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GENOISES DE NOUILLES (sometimes called Genoises a la Reine)
Beat thoroughly the yolks of four eggs, and mix with them as much dried flour as will make a thick batter. Divide this into four parts, and roll each out as thin as possible. By the time all are rolled, the first one will be sufficiently dry to be cut into small strips, as thin as twine. Spread them on writing paper, and place them before the fire to dry. Drop them into a pint and a half of boiling milk, with six ounces of butter, six ounces of sugar, a pinch of salt, and the finely-grated rind of a large lemon. Simmer gently for thirty-five minutes, when the mixture should be a thick batter. It must be well stirred, particularly at first, to prevent it forming into lumps. Pour it out, and, as it cools, add the yolks of six eggs, well beaten. Butter a baking-tin, and pour the paste smoothly and evenly over it, making it about a quarter of an inch in thickness. Bake in a moderate oven until lightly browned. When it is sufficiently cooked, divide it into two parts, spread a little jam over one half, turn the other half upon it, stamp out in fancy shapes with a cutter, and pile the genoises in a dish. This mixture is very good baked in tartlet-tins, and eaten while hot. It does not improve with keeping. Time, twenty minutes to bake. Probable cost, 2s. for this quantity.
An egg-yolk noodle pudding baked flat, sandwiched with jam and cut into shapes. The noodles are meant to break down into the milk, so do not treat this as a pasta dish.
- The hinge: stir constantly at the startFresh flour-and-yolk noodles shed starch the moment they hit hot milk, and the mixture will seize into lumps if left alone. Keep it moving over low heat for the first several minutes, then stir often for the rest of the 35 minutes.
- Imperial liquid measureA pint and a half in this book is imperial, about 30 imperial fl oz (roughly 850 ml, or about 3 1/2 US cups). Six ounces of butter is 1 1/2 sticks; six ounces of sugar is a scant cup.
- "Dried flour"Flour was commonly dried before the fire and sieved before use to drive off damp. Modern flour is stored dry; simply use plain all-purpose flour and add it gradually. The recipe calls the result a thick batter, though it must be stiff enough to roll out as thin as possible.
- Drying the noodles"Writing paper" is plain smooth paper; use parchment. The recipe's own gauge is that the first sheet is dry enough by the time the last is rolled; a short spell near gentle warmth firms the strips so they do not stick, and they need not become brittle, since they are about to be simmered to a pulp.
- Adding the second batch of yolksSix yolks going into a hot starch mixture will scramble. Let the pan sit until it is warm rather than steaming, then beat the yolks in a little at a time, or temper by stirring a spoonful of the hot paste into the yolks first.
- Oven temperature and timeA moderate oven is 350F/175C. Twenty minutes is realistic for a quarter-inch sheet on a buttered tin; bake until set and lightly coloured, and expect a little longer in tartlet tins.
- Yield and servingTen yolks and 30 fl oz of milk make a large sheet at a quarter-inch thick; the number of stamped shapes depends on the cutter. The recipe's own note that it "does not improve with keeping" should be taken at face value: serve the day it is made, warm if baked in tartlet tins.
- CostThe recipe gives a probable cost of 2s. for this quantity; it offers no breakdown of that figure.
Nouilles are noodles, from the German Nudeln, and their appearance in a French-titled English sweet may reflect the Austro-German noodle puddings known in nineteenth-century professional kitchens. Genoise here does not mean the whisked sponge that now owns the name; in Victorian usage it was applied more loosely to small rich cakes baked in a sheet and stamped out, and "à la Reine" was a decorative name attached to many dishes rather than a fixed formula. The reliance on yolks alone, with no baking powder and no whipped whites, is characteristic of the period.