📋 Italian deep fried custard (crema fritta)

Fried custard (crema fritta o cremini) is a classic Italian street food recipe from Marche region. A sweet creamy custard with a crispy coat served as an aperitif with other fried nibbles "fritto misto". Typically fried custard is served with the traditional savory fried stuffed olives: olive Ascolane.

Course Appetizer

Cuisine Italian

Keyword crema fritta, fried cremini, fried custard

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 15

Resting time 4

Servings people

Calories 297kcal

Author Laura Tobin

Equipment

Ingredients

For the custard

4 egg yolk
1 cup caster sugar
2 cup flour
3 ¼ cup milk
½ lemon zest

For the coating

½ cup flour
2 fresh eggs
½ cup breadcrumbs
vegetable oil for frying

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Making the custard

Place the egg yolks and the sugar into a pan (no heat)
4 egg yolk, 1 cup caster sugar
Whisk the egg yolks and the sugar until the mix changes into a lighter color and bubbles start to form
Add the flour gradually to make sure lumps do not form
2 cup flour
Add the warm milk gradually continuously stirring to properly combine all the ingredients
3 ¼ cup milk
Add the lemon zest and stir
½ lemon zest
Bring to boil and simmer for 5 minutes constantly stirring. The custard will thicken.

Shaping the custard into squares

Cover a rectangular baking pan or a ceramic dish with low edges with aluminum foil ( about 2x5x9 in - 5x12x22 cm)
Pour the custard while still warm. Spread it evenly to cover the entire surface and smoothen the top.
Let the custard cool down for 3 hours without covering it. Do not place it in a closed cupboard or in the fridge as the steam has to completely evaporate so the custard drys and hardens.
Once at room temperature, place the custard on a cutting board and cut it into squares with a long knife. The cut pieces should be about 5 in - 2 cm long

Coating and frying the custard

Place the flour, beaten eggs, and breadcrumbs into 3 separate bowls
½ cup flour, 2 fresh eggs, ½ cup breadcrumbs
Coat each custard square first in the flour, second into the eggs, third into breadcrumbs
Deep fry them until golden
vegetable oil for frying
Place them on a kitchen paper towel to absorb the excess oil
Serve warm as an aperitif with other fried starters

Video

Notes

When the custard is ready, if you lift it with a spoon it will stay attached to it.
It is important that the custard cools down without retaining any humidity. It has to cool down into a dry and open environment so the steam is completely released. Do not cover it, do not store it in the fridge or in an enclosed cupboard, microwave or oven.
As the original recipe is Italian, the ingredients are measured with a metric system: grams and liters.
Converting it into cups does not give the exact conversion so you need to be very careful if you are measuring it using cups or imperial.
It can result in a custard that is not thick enough and therefore cannot be coated. If you are using cups, be careful to not exceed in milk or reduce the amount of flour.

Nutrition