Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well (82 page)

50 grams (about 1-2/3 ounces) of sugar are enough to glaze the bottom of the mold. Serve cold.

100 grams (about 3-1/2 ounces) of sponge cake

100 grams (about 3-1/2 ounces) of chocolate

50 grams (about 1-2/3 ounces) of butter

30 grams (about 1 ounce) of sugar

rosolio, as much as needed

Thinly slice the sponge cake. Grate the chocolate. Melt the butter in
bain-marie
, then add the sugar and the chocolate, stirring the mixture with a wooden spoon until it is thoroughly blended. Coat the
mold in rosolio (so later you can better remove the dessert from the mold) and layer it with the chocolate mixture and the slices of sponge cake, which should be soaked in rosolio. In summer, keep the mold in ice so that the mixture will firm up more easily.

This recipes serves six people.

8 deciliters (about 3-1/3 cups) of milk, which is the equivalent of 800 grams (about 1-3/4 pounds
)

100 grams (about 31/2 ounces) of sugar

60 grams (about 2 ounces) of ladyfingers

60 grams (about 2 ounces) of sweet almonds

3 eggs

First prepare the almonds: that is, blanch them in hot water, and then toast them on a stone slab or metal sheet placed over the fire. Then crush the almonds in a mortar until they form an extremely fine powder. Then put on the fire the ladyfingers, the milk and the sugar together with the powdered almonds. After this mixture has cooked a short while, pass it through a sieve. Now fold in the eggs, beaten, and allow the mixture to firm up in
bain-marie
, remembering to coat the bottom of the mold with melted sugar. No spices or flavorings are needed. The toasted almonds will give this pudding an ashen color and a flavor so delicious it will win the applause of men and even more the acclaim of the ladies with their delicate taste.

This pudding, as well as the chocolate pudding, may be chilled before serving. And, to give it a more attractive appearance, it may be dressed with whipped cream or with a custard decorated with colored comfits.

This pudding tastes of diplomacy: this is clear from its name, the laborious preparations it requires, and its complex flavor. I therefore dedicate it to the greatest of ministers, to the cynosure of the
hour. The world, as is well known, continually needs an idol to adore; if it does not have one, it will create one, trumpeting his merits to the heavens. I, on the other hand, who am skeptical by nature and in part from experience, agree with the man who said: “Bring him to me dead, then we will talk about it.” How many idols, how many stars brightly shining in the firmament have we seen in our time, who soon declined or fell ignominiously! When I was writing out this recipe, one such star, admired by all, was shining radiantly. Now he has plunged into oblivion.

1liter (about 1 quart) of milk

100 grams (about 3-1/2 ounces) of sugar

100 grams (about 3-1/2 ounces) of lady fingers

80 grams (about 2-2/3 ounces) of Malaga raisins

50 grams (about 1-2/3 ounces) of sultanas

50 grams (about 1-2/3 ounces) of apricot preserves

50 grams (about 1 -2/3 ounces) of quince preserves

20 grams (about 2/3 of an ounce) of candied fruit

1/2 deciliter of kirsch

6 egg yolks

4 whites

2 tablespoons of rum

Simmer the milk and sugar together for half an hour. Remove the seeds from the Malaga raisins; dice the candied fruit and the preserves, if the latter are hard, which in this case would be desirable.

Flambé the grapes and the candied fruit in the rum, as for the sultan cake described in recipe 574.

After the milk has been scalded, let it cool, then add the eggs, beaten, and the kirsch. Take a smooth cylindrical mold, grease it thoroughly with cold butter and fill in the following manner. Cover the bottom of it with a layer of the fruit and over this spread a second layer of ladyfingers, then a third layer of more candied fruit and preserves, then a fourth layer of ladyfingers, and so on, until you run out of ingredients. Finally, over the last layer slowly pour the milk, which has been prepared in the manner explained above. Cook in
bain-marie
, and serve hot.

Some people maintain that this pudding, if it is to live up to its rightful name of cabinet, should appear on the dinner table under
wraps: that is, with the filling kept absolutely confidential like state secrets. To accomplish this, take 140 grams (about 5 ounces) of lady-fingers and cover the bottom, sides, surface and all inner partitions, so that the fruit stays utterly hidden from sight.
¹²⁸

I must also warn you that when milk is used in preparing a dish, it is unfortunately not always possible to give precise instructions. Milk, by its very nature, is very often the despair of cooks.

Serves ten people.

I consider this Cesarino a good boy, and I shall sell his pudding to you under the same strange name it bore when I bought it from a young and rather lovely woman, upright and religious, the sort who, without intending to, can by her flirtatious nature compromise anyone in her immediate vicinity.

