Session 203 — Pastry Cream (Crème Pâtissière)
← Block 47–48: Pastry — Doughs & Custards Overview
Skill: Egg yolk + starch custard; tempering; the nappe; cooling without skin Read first: Vanilla Pastry Cream
What you're learning: Pastry cream is the filling for every French pastry: éclairs, mille-feuille, fruit tarts, cream puffs. It's thickened with cornstarch and egg yolks. The key skills: tempering (pouring hot milk slowly into yolks to prevent scrambling), cooking while whisking constantly until it thickens (it will lump if you stop), and pressing plastic wrap directly on the surface to prevent a skin.
Full Meal: Vanilla Pastry Cream setting in the fridge; dinner is a bowl of soup or a roast chicken sandwich, then éclairs as the dessert course
🎥 Compare Notes: How To Make A Fruit Tart (Claire Saffitz) — Pastry cream is the central skill in this video; watch her tempering step and the moment she declares it done — that's the texture you're aiming for.