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Making the Pastitsio "Krema"

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voula_slat

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I am trying to recreate some family recipes and now I am working on pastitsio. My family used to make it with this large macaroni noodles. I finally tracked them down at a Greek store so that's all set. I have the flavors just about right in the pastitsio. I can't seem to get the top crema right. Sometimes it's too thin. Sometimes it won't get fluffy. Sometimes it's kind of gooey. I had one batch that was lump (I figured out why this was happening though, I wasn't stirring it enough and the heat was too high).

How do you guys make this part? My test pastitsio has been in 9 x 13 pans so you can get an idea for proportions.
 
voula_slat said:
I am trying to recreate some family recipes and now I am working on pastitsio. My family used to make it with this large macaroni noodles. I finally tracked them down at a Greek store so that's all set. I have the flavors just about right in the pastitsio. I can't seem to get the top crema right. Sometimes it's too thin. Sometimes it won't get fluffy. Sometimes it's kind of gooey. I had one batch that was lump (I figured out why this was happening though, I wasn't stirring it enough and the heat was too high).

How do you guys make this part? My test pastitsio has been in 9 x 13 pans so you can get an idea for proportions.
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The butter and flour mixture has to be equal parts the. Slowly add the milk. I would say 1 1/2 tbls of butter and flour and one cup of milk. Hope this helps
 
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My aunt used to use Creamette Elbow Macaroni, which you can find at any grocery store, and her pastitsio was delicious. The type of pasta really does not matter, at least that's my thought. It's how the meat sauce is seasoned and the creama that make pastitsio stand out. You can add two beaten eggs to the creama which will make it more like a custard and should make it puff.

Combine flour and butter well, so no lumps are present. Slowly add warm milk and keep mixing until all liquid is incorporated. Remove from head and add beaten eggs, but be sure it's mixture is not too hot when adding eggs. Keep mixing, return to heat for a bit when all is incorporated.
 
The Krema was a hard thing for me to get right, as well. The old recipe as it was written was very hard for me to follow - plus I think flour these days might be different than it was even twenty years ago. I don't know why! So, I tend to follow a traditional "white sauce" method of putting the flour and butter together in the saucepan (I think this is called the roux) and then I add the eggs. Learning the technique made things a lot easier.
 
I am just starting to learn how to make pastitsio and I found this thread to be very helpful. Hopefully, the whole dish comes together well.
 
Thank you guys, I have tried a bunch of different things and I don't know what I am still doing wrong. It has gotten better, but the texture is still a little bit off. Maybe I am adding too much flour?
 
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