Cooking in
Washington State
Mexican
Lechecilla (Custard Filling)
Lechecilla is a milk-based custard filling traditional to the City of Oaxaca, thickened with cornstarch and enriched with egg yolks, warmly spiced with cinnamon. Silkier and more yielding than a French pastry cream, it fills empanadas, pastries, and sweet tamales across Oaxacan bakeries and home kitchens alike. The texture is dense enough to hold its shape inside a pastry casing yet tender on the palate — a product of patient, low-heat stirring rather than any shortcut.
‹Swipe for the next dish›
Cook
I
The Market List
The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.
1 L (1 quart)
Whole milk
Your own market
10 cm (4 inches)
Canela (Cinnamomum verum), broken
Not yet stocked in Washington State
150 g (just over 5 oz / scant 1 cup)
Sugar
Your own market
100 g (3½ oz / rounded ¾ cup / 190 ml)
Cornstarch
Origin · ChinaNot yet stocked in Washington State
250 ml (1 cup)
Cold water
Your own market
6
Egg yolks, lightly beaten
Your own market
II
The Method
1
Combine milk, broken canela, and sugar in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Stir until sugar dissolves completely. Do not boil aggressively. Remove from heat and allow to steep 5–10 minutes if time allows.
2
In a bowl, whisk cornstarch into cold water until no lumps remain. Add beaten yolks and whisk to combine.
3
Temper: ladle hot milk slowly into the yolk mixture, whisking constantly, until you have added roughly half the milk. Pour the combined mixture back into the saucepan with the remaining milk.
4
Set pan over low heat. Stir continuously with a heatproof spatula or wooden spoon, reaching all surfaces. Cook 3–4 minutes until the custard thickens clearly and tastes of neither raw starch nor raw egg.
5
Remove from heat. Press plastic wrap directly onto the surface. Cool to room temperature, then refrigerate until needed.
III
Sensory Tests
◇Drag a spoon through the finished custard and lift it horizontally: a properly cooked lechecilla should fall in a thick, slow ribbon that holds a brief mound before settling — it should not pour freely nor stand stiff like a set gel.
◇Taste a small spoonful at serving temperature and hold it on the mid-palate for three seconds: there must be no chalky or raw-flour residue, which signals undercooked cornstarch, and no eggy sulphur note, which signals yolks scorched by excessive heat.
◇Press a sheet of plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the cooling custard and remove it after five minutes: a correctly made lechecilla should release cleanly with no torn skin adhering to the wrap and no condensation pooling on the surface.
◇Where it lives or dies. Lechecilla lives or dies in the final three to four minutes of cooking, when the cornstarch gelatinises and the yolks set simultaneously over low heat: pull too early and the starch tastes raw; push the heat too high or stir too infrequently and the yolks scramble into irreversible granules that no amount of sieving fully corrects.
Pillar IV
Cross-cuisine parallels are part of membership.
The dishes this one teaches you, across the cuisines — on every recipe.
Enter · from $49 a year
V
What to Pour
The pairing
Agave spirit
From Washington
Ancient Lakes of Columbia Valley Riesling
Ancient Lakes Vineyard — Cave B · Ancient Lakes
Not yet stocked in Washington State
Wine
Without alcohol
No pour without alcohol holds against this yet.
Why each one works is part of membership — Enter · from $49 a year →
The whole pairingPillar VI
Origin and lineage are part of membership.
Where the dish comes from and how it came to be — on every recipe.
Enter · from $49 a year
The working kitchen