I didn’t even get to the “Frita” part… according to the recipe I was using my Leche should have been sliceable… instead it’s pourable.
I’ll admit that I winged the cornstarch a little (my measuring spoons I think ended up at a friends house when a potluck recipe ended up in overtime), but I feel like I got the spirit if not the letter of the law. But after almost 24 hrs in the fridge the consistency means I’m going to have to make cinnamon pancakes or something; it’s not even close to solid.
Oh - and the frying seems like it’s going to add extra effort and calories w/o a ton of benefit… as this is for a “Spanish” theme dinner, would it be at all authentic to skip that bit?
First of all, that recipe looks awesome. I’d never heard of leche frita! It’s hard to tell where you went wrong without knowing exactly what you did. It looks like the first step is making a pudding, and the heating is what helps it thicken. You brought the milk to a bubble? Used whole milk?
My guess is you winged wrong and/or didn’t heat it enough. The cornstarch is the primary thickener; if you got the ratio wrong or didn’t properly heat it, it’s not gonna thicken.
in most puddings and pie fillings, you have to allow the starch mixture to boil for at least a minute. I don’t remember the chemistry, but if you don’t the filling will be runny. if you do, it will firm up.
I’m going with this too. the cornstarch is the primary thickening agent, with the flour contributing. both need to be cooked long enough for the starches to unravel.
My guess is that since it’s called “leche frita,” “fried milk,” that the frying step would kind of be integral to the dish. And, yes, a big point of this is the textural and flavor contrast between the fried outside and the soft inside. Otherwise, just make a flan (okay, not exactly the same thing as a flan is a custard and egg-thickened, but a similar idea of congealed milk/cream.)
On closer inspection, my leche was quite sludgy on the bottom, so I think everyone’s right that it needed to be cooked longer/hotter after the final mix with the cornstarch.
Thanks for the tip on the flan - my one-pan version required more cooking than specified, but probably counts as the most professional-looking (and top-10 tasting) thing I’ve ever cooked.
The recipes I’m used to involve four main steps: one, making an infusion of cinnamon in milk (also very popular by itself as a drink, leche con canela), two, dissolving a lot of cornstarch in it (bring it back to boiling and then lower the fire), three, letting it cool for at least 24h, four, chop batter and fry.
I’ve also known people who referred to the pudding itself as leche frita even though it’s not fried. It would more properly be called budín de leche (milk pudding) or flan de canela (cinnamon flan).
And, yes, a big point of this is the textural and flavor contrast between the fried outside and the soft inside. Otherwise, just make a flan (okay, not exactly the same thing as a flan is a custard and egg-thickened, but a similar idea of congealed milk/cream.)