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Eclairs
Beat up and strain three eggs. Put one ounce of sugar, three ounces of butter, and a quarter of a pint of water into a small lined saucepan, and heat them until the butter is melted; then sift in three ounces of flour, stirring well, and cook again for five or six minutes, stirring all the time, until the mixture forms rather a stiff paste. Great care must be taken that it does not burn. Take it off the fire and mix the beaten eggs with it. Divide it into pieces one inch wide, four inches long, and three and a half inches thick; lay them in a baking-tin and bake them in rather a quick oven until they are of a pale golden colour, and have risen greatly. Then spread a thin coating of chocolate icing on each, and put back in a very cool oven for a few minutes until the icing is set. Whip a quarter of a pint of cream to a very stiff froth; open each eclair at the side, put in a spoonful of whipped cream, and close again. Serve cold. Probable cost, 1s. 6d. for twelve.
This is a standard choux paste (pâte à choux) written before piping bags were assumed equipment. The proportions are sound; a few of the measurements and one obvious misprint need attention.
- The hinge: dry the paste, then cool itThe five or six minutes of stirring after the flour goes in is what drives off water and gelatinises the starch, and it is the difference between eclairs that rise hollow and ones that stay dense. Let the paste cool from hot to merely warm before the eggs go in, or they will scramble.
- Quarter of a pintImperial measure, so 5 fl oz, about 140 ml, both for the water and later for the cream. American cup measures will read slightly short if you assume 4 oz.
- Weights to volume3 oz flour is about 2/3 cup, 3 oz butter is 6 tablespoons, 1 oz sugar is 2 tablespoons. Weighing is more reliable here than usual, since choux depends on the flour-to-liquid ratio.
- "Three and a half inches thick"A misprint. Eclairs are piped or shaped about half an inch thick and an inch wide; the length of four inches is right. Pipe with a plain half-inch nozzle if you have one.
- Rather a quick ovenStart at 425F for the first 10-15 minutes to get the lift, then drop to 375F for another 15-20 until they are firm, dry and pale gold. Do not open the door during the first rise, and pierce each shell when it comes out so steam escapes and it does not collapse.
- The "very cool oven" for the icingThis is a warming step only — in the region of 200F, or simply a warm spot near the stove. A hotter oven risks melting the chocolate icing off the sides.
- Cream and fillingWhip the cream to firm peaks with a little sugar; unsweetened cream against plain chocolate icing tastes flat to modern palates. Fill as close to serving as possible, since choux shells soften within a couple of hours.
- YieldTwelve, as the costing implies, at four inches each. Once filled they do not keep; unfilled shells can be recrisped in a 350F oven for a few minutes.
Choux paste is generally traced to sixteenth-century Italian and French court cookery, and by the nineteenth century it was one of the workhorse preparations of the professional pastry kitchen, turned into profiteroles, gougères, beignets and — in the shape given here — eclairs. The name means "lightning" or "flash" in French, usually explained by how quickly the things are eaten, though the attribution is traditional rather than documented. The costing of 1s. 6d. for twelve is a reminder of the book's audience — middle-class households running a kitchen on a budget, for whom eggs, butter and cream in these quantities were a considered expense rather than a trifle.