the gel structure has difficulty forming because protonation prevents the formation of covalent bonds.JOURNAL, Matringe, E., Tan Luu, R. Phan, Lorient, D., 1999-09-01, Functional Properties of Milk-Egg Mixtures, Journal of Food Science, en, 64, 5, 787–791, 10.1111/j.1365-2621.1999.tb15912.x, 1750-3841,

Physical-chemical properties

Cooked (set) custard is a weak gel, viscous, and thixotropic; while it does become easier to stir the more it is manipulated, it does not, unlike many other thixotropic liquids, recover its lost viscosity over time.JOURNAL, Longrée, Karla, Beaver, Sharie, Buck, Paul, Nowrey, Joseph E., 1966, Viscous Behavior of Custard Systems, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 14, 6, 653–659, 10.1021/jf60148a033, On the other hand, a suspension of uncooked imitation custard powder (starch) in water, with the proper proportions, has the opposite rheological property: it is negative thixotropic, or dilatant, allowing the demonstration of “walking on custard”.{{YouTube|BN2D5y-AxIY|BRAINIAC Science Abuse – John Tickle Walks On Custard (25 June 2008)}}

See also

{{Cookbook}}

• List of desserts
• List of custard desserts
• Custard cream
• Bird’s Custard – brand of imitation custard
• Eggnog – sweetened dairy-based beverage
• Pudding – dessert or savory dish

References

{{reflist|30em}}

External links

• {{wiktionary inline}}

{{Dessert sauces}}{{English cuisine}}