Leche frita
The name means literally "fried milk" and describes something that sounds impossible: a liquid custard breaded and dropped into hot oil. It works because of two things. First the custard is extremely thick — 70 g of starch to 500 ml of milk. Second it is chilled for three hours, until firm enough to be cut and breaded like a cutlet.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Custard 25 min
- Chilling 180 min
- Coating 15 min
- Frying 20 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneInfuse the milk with peel and cinnamon
Bring 400 ml of the milk to a boil with the lemon peel and cinnamon stick, take it off the heat and leave covered for 15 minutes. Pare the peel thinly with no white pith — the pith brings bitterness, not the oils.
Ingredients: 500 ml milk · 70 g cornflour · 100 g sugar · 2 pcs egg yolks · 30 g butter · 1 pcs lemon · 1 pcs cinnamon
Slake the starch in cold milk
Whisk the cornflour into the remaining 100 ml of cold milk with the sugar and yolks. Starch tipped into hot milk seizes into lumps no whisk will break up — the rule for every starch-set custard.
Ingredients: 500 ml milk · 70 g cornflour · 100 g sugar · 2 pcs egg yolks · 30 g butter · 1 pcs lemon · 1 pcs cinnamon
Cook until a spoon stands in it
Strain the hot milk and temper the slurry with it, pouring in a thin stream and whisking all the time, then pour everything back into the pan. Cook, stirring constantly, until it thickens (about 5 minutes), then 5 minutes more, until so thick that a spoon stands upright. Any looser and it cannot be cut once chilled.
Ingredients: 500 ml milk · 70 g cornflour · 100 g sugar · 2 pcs egg yolks · 30 g butter · 1 pcs lemon · 1 pcs cinnamon
The spoon stands upright — only this thickness works.Spread on a tray 2 cm deep
Stir in the butter and pour the custard into a lined tin about 20 × 20 cm, to a depth of about 2 cm, levelling it. Thinner and the pieces collapse in the pan; thicker and the centre cannot warm through before the coating burns.
Ingredients: 500 ml milk · 70 g cornflour · 100 g sugar · 2 pcs egg yolks · 30 g butter · 1 pcs lemon · 1 pcs cinnamon
Chill at least three hours
Cover with film touching the surface and chill 3 hours, ideally overnight. The slab must be cold and firm as cheese — warm it falls apart when cut, and the coating will not stick to a damp surface.
Ingredients: 500 ml milk · 70 g cornflour · 100 g sugar · 2 pcs egg yolks · 30 g butter · 1 pcs lemon · 1 pcs cinnamon
Cut and coat in flour and egg
Cut the slab into 16 squares of 5 cm with a sharp knife, wiping it between cuts. Coat each in flour, tap off the excess, then in beaten egg. No breadcrumbs — the coating should be as thin as a crêpe, not a thick, crunchy shell.
Ingredients: 80 g plain flour · 2 pcs eggs · 300 ml oil
Cold custard cuts cleanly — warm it would collapse.Fry briefly in hot oil
Fry in oil at 180 °C for 60 seconds a side, a few pieces at a time. The coating should turn golden while the centre just warms through and softens — fried longer, the custard escapes through the coating. All the batches, with heating the oil, take about 20 minutes.
Ingredients: 80 g plain flour · 2 pcs eggs · 300 ml oil
A minute a side — the centre must stay creamy.Roll in cinnamon sugar while hot
Drain briefly on paper and roll them still hot in the sugar mixed with cinnamon. Sugar only clings to a hot, lightly greasy coating — on cooled squares it slides straight back onto the plate. Serve warm.
Ingredients: 60 g sugar · 2 tsp cinnamon
Before you start
Eat within half an hour
Leche frita only makes sense while the coating is freshly fried and the centre warm and creamy. After an hour the custard cools and firms and the coating softens. Fry just before serving — the cut slab keeps a day in the fridge.
The anise version
Some cooks add a star anise to the milk along with the cinnamon, and a spoonful of anise liqueur to the beaten egg. This version is noticeably more aromatic.
When the custard escapes while frying
It means it was too loose or not chilled enough. Put the cut pieces in the freezer for 20 minutes before coating — a colder centre survives frying even with a slightly soft custard.
