Hello from a Croatian cooking (mostly pastry) enthusiast - also a curdled double-layer creme caramel

[PetarG]

Hello EG forums,

 

    i am PetarG, a 27-something old guy that recently restarted his old passion in cooking, mostly pastries. I have majored in physics, so recently the aspect of physical and chemical processes in the food I cook has started to interest me, I have even started considering food science as a possible career turn. As my first post, recently I have been making custards, in particular creme caramel, varying milk to cream and yolk to egg ratios. I wondered if it was possible to make a double-layer creme caramel.

 

Namely, cream is less dense than milk (980 vs 1030 g/L, temperature dependent), so a custard with cream should float on milk and not mix with it, if poured on top slowly enough. I put the entire thing very slowly in the 175 C oven and this is how it turned out. The upper bit is the milk (more dense) custard - I mixed in some chocolate to coulor it. The bottom one is with cream. As you can see - the top curdled, but less so the bottom. Apparently, this is because the milk mixture stiffens at a lower temperature than the cream one - fat stabilizes the protein I guess (any pastry chefs here?). Also that thin chocolate layer is interesting - is that cocoa fats or what?

 

 

I am happy with the result as it proves the double layer can be achieved, but further experiments are needed not to curdle the milk mixture. How would you advise me to do this? Ideally, I'd buy an oven thermometer to put into the water bath to keep the water below 80-ish C but at the moment I lack the necessary instrumentation. Perhaps put the oven at a lower temperature and cook it longer, checking for the jiggle often? How do you do this?

 

Thank you for having me!

 

P.S. I have not found this kind of recipe anywhere - the double layer aspect that is - on the internet. Surely I am not the first one?

[ElsieD]

That is by far the most interesting introductory post I've ever seen.  I look forward to your future posts and welcome to eGullet.

[TdeV]

Hello @PetarG. Most interesting post. Perhaps @Duvel or @AlaMoi or @Kerry Beal can help? Looking forward to following your quest! Welcome.

[pastrygirl]

Welcome.  175C is a bit high for custard, try 150-160C.

[OlyveOyl]

Welcome!  I find that “ fish eyes” can develop if the eggs are over beaten, the bubbles created will cause these to occur.  Kerry Beal devolved a method to reduce/eliminate bubbles in chocolate using a small vibrator normally used for massage purposes.  I have successfully used that method to eliminate any bubbles prior to baking or stove top steaming of custards.

[PetarG]

1 hour ago, pastrygirl said:

Welcome.  175C is a bit high for custard, try 150-160C.

 

I'll try it. Does slow cooking like with tougher meat work with pastries? I guess as long as the temperature is high enough to set the eggs.

 

1 hour ago, OlyveOyl said:

Welcome!  I find that “ fish eyes” can develop if the eggs are over beaten, the bubbles created will cause these to occur.

 

I strained the liquid beforehand to remove larger bubbles but some remained. I suppose if there are impurities then it is more likely to occur.

 

[Smithy]

Hello and welcome! That is an impressive first post and impressive dessert. Keep in mind that this topic will lock in a week, so if you need to continue the discussion you can post in the Pastry & Baking forum.

 

Also: if you have any questions about how or where to post something, feel free to ask a host by PM. (I'm one of them.)

[pastrygirl]

1 hour ago, PetarG said:

I'll try it. Does slow cooking like with tougher meat work with pastries? I guess as long as the temperature is high enough to set the eggs.

 

Eggs only need to reach 75-80C to set.  Your custard has those bubbles because it is overcooked.