The sweet half of Ascoli Piceno's famous fried platter — squares of thick pastry cream, set firm, cut, breaded, and deep-fried golden. They share the plate and the very same flour-egg-breadcrumb coating with the stuffed olive all'ascolana, the crisp sweet note against all that savoury frying. Inside the crust is a warm, just-set custard scented with lemon. In Ascoli these are eaten finger-food style as part of the fritto misto, not as a plated dessert.
Cremini are defined in Italian sources as cubes of pastry cream, breaded and fried — one of the two principal elements of the fritto all'ascolana alongside the stuffed olive all'ascolana, both coated identically in flour, egg, and breadcrumbs. The fried platter's documented backbone is the stuffed olives, the cremini, fried lamb chops, artichokes, and zucchini. The name is simply the diminutive of crema, 'little creams'. Two homonyms invite confusion and are unrelated to this dish: the Piedmontese cremino is a layered gianduia chocolate, and in American English 'cremini' are brown mushrooms — neither is the Ascoli fried custard. There is no traditional-food protection for the cremini themselves, though the olive they share the plate with, the Oliva Ascolana del Piceno, holds DOP status, recognised in 2005.
The shell shatters in a thin golden crunch, then a soft, warm custard that has just set enough to hold a square — barely firm, almost molten at the centre, sweet and bright with lemon. Against the briny, meaty crash of a fried stuffed olive eaten in the same handful, the cremino is the cool sweet relief. It is a one- or two-bite morsel, best straight from the oil while the crust is still loud and the inside is still warm.
The custard is cooked very thick — to the point of pulling away from the pan like polenta — so that when chilled it sets firm enough to cut and bread. Egg yolks, sugar, and a flour or cornstarch thickener cooked into milk give a cream stiff enough to slice into squares once cold; a couple of hours in the fridge, or a shorter spell in the freezer, makes it sliceable. The square is then floured, egged, and breadcrumbed, often double-coated, and deep-fried around 170 to 180 degrees Celsius for roughly a minute a side: hot enough that the crumb crisps and browns before the custard inside has time to liquefy and leak.
Variations
The Ascoli standard custard is milk, egg yolks, sugar, flour or cornstarch, and lemon zest, sometimes vanilla; a semolina-thickened cream is a common crema fritta variant elsewhere but not the Ascoli norm. Double-breading is usual for a sturdier crust. The same fried-custard square is served as a Carnival dessert in the Veneto and Emilia, but in Ascoli its place is firmly within the savoury fritto misto, beside the stuffed olives and fried lamb. The platter itself can stretch to fried artichokes, zucchini, courgette flowers, and cheese cubes.
On the Palate
Where Cremini Ascolani sits in the Italian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 6
How it's made
7 steps · 25 min
- 115 min
Cook a thick pastry cream from milk, egg yolks, sugar, flour or cornstarch, and lemon zest until it pulls from the pan.
Watch outCook the pastry cream until it pulls thick away from the pan — it has to set firm enough to cut into squares once chilled, or it won't hold to bread.
- 25 min
Spread it about two centimetres deep on an oiled tray and smooth the top.
- 3120 min
Chill until firm and sliceable, about two hours in the fridge or less in the freezer.
- 45 min
Cut into roughly three-centimetre squares.
- 510 min
Coat each square in flour, then beaten egg, then breadcrumbs, double-breading for a sturdier crust.
- 68 min
Deep-fry at around 175 degrees Celsius, about a minute a side, until golden.
Watch outFry at around 175°C, about a minute a side — hot enough that the crust browns before the custard inside can melt and leak out.
- 72 min
Drain briefly and serve hot, alongside olive all'ascolana.
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