On Sat, 14 May 2005 21:52:15 -0700, Mary Sara
> wrote:

>I don't know if anyone here would know this kind of thing, but thought
>I'd ask anyway....
>
>
>I have 2 baked custard recipes (actually Pots de Creme au Chocolat).
>
>One calls for whisking the egg yolks and sugar to a "lazy ribbon" then
>combining with the cream/chocolate/vanilla mixture and bake.
>
>The other says to stir the egg yolks to mix lightly, then combine with
>the cream/chocolate/sugar/vanilla mixture, then put it all in a double
>boiler and stir them over low heat for about 3 minutes.

This recipe is then poured into cups and baked also?

>My question is this: after baking and cooling, how would the custards be
>different? Would the textures be different, and if so, how? Would one be
>thinner than the other? Smoother? Creamier? Richer?

Same number of eggs for either recipe?

>Would those made with the partially-cooked mixture bake faster than
>those made with the whisked yolks?

Probably. What do the directions say?

>What difference, if any, does the air incorporated into the whisked
>yolks make?
>
>Or is the purpose of both just to thicken the egg yolks, and they would
>turn out the same? Does whisking egg yolks with sugar have the same
>effect on the proteins in the yolks as gentle heating would?
>
>
>Are there any food scientists here who know this kind of thing?
>

There are two basic types of custard- stirred custard and baked
custard. The stirred custard is generally looser and often pourable;
the baked custard is more of a gel. Your second recipe seems to be a
hybrid. If you're baking both of them and they have the same ratio of
eggs to other ingredients, then my guess is that pre-cooking the eggs
a bit while stirring will result in a softer custard because part of
the protein will denature before pouring and baking, resulting in a
less organized final structure, thus softer but perhaps not as silky.

I could be wrong :>

It's an interesting question. You could be a food scientist too, if
you try it both ways and let us know what happens!

Sue(tm)
Lead me not into temptation... I can find it myself!