I made a custard filling from an internet recipe. It made a big stickly
lump... what went wrong?

First, this recipe isn't very clear... 1/2 cup of flour and
cornstarch... does this mean 1/2 cup _each_ of flour and cornstarch, or
1/2 total (which would be 1/4 cup each) ??? Well I used 1/2 cup each,
so maybe that was my problem.

I mixed the egg yolks, sugar and salt and things were looking good up to
this point. Then I added the flour/cornstarch mixture and all of a
sudden I had a big solid ball of goo. Adding the milk and butter gave
me a sloshy liquid with lots of medium size lumps.

After lots of stirring, straining the mixture, adding more milk to
disolve the lumps, and straining again, I wound up with a thin, floury
tasting mixture. Even after chilling it was pretty thin. I tried using
this as a filling for eclairs... I had to keep the eclairs stored
upright, otherwise the filling wanted to run out. Bleck :-<

I'm not trying this guy's recipies again.

http://maki.typepad.com/justhungry/2...eam_puffs.html

6 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
a pinch of salt
2 cups whole milk, or light cream
1/2 cup of flour and cornstarch, blended and sifted
2 Tbs unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract


(1) Heat the milk.
(2) Beat the egg yolks with the sugar and salt with a whisk until the
mixture is a pale lemony yellow. This indicates that the sugar has
melted into the yolks. Add the flour-cornstarch mixture.
(3) Add the milk in dribbles to the egg mixture, stirring constantly.
Heat over a low to medium heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, for about
2-3 minutes until you can't detect any floury taste.
(4) Mix in the butter and vanilla.
(5) Let cool for several hours, covered.

>I made a custard filling from an internet recipe. It made a big stickly
>lump... what went wrong?
>
>First, this recipe isn't very clear... 1/2 cup of flour and
>cornstarch... does this mean 1/2 cup _each_ of flour and cornstarch, or
>1/2 total (which would be 1/4 cup each) ??? Well I used 1/2 cup each,
>so maybe that was my problem.
>
>I mixed the egg yolks, sugar and salt and things were looking good up to
>this point. Then I added the flour/cornstarch mixture and all of a
>sudden I had a big solid ball of goo. Adding the milk and butter gave
>me a sloshy liquid with lots of medium size lumps.
>
>After lots of stirring, straining the mixture, adding more milk to
>disolve the lumps, and straining again, I wound up with a thin, floury
>tasting mixture. Even after chilling it was pretty thin. I tried using
>this as a filling for eclairs... I had to keep the eclairs stored
>upright, otherwise the filling wanted to run out. Bleck :-<
>
>I'm not trying this guy's recipies again.
>
>http://maki.typepad.com/justhungry/2...eam_puffs.html
>
>6 egg yolks
>1/2 cup sugar
>a pinch of salt
>2 cups whole milk, or light cream
>1/2 cup of flour and cornstarch, blended and sifted
>2 Tbs unsalted butter
>1 tsp vanilla extract
>
>
>(1) Heat the milk.
>(2) Beat the egg yolks with the sugar and salt with a whisk until the
>mixture is a pale lemony yellow. This indicates that the sugar has
>melted into the yolks. Add the flour-cornstarch mixture.
>(3) Add the milk in dribbles to the egg mixture, stirring constantly.
>Heat over a low to medium heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, for about
>2-3 minutes until you can't detect any floury taste.
>(4) Mix in the butter and vanilla.
>(5) Let cool for several hours, covered.


I think you're right in assuming you added too much flour. You should have
only added 1/2 cup total flour/cornstarch. Also most custard recipes I've seen
say to combine the milk, sugar, and cornstarch/flour and cook that until it
comes to a boil and the starchy taste is gone. The egg yolks are slightly
beaten and a small amount of the cooked mixture is added to them to temper
them. This is then poured back into the rest of the cooked mixture and the
mixture is cooked over low heat until it thickens. Make sure the mixture
doesn't actually come to a boil or the egg yolks will curdle. The custard can
then be poured through a strainer to remove any bits of cooked egg yolk.

