Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well (85 page)

1 liter (about 1 quart) of milk

150 grams (about 5-1/4 ounces) of sugar

6 eggs

confectioners’ sugar, as needed

a dash of vanilla

Put a wide saucepan on the fire with the milk. As the milk is warming up, use a whisk to beat the egg whites, which you have separated from the yolks; add a pinch of salt to the whites, which helps make them stiffer. When the egg whites are nice and stiff, sprinkle on them enough confectioners’ sugar from the perforated jar where it is usually kept, to make the whites quite sweet. About 20 to 30 grams (about 2/3 to 1 ounce) of sugar should be enough, but it is better to taste them. This done, take a tablespoon of the egg white, shape it like an egg and toss it into the boiling milk. Turn these “eggs” so that they cook on all sides, and when you see them firming up, remove them from the milk with a slotted spoon and place them in a colander to drain. Stain the milk and when it has cooled, use it along with the yolks to make a custard like the one described in recipe 685. Flavor the custard with a dash of vanilla. Then arrange on a platter the “eggs” you have just made, making a nice pile over which you will pour the custard. Serve cold.

These amounts serve eight to ten people.

1liter (about 1 quart) of milk

180 grams (about 6-1/3 ounces) of sugar 8 egg yolks

2 egg whites

Put the milk on the fire with 100 grams (about 3-1/2 ounces) of the sugar. Allow to boil for a full hour, then remove it from the fire and let it cool. Dissolve in a separate saucepan the remaining 80 grams (about 2-2/3 ounces) of sugar and when it has thoroughly melted, use enough of it to coat the bottom of a smooth mold. Keep the excess in the saucepan and cook it until it turns quite black. Then
pour in a ladleful of water: this will stop it from burning further and you will hear it sizzle as it clumps up. But keep the saucepan on the fire and keep stirring, and you will have a thick dark liquid, which you will set aside. Beat in a pot the eggs and then mix in all the other ingredients, namely: the milk, the eggs, and the burned sugar. Taste the mixture to ensure that it is sweet enough; then strain it in a tin colander with fairly large holes, and pour it in the mold you have prepared. Cook in
bain-marie
with fire from above, and when the surface begins to brown, put a buttered piece of paper under the lid of the Dutch oven. Test for readiness with a thin broom-twig: if it comes out clean and dry when you prick the pudding, that means it is ready to be removed from the fire. Allow it to cool thoroughly and before unmolding it onto a tray (over a napkin if you like) pass a thin knife blade around the sides. In summer, you may want to put the mold in ice for a while before unmolding the pudding.

If possible, use an oval-shaped mold for this recipe. Ideally, the mold should have a finger-wide rim which prevents water from spattering into it as it is cooking.

These amounts serve ten people.

This recipe is identical to the previous one, except for the burned sugar. Therefore the ingredients are:

1 liter (about 1 quart) of milk

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

8 egg yolks

2 egg whites

Suitable flavorings for this recipe are a dash of vanilla, or coriander, or coffee. If you choose coffee, grind several toasted coffee beans; if you like coriander or vanilla, both of which go well with this dish, pound a pinch of either and put it to boil in the milk, which you will then strain. If the milk is a little thin, boil it for up to an hour and a quarter.

Don’t forget to coat the mold with a thin layer of melted sugar.

This is a very delicate dessert that peasants in certain parts of Romagna (and perhaps elsewhere in Italy) take to the landowner as a gift on the feast of Corpus Christi.

(
about 1 quart) of milk

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

8 egg yolks

2 egg whites

a dash of vanilla or coriander

Boil the milk with the sugar for an hour and, if you are not sure about the milk’s quality, even an hour and a quarter. If you use coriander use it as indicated in the previous recipe. Remember to stir the milk from time to time, to break the skin that forms as it boils. To be sure that it has no lumps, strain the milk, allow it to cool, and then mix in the eggs which you will have beaten in advance.

Line a baking dish with “crazy” dough (recipe 153), arranging it as for the Romagna blood pudding (recipe 702). Pour in the mixture, cook it with heat above and below at a moderate temperature, covering it with a buttered piece of paper so that it will not turn brown on top. Wait until it has thoroughly cooled before cutting it, like the blood pudding, into lozenges with a bottom crust.

This recipe is less delicate than the preceding one, but it is an excellent family dessert, and very nutritious, especially for children.

1 liter (about 1 quart) of milk

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

6 eggs

lemon rind

Since the essences of citrus fruits reside in the volatile oil trapped in the surface cells of the rind, just slice off with a penknife a very thin palm-length strip of peel and put it to boil in the liquid you want to flavor.