200 grams (about 7 ounces) of extra fine crustless bread

250 grams (about 8-4/5 ounces) of sugar

approximately 100 grams (about 3-1/2 ounces) of additional sugar, for use in the mold

125 grams (about 4-1/2 ounces) of Malaga raisins

125 grams (about 4-1/2 ounces) of sultanas

1/2 liter (about 1/2 a quart) of milk

3 tablespoons in total of Marsala wine and rum

5 eggs

Cut the crustless bread into thin slices, and soak it in the milk. Meanwhile, clean the sultanas, remove the seeds from the Malaga raisins and prepare the mold for cooking. Use a copper mold intended for puddings. Put about 100 grams (about 3-1/2 ounces) of the sugar into a saucepan and, once it has turned nut brown, pour it into the mold, coating it thoroughly. After the mold has cooled, grease the sugar glaze with cold butter.

Combine the milk-soaked bread with the other 250 grams (about 8-4/5 ounces) of sugar, the egg yolks and the liquors. Blend everything thoroughly. Finally, add the raisins and fold in the egg whites, beaten until stiff. Place the mixture in the mold prepared as described above, then put the mold in
bain-marie
, and cook for three whole hours; but heat from above only for the last hour. Serve hot as a flambe, sprinkling rum generously over the pudding and setting it ablaze with a tablespoonful of lit spirits.

These amounts should be enough for ten to twelve people.

The English name denotes a pudding made of plums; however, no plums are used in preparing this dish.

Make a mixture in which for each egg you use as binder, you use the exact amount of the following ingredients:

30 grams (about 1 ounce) of powdered sugar

30 grams (about 1 ounce) of zibibbo raisins

30 grams (about 1 ounce) of sultanas

30 grams (about 1 ounce) of extra fine crustless bread

30 grams (about 1 ounce) of mutton kidney fat

15 grams (about 1/2 an ounce) of candied citron

15 grams (about 1/2 an ounce) of candied orange

1 tablespoon of rum

Remove the seeds from the raisins. Chop the candied fruit into short thin slivers. If you do not have mutton kidney fat, use calf’s kidney fat instead. Remove all membranes from the fat and dice it, as well as the bread, as finely as possible.

First beat the eggs separately, then mix all the ingredients together, and allow to stand for a few hours. Then place the mixture in the middle of a cloth napkin. Gather the four corners and tie tightly with twine so that it forms a ball. Heat some water in a pan, and when it boils, immerse the ball in it in such a way that it does touch the bottom of the pan. Allow to simmer for as many hours as eggs used: i.e., one egg, one hour; two eggs, two hours, etc. Then carefully remove the mixture from the napkin, make a small depression on top, and pour into it one or two small glassfuls of cognac or rum, letting it spill all over the whole pudding. Send it to the table flambé. When the flames have subsided, cut into slices and eat.

With three eggs you will make enough pudding for six people.

This is a dessert from the same family as the preceding one; it, too, bears a mendacious name.

250 grams (about 8-4/5 ounces) of sugar

250 grams (about 8-4/5 ounces) of butter

250 grams (about 8-4/5 ounces) of extra fine flour

80 grams (about 2-2/3 ounces) of candied fruit

80 grams (about 2-2/3 ounces) of Malaga raisins

80 grams (about 2-2/3 ounces) of sultanas

80 grams (about 2-2/3 ounces) of raisins

5 whole eggs

4 egg yolks

1 scant deciliter (about 2/5 of a cup) or 5 tablespoons of rum

a dash of lemon zest or vanilla

Cut the candied fruit into thin slivers and remove the seeds from the Malaga raisins.

First beat the butter by itself with a wooden spoon, softening it over the fire if necessary. Then, add the sugar and continue beating until the mixture turns white. Crack the eggs and fold them in one at a time, stirring constantly; then mix in the flour and finally the remaining ingredients. Take a smooth mold, and line it with paper greased on the inside with butter; then pour the mixture over it and bake in the oven.

You may serve this dish hot with confectioners’ sugar sprinkled on top, or also cold. It is delicious either way.

The paper prevents the raisins from sticking to the mold. This recipe serves twelve people.

This dish, which has many different names, could also be called “dessert of the day,” since many families like it and make it often.

180 grams (about 6-1/3 ounces) of fresh, quality butter

180 grams (about 6-1/3 ounces) of confectioners’ sugar

approximately 150 grams (about 5-1/4 ounces) of long ladyfingers or sponge cake

6 hard-boiled egg yolks

enough vanilla sugar for flavor

enough rosolio to lightly moisten the lady fingers

Boil the eggs for seven minutes only, then remove the yolks. Blend them with the butter and pass through a strainer. Then add the confectioners’ sugar and the vanilla sugar, stirring the mixture vigorously with a wooden spoon until smooth.

Take a mold, a ribbed one if possible. Brush it with rosolio. Cut the ladyfingers in half lengthwise, dip them lightly in rosolio, or dip half in rosolio and the other half in alkermes. Line the bottom of the mold with half of the ladyfingers, alternating the colors. Now pour in the mixture and cover with more ladyfingers similarly placed in alternating strips of color. Allow to stand for at least three hours in ice and then serve. If more convenient, it may be prepared a day in advance.