"DJS0302" > wrote in message
...
> >I made a custard filling from an internet recipe. It made a big stickly
> >lump... what went wrong?
> >
> >First, this recipe isn't very clear... 1/2 cup of flour and
> >cornstarch... does this mean 1/2 cup _each_ of flour and cornstarch, or
> >1/2 total (which would be 1/4 cup each) ??? Well I used 1/2 cup each,
> >so maybe that was my problem.
> >
> >I mixed the egg yolks, sugar and salt and things were looking good up to
> >this point. Then I added the flour/cornstarch mixture and all of a
> >sudden I had a big solid ball of goo. Adding the milk and butter gave
> >me a sloshy liquid with lots of medium size lumps.
> >
> >After lots of stirring, straining the mixture, adding more milk to
> >disolve the lumps, and straining again, I wound up with a thin, floury
> >tasting mixture. Even after chilling it was pretty thin. I tried using
> >this as a filling for eclairs... I had to keep the eclairs stored
> >upright, otherwise the filling wanted to run out. Bleck :-<
> >
> >I'm not trying this guy's recipies again.
> >
> >http://maki.typepad.com/justhungry/2...eam_puffs.html
> >
> >6 egg yolks
> >1/2 cup sugar
> >a pinch of salt
> >2 cups whole milk, or light cream
> >1/2 cup of flour and cornstarch, blended and sifted
> >2 Tbs unsalted butter
> >1 tsp vanilla extract
> >
> >
> >(1) Heat the milk.
> >(2) Beat the egg yolks with the sugar and salt with a whisk until the
> >mixture is a pale lemony yellow. This indicates that the sugar has
> >melted into the yolks. Add the flour-cornstarch mixture.
> >(3) Add the milk in dribbles to the egg mixture, stirring constantly.
> >Heat over a low to medium heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, for about
> >2-3 minutes until you can't detect any floury taste.
> >(4) Mix in the butter and vanilla.
> >(5) Let cool for several hours, covered.
>
>
> I think you're right in assuming you added too much flour. You should
have
> only added 1/2 cup total flour/cornstarch. Also most custard recipes I've
seen
> say to combine the milk, sugar, and cornstarch/flour and cook that until
it
> comes to a boil and the starchy taste is gone. The egg yolks are slightly
> beaten and a small amount of the cooked mixture is added to them to temper
> them. This is then poured back into the rest of the cooked mixture and
the
> mixture is cooked over low heat until it thickens. Make sure the mixture
> doesn't actually come to a boil or the egg yolks will curdle. The custard
can
> then be poured through a strainer to remove any bits of cooked egg yolk.


No worries about curdling when the custard contains a starch like flour or
cornstarch. Creme angalise, having neither, has to be watched carefully
though.

-Scott

In article >,
IronMaster > wrote:

> I made a custard filling from an internet recipe. It made a big stickly
> lump... what went wrong?
>
> First, this recipe isn't very clear... 1/2 cup of flour and
> cornstarch... does this mean 1/2 cup _each_ of flour and cornstarch, or
> 1/2 total (which would be 1/4 cup each) ??? Well I used 1/2 cup each,
> so maybe that was my problem.
(snip)
>
> http://maki.typepad.com/justhungry/2...eam_puffs.html
>
> 6 egg yolks
> 1/2 cup sugar
> a pinch of salt
> 2 cups whole milk, or light cream
> 1/2 cup of flour and cornstarch, blended and sifted
> 2 Tbs unsalted butter
> 1 tsp vanilla extract

Sounds awful. Custard is thickened by the eggs not with additional
starch. First rule, though, would have been to trash the recipe if I'd
had a question about it -- e.g., if it wasn't clearly written. Looks
like a bad recipe to me.
--
-Barb, <www.jamlady.eboard.com> Sam I Am updated 5/30/04.
Only 3-1/2 weeks until my birthday. "Shop early, shop often, shop
big." Good gin and cheap chocolate preferred. Or is it cheap
gin and good chocolate? I can never remember. . . .

"IronMaster" > wrote in message
...
> I made a custard filling from an internet recipe. It made a big stickly
> lump... what went wrong?
>
> First, this recipe isn't very clear... 1/2 cup of flour and
> cornstarch... does this mean 1/2 cup _each_ of flour and cornstarch, or
> 1/2 total (which would be 1/4 cup each) ??? Well I used 1/2 cup each,
> so maybe that was my problem.
>
> I mixed the egg yolks, sugar and salt and things were looking good up to
> this point. Then I added the flour/cornstarch mixture and all of a
> sudden I had a big solid ball of goo. Adding the milk and butter gave
> me a sloshy liquid with lots of medium size lumps.
>
> After lots of stirring, straining the mixture, adding more milk to
> disolve the lumps, and straining again, I wound up with a thin, floury
> tasting mixture. Even after chilling it was pretty thin. I tried using
> this as a filling for eclairs... I had to keep the eclairs stored
> upright, otherwise the filling wanted to run out. Bleck :-<
>
> I'm not trying this guy's recipies again.
>
<snip recipe>

It was definitely the flour/cornstarch mixture. You should have used 1/4 cup
each. If he'd meant for you to use 1/2 cup of each, the ingredient list
would have said "1/2 cup *each* flour and cornstarch, blended and sifted".
Here's a basic, simple recipe:
Crème Ptisserie
----------------------------
2 cups half and half
2 cups milk
1 cup sugar
4 large eggs
2 large egg yolk
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 vanilla bean

Split the vanilla bean, scraping seeds into the cream. Bring half and half &
milk
to simmer in heavy medium saucepan. Whisk sugar, eggs, egg yolk and flour in
medium bowl to blend. Gradually whisk in hot half and half. Transfer to
saucepan. Whisk over medium heat until mixture thickens and comes to boil,
about 5 minutes. Boil 1 minute. Pour into medium bowl. Press plastic onto
surface of pastry cream. Cover; chill until cold, about 4 hours. (Can be
made 1 day ahead. Keep chilled.)

You can flavor this many ways. Add a couple ounces of bittersweet chocolate,
melted and cooled for a chocolate crème. Add 1/4 cup of orange juice and 1/2
tsp of orange oil for a really tasty accompaniment to strawberry slices in a
cream puff. You can do the same with lemon, adding a couple tablespoons of
lemon juice and some lemon oil. Add 1 tsp of Penzey's Vietnamese Cinnamon to
the flour. Experiment, and enjoy

kimberly