Ode to Deep-Fried Pastry Cream

And on the eighth day, the Lord created coconut tembleque and deep-fried pastry cream...

I was blown away by one of the desserts we made in class this week. The beautiful dessert you see above is a heavenly combination of coconut tembleque, chocolate sauce, coconut crisps and...oh my goodness...DEEP-FRIED CHOCOLATE PASTRY CREAM. Yes, you read those words correctly. Deep-fried chocolate pastry cream. And yes, it tastes as delicious as it sounds.

How does one deep fry pastry cream, you might ask? Good question! You start by making your pastry cream and then pouring it into a container lined with plastic wrap. Your goal is to freeze the pastry cream and then slice it into pieces, so choose the shape and size of your container to maximize your yield. A loaf pan or something of similar shape works nicely. Once the frozen pastry cream is sliced, you may choose to cut out shapes with decorative cutters, as we did in class. You must keep the pastry cream frozen, so after this step you'll likely need to put your pieces back into the freezer for a bit. Meanwhile, prepare your batter station - a bowl of flour, a bowl of milk, and a bowl of panko bread crumbs (or unsweetened macaroon coconut, but we used panko in class) and heat your veggie or canola oil to about 325F. Bread the pastry cream in that order - first flour, then milk, then bread crumbs. We found that breading the pastry cream twice produced the best results. Fry your little pastry cream nuggets until golden brown and delicious. It's extra tasty to hit the fried pastry cream with just a dash of salt, too, to make the flavors pop a little more.

Yes, we did a lot more than fry pastry cream last week. We made Bananas Foster, fresh fruit with zabaglione, a lovely fruit trifle, and chocolate panna cotta with a tasty caramelized banana jam. These were nice desserts, but the fried chocolate pastry cream just captivated me and I'm on the edge of waxing poetic about it. This is a technique that I look forward to using many more times in the future. Thanks so much, Chef Wilson, for teaching it to us!