Cremita de Coco Yucateca

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy-bottomed 3-quart saucepan
• •Box grater with small holes for the fresh coconut
• •Wooden spoon and a balloon whisk
• •Six small footed glass cups or copitas
• •Talavera bandeja or wooden tray for serving

Instructions

1. 1

   Crack and grate the coco

   Pierce two of the eyes of the coconut with a clean nail and a hammer. Drain the water into a glass and reserve it. Place the coconut on a folded towel and strike it firmly around its equator with the back of a heavy knife or a hammer until it splits. Pry the white flesh from the shell with a butter knife. Peel off the brown skin with a vegetable peeler. Grate the flesh fine on the small holes of a box grater. You should have about two cups. This is the work that no can of coconut milk can replace. The fresh coco is what makes this cremita yucateca and not a generic coconut pudding.

   Pick the coconut up at the mercado and shake it. If you hear water sloshing around, it is fresh. If it sounds dry, leave it on the pile. No me vengas con atajos: a dry coconut gives a dry pudding.
2. 2

   Infuse the milk with canela

   In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine three and a half cups of the whole milk, the canned coconut milk, the canela sticks, and the salt. Bring to a bare simmer over medium heat, then lower the heat and let it steep for ten minutes. The milk should taste of canela before you go any further. Mexican canela is soft and fragrant. Cassia is hard and harsh. The difference is the dish.

3. 3

   Cook the grated coconut

   Add the grated fresh coconut and the reserved coconut water to the infused milk. Stir in the sugar. Let the mixture simmer gently, uncovered, for twelve to fifteen minutes, stirring often so the milk does not catch on the bottom. The coconut will soften and release its oil. The kitchen will smell like a panaderia in Mérida at five in the afternoon. That smell is the dish telling you it is ready for the next step.

4. 4

   Slurry the maicena

   In a small bowl, whisk the cornstarch into the remaining half cup of cold whole milk until completely smooth. No lumps. Cold milk only. If you stir maicena into hot milk you will spend the next twenty minutes fishing out gummy knots and the cremita will be ruined. Cold milk and patience. Así se hace y punto.

   Some señoras in Mérida swear by Maizena brand specifically because it dissolves cleaner. Whatever you use, sift it through a fine strainer into the cold milk if your bag has been open a while.
5. 5

   Thicken the cremita

   Fish out the canela sticks and discard them. Pour the cornstarch slurry into the simmering coconut milk in a slow stream, whisking constantly. Keep whisking. Within three to four minutes the mixture will thicken visibly and start to coat the back of the wooden spoon. Keep cooking and stirring for another four minutes after it thickens. Maicena needs to cook out completely or you taste the starch on the back of your tongue. The cremita is done when a spoon dragged across the bottom of the pan leaves a clear track that closes slowly.

6. 6

   Finish and pour into cups

   Pull the pan off the heat. Stir in the vanilla. Pour the hot cremita immediately into six small glass cups or footed copitas, dividing evenly. The cups should be the kind you find on the marble tabletops of the dulcerías in Mérida: small, footed, transparent so you can see the cream sitting inside them. Tap each cup gently on the counter to settle the surface.

7. 7

   Chill until set

   Let the cups cool on the counter for thirty minutes, until they stop steaming from the inside. Cover each one with plastic wrap pressed directly onto the surface if you do not want a skin to form. Some people in Yucatán want the skin. I want the skin. Refrigerate at least four hours, preferably overnight. The cremita is not ready until it is cold all the way through. This is a dessert for hot afternoons on the costa, not a warm pudding. Saber cocinar es saber vivir, y saber esperar también.

8. 8

   Serve fría

   Just before serving, scatter a pinch of toasted grated coconut and a dusting of ground Mexican canela across the top of each cup. Set the cups out on a Talavera bandeja or a wooden tray. Serve cold, with small spoons. This is what you eat after a long lunch in Progreso, looking at the gulf.

Chef Tips

• •Choose your coconut at the market by weight and sound. A heavy coconut with audible water inside is fresh. A light, silent coconut is dry inside and will give you nothing. The vendor at La Merced will let you shake them. Take advantage.
• •If you cannot find a fresh mature coconut, frozen unsweetened grated coconut from a Mexican or Asian grocery is a compromise, not an upgrade. Do not use sweetened bagged coconut from the baking aisle. That is for American cookies, not Yucatecan cremita.
• •The cremita keeps in the refrigerator for three days, well covered. After that the coconut oil starts to separate and the texture suffers. This is a dessert that wants to be eaten, not stored.
• •If you want to dress it up the way the Sorbetería Colón does, drizzle a little dark cajeta on top or set a wedge of queso de bola on the side. The sweet and savory together is very yucateco.

Advance Preparation

• •Cremita must chill at least four hours before serving and is better made the night before. The flavor deepens and the texture sets cleanly.
• •The grated coconut can be prepared up to one day ahead and refrigerated in an airtight container. After that the oils start to oxidize and the flavor flattens.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 335g)