With a penknife slice off from the surface of a lemon a thin strip of peel of some length, and put it to boil in the milk, which you will let boil for half an hour with the sugar. When the milk has cooled, remove the lemon peel and stir in the beaten eggs. Cook as in the preceding recipe or, if you prefer, without a crust, but then you must generously grease the baking dish with cold butter to ensure that the mixture will not stick to it.

Take reinette apples or some other high-quality apples, not too ripe or large. Core them with a tin corer, peel, and then drop them immediately one by one in cool water into which you have squeezed the juice of half a lemon. Assuming that they weigh between 650 and 700 grams, dissolve over a flame 120 grams (about 4-1/4 ounces) of sugar in 1/2 a liter (about 1/2 a quart) of water to which a spoonful of kirsch has been added. Pour this mixture over the apples, which you have arranged evenly in a saucepan. As they cook, make sure that they remain whole. Once done, strain the apples and arrange them on a fruit tray. When they have cooled fill the cored centers with red currant jelly (recipe 739) which, being red, makes a nice color contrast with the white of the apples. Cook down the liquid remaining in the saucepan until it thickens to a syrupy consistency, then strain it through a wet cloth. Add to it another spoonful of kirsch and pour this mixture around the apples which you have arranged as described above. Serve cold.

If you are out of kirsch, use rosolio. And if you don’t have red currant jelly, use fruit preserves.

6 large peaches, barely ripe

4 small lady fingers

80 grams (about 2-2/3 ounces) of powdered sugar

50 grams (about 1-2/3 ounces) of sweet almonds, with three peach stones

10 grams (about 1/3 of an ounce) of candied citrus or orange

a scant 1/2 glass of good white wine

Slice the peaches in half. Remove the stones and, with the tip of a knife, enlarge the resulting cavities somewhat. Mix the pulp you have removed with the almonds, blanched in advance, and grind the mixture very finely in a mortar with 50 grams (about 1-2/3 ounces) of powdered sugar. Then add the ladyfingers (crumbled) and, lastly, the candied fruit, diced very small. This is the stuffing which you will use to generously fill the twelve half peaches. Arrange the peaches evenly face up in a copper baking dish and pour the wine and the remaining 30 grams of sugar over them. Cook with heat above and below.

You may serve the peaches either cold or hot as you wish, with the sauce around them. If they turn out well, they will look beautiful on a platter, and the thin crinkled crust that forms on the filling will make them resemble little pastries.

The French call this dish an
omelette soufflée
and it can serve as an expedient dessert, if you have nothing better and you have leftover egg whites.

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

3 egg yolks

6 egg whites

a dash of lemon zest

First, beat the egg yolks with the sugar for several minutes, then beat the egg whites until stiff. Fold the yolks gently into the white. Grease an ovenproof bowl with cold butter and pour in the mixture, making sure it fills the bowl to the brim. Place it immediately in a hot Dutch oven.

After it has been in the oven for five minutes, cut some slits into it with a knife and dust it with powdered sugar. Then finish cooking, which should take ten to twelve minutes in all. Be careful not to burn the top, and send it to the table immediately. In order to help it rise better, some people add a little lemon juice to the mixture.

To serve six people:

1liter (about 1 quart) of milk

240 grams (about 8-1/2 ounces) of sugar

120 grams (about 4-1/4 ounces) of powdered starch

8 egg yolks

a dash of vanilla

Mix all the ingredients together as you would for a custard, and put over the fire in a saucepan, stirring constantly. When the mixture has thickened, keep it on the fire for a few more minutes and then pour it into a baking dish or plate where it should form a layer 1-1/2 fingers deep. After it has cooled, cut it into almond-shaped pieces. Arrange these pieces symmetrically one on top of the other in a cop per or ovenproof porcelain dish, interspersing pats of butter. Brown for awhile in a Dutch oven and serve hot.

Make a custard with:

2 deciliters (about 4/5 of a cup) of milk

30 grams (about 1 ounce) of sugar

1/2 tablespoon of flour

1 egg

a dash of lemon zest

Make a syrup with:

2 deciliters (about 4/5 of a cup) of water

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

Boil the sugar and the water for ten minutes; when the syrup has cooled squeeze the juice of a lemon into it.

Fill a nicely decorated pudding mold with 300 grams (about 10-1/2 ounces) of sliced sponge cake, fruit preserves and the abovementioned
custard. Lastly, pour in the syrup to soak the sponge cake or, if you prefer, the ladyfingers. Allow it to set for several hours before taking it out of the mold and serving.

This recipe serves eight people.

500 grams (about 1 pound) of reinette apples

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

crustless stale bread, as needed

high-quality fresh butter, as needed