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Lemon Custard
Beat the yolks of eight eggs till they are white, add pint boiling water, the rinds of two lemons grated, and the juice sweetened to taste; stir this on the fire till it thickens, then add a large glass of rich wine, and one-half glass brandy; give the whole a good boil, and put in glasses. To be eaten cold. Or, put the thin yellow rind of two lemons, with the juice of three, and sugar to taste, into one pint of warm water. As lemons vary in size and juiciness, the exact quantity of sugar can not be given. Ordinary lemons requires three gills. It will be safe to begin with that quantity, more may be added if required. Beat the whites to a stiff froth, then the yolks; then beat both together, pour in gradually while beating the other ingredients; put all in a pail, set in a pot of boiling water, and stir until thick as boiled custard; strain it in a deep dish; when cool place on ice. Serve in glasses. - Mrs. Belle R. Liggett, Detroit, Mich.
Two versions of the same dessert: the first a boozy stirred custard, the second a plain lemon custard cooked over water. Both live or die on temperature control.
- Do not actually boil it"Give the whole a good boil" is the one instruction to ignore. Yolk custard sets around 170-180F and scrambles above that; hold it below a simmer and pull it the moment it coats a spoon.
- GillsA gill is half a cup, so three gills of sugar is about 1 1/2 cups, roughly 300 g. That is the sugar for the second version only, and the recipe is right that it depends on the lemons.
- "A large glass of rich wine"A wineglassful of the period was commonly reckoned at about 2 fl oz, though larger glasses were used. "Rich wine" is generally taken to mean a sweet fortified wine, sherry, madeira or marsala, rather than table wine. Reading the glass generously, that is roughly 4 oz wine and 2 oz brandy for eight yolks.
- Add the spirits off the heatAlcohol stirred into a hot custard will thin it and encourage curdling if the pan goes back over direct flame. Stir it in once the custard has thickened and the pan is off the burner.
- Beating yolks "till they are white"This means pale and thick, not literally white, three to four minutes with a whisk or two with a mixer. It is what carries air and body into a custard with no cream in it.
- The pail in a potThe second method is a double boiler. A heatproof bowl over barely simmering water, not touching it, does the same job and gives you more room to stir the sides and bottom.
- Egg count for the second versionThe original never says. Match the first and use eight eggs, whites and yolks, to a pint of lemon water; that gives a soft spoonable set.
- Straining and citrusPeel or zest left in gives a slightly bitter, speckled custard, so the strain called for in the second version matters, and it is worth straining the first as well; note the second version uses thin pared yellow rind rather than grated. Take only the yellow, and use unwaxed or well-scrubbed lemons.
- YieldEither version fills six to eight small glasses. Chill at least three hours; both are meant to be eaten cold.
Buckeye Cookery (1877) collected recipes by name from contributing housewives across the Midwest, which is why this entry carries Mrs. Liggett of Detroit and why it contains two unreconciled methods, likely two submissions filed together. Lemon custard belongs to an older family of dishes, including the eighteenth-century English lemon cream and lemon posset, built on the same trick of setting eggs or cream with citrus and sweet wine and served in small glasses rather than on plates. The wine and brandy of the first version suggest the older, more festive style; the second is plainer, cooked over water and set on ice. The frank admission that lemons vary and that exact sugar cannot be given is characteristic of the book's tone, which assumes a cook who tastes rather than measures.