Natillas: New Mexican Egg Custard

Natillas — the poured egg custard dessert of New Mexican and Spanish Colonial cooking — is the Western Hemisphere version of the Spanish natillas, survived in its purest form in New Mexico's isolated colonial communities. It is a simple, light, egg-and-milk custard flavoured with cinnamon, served at room temperature or slightly chilled — a dessert of extraordinary delicacy achieved through the simplest possible ingredients.

• Natillas is structurally identical to French crème anglaise (CR-17 reference) and to the Portuguese natillas tradition that survived in the California missions
• All three are the same egg-and-milk thickened custard — the specific flavouring (cinnamon in New Mexico and Portugal, vanilla in France) is the cultural marker