Preparation

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  Before moving on to the process for making an excellent custard, we must pause for a moment on the density that the cream should have depending on its intended use, related to 2 cups of milk.

  a– With the amount of all-purpose flour (or corn starch) I indicated, we will get a soft but firm cream that doesn’t run, perfect both as a filling and for decorating (zeppole, cake filling, cream puffs).

  b– If we want an even firmer cream (perfect for decorating, writing on sweets, etc…), we will add 1/2 – 1/3 cup of all-purpose flour (or corn starch) instead of 1/3 cup.

  c– If instead, we want a simply softer custard, suitable for filling tarts, croissants, but not for decorating, we will use 1/4 – 1/3 cup of flour;

  d– For a very soft, almost fluid cream to use as accompaniment or to make spoon desserts, between 1/8 and 1/4 cup of flour will suffice.

  e– We can replace all-purpose flour with 1 oz of rice starch and 1 oz of corn starch which together will give the cream a truly unique structure.

  Let’s prepare all the ingredients in front of us. We will better follow all the steps.

  Begin by warming the milk, over low heat, in a saucepan. It should not become hot, just warm.

  Meanwhile, in a large pot, quickly mix the yolks with the sugar using a steel whisk, add the flavors, the pinch of salt, the sifted flour*, any liquor (a flat teaspoon), grated citrus peel, and continue mixing with the whisk.

  At this point, very slowly and in a thread, pour half of the milk over the egg mixture and mix well (ensure the milk is not hot and do not pour it all at once as it might cook the eggs, leaving you with a sort of omelette).

  Now, we can pour the rest of the milk, all at once, mix and then cook on the small stove over low heat, continuing to stir with a wooden spoon.

  *Corn starch or potato starch, unlike wheat flour, should be dissolved in cold or room-temperature liquids (milk, water, broths), not hot. Therefore, in the case of custard, we will use cold milk to mix the eggs, sugar, etc. Then after everything is well mixed and combined, we can cook the cream.

  Prepare a tall and large bowl and a large fine mesh strainer.

  As soon as the cream begins to thicken (the wooden spoon or steel whisk should leave evident marks in the cream), immediately turn off the heat. Prolonging the cooking would mean ending up with a cream that tastes a lot like eggs.

  Immediately pass the cream through the strainer to eliminate any lumps, spices, whole or grated peels, and to make it beautifully smooth.

  Finally, cover the surface with a bit of granulated sugar or plastic wrap (this will prevent the formation of that annoying thick and hard crust that forms on the surface of the cream) and let it cool first at room temperature and then, after about a couple of hours, we can also put it in the fridge.

  Once it has cooled, the cream can be used according to our needs.

  An extra idea. To make a delicious chocolate custard, add 3.5 oz of chopped milk or dark chocolate to the ready custard, immediately after turning off the stove, and stir until it is completely melted. Since milk chocolate is already very sweet, reduce the amount of sugar in the custard from 3/4 cup to 1/2 cup.

  To make coffee custard, we can use either a cup of espresso or one or two heaping teaspoons of instant coffee powder (depending on how strong we want it). If using espresso, its weight must be subtracted from that of the milk, i.e., if the coffee in the cup weighs 1.4 oz, we will use only 1.9 cups of milk to reach 2 cups.

  For a citrus-scented custard, it will be sufficient to cut the peel of both a whole orange and a lemon, removing the albedo, i.e., the bitter white part, and let them cook with the cream. At the end of cooking, we will remove them.