A baker's basic: pastry cream

There is all sorts of mystery around those professionals we call "pastry chefs." Somehow, they are different from the others. Many people may aspire to be chefs, but very few feel like they can take on the task of "pastry chef." Indeed, when I teach people cooking, there is a deep rooted fear of cakes, pies, ice cream, anything that falls under the category of "dessert". Yet, how many of you out there will say that your best part of a meal is dessert?

In fact, "pastry", as they usually call the whole field of dessert making, IS more precise than other types of cooking. It's not as precise as mythology would have it, but it IS precise. You CAN burn things easily if you bake them a few minutes longer than you should. You CAN spoil a dessert by not adding enough sugar, or forgetting all together (I've done that). There are pitfalls all along the way - but they're not all that different from the pitfalls of regular cooking. And the truth is, with a few basics, you can be a fairly good dessert maker. You won't feel comfortable enough to be a "pastry chef" or a "dessert specialist," but you needn't be afraid anymore.

Yours truly is not all that fond of dessert making, truth to be told. To me, desserts take an incredibly long amount of time. Also, since I like the other components of a meal so much better, by the time we get to dessert, I usually almost don't taste it. I prefer to have my "dessert" as it were, at a time in mid afternoon, or later in the evening , when I'm between meals, or when the dinner has settled. Having said that, however, I do know how to make certain things that are key to the pastry kitchen. You've seen some of them in preceding pages. I will provide more. And one of the key ones is an item that makes people who know how to make it cringe in disgust: pastry cream.

"Pastry cream" is a poor choice of words, because there is no cream, in pastry cream. It's an amalgalm of milk, flour, eggs, and sugar, which if left alone, tastes like a slightly sweet version of wallpaper paste, or bad mashed potatoes. It serves, however, as a vehicle for many flavors. It's the stuff you usually get in cream puffs, when you don't get whipped cream. You find it on the bottom of fruit tarts, flavored with different things (which is what we're going to do here today), and you will also find it as a filling for some layer cakes. It is a useful thing to know how to make. Let's learn.

To begin, combine a third of a cup of flour and a third of a cup of sugar . Mix them together, and put them aside. Then separate six large eggs. You can use the egg whites for something else, you're only going to need the yolks here. Break them up with a whisk or a fork, or whatever you have to do that.

Now, heat up two cups of milk in a heavy duty pot. You're going to SCALD it. What is scalding? Scalding is heating the milk to the point where certain chemical reactions go on, which are tedious to describe and not really all that important. What you need to know is that scalding happens when little bubbles form around the perimeter of your milk. When that happens, pour the milk into the bowl with the flour and sugar, and stir it until everything is dissolved and smooth. It won't take long. Pour this all back into your pot, and then add the eggs, turn the heat to low, and start heating.

Now, how long do you cook? This is a good question. If you have a thermometer, it is an easy one to answer: 170 degrees. If you do not, it is harder. You are waiting for the stuff to thicken, take on a sheen, and coat a spoon. You "know" when it's ready after you've seen it cooked to temperature once, and you'll never forget it. I wish I could be more precise than that , but I can't.

OK, now taste this. BLECH. It is UGLY. I am serious. This is truly TRULY UGLY. But unlike something like bakers icing, this has potential. I don't quite know the why or the wherefor of thsi, but somehow, this disgusting, white mass, becomes something wonderful, with flavoring. You can add any liqueur you want, for example, or any flavoring. You can add lemon peel, or orange peel, or anything you really like. And you don't have to worry about overdoing it.

Today, I made the pastre cream, and then crumbled six amaretti cookies into it, giving it a very lovely, light almond flavor . I am using this under a poached pear tart, so the flavor is right.

You DO have to cool this to make it thicken completely. And you also have to cook it to that temperature to make it do so.

I suggest that you make this once, and then flavor it with vanilla the first time. You COULD also cook the milk with a vanilla bean if you like. When it cools off, use it to fill a cream puff shell, or to put in between cake layers . I think you will soon find how useful this is.

I know that pastry chefs make MOUNDS of this stuff every day. I don't think any home cook needs any more, at any one time, than the recipe presented here makes. I have tried to double it, and it works, but you really have to be careful with the milk. And the thought of separating a dozen eggs may really drive you crazy. But if you need it, well... You gotta do it.