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German Pudding Sauce
Heat half a pint of white wine with three large lumps of sugar. When quite hot, pour the wine over the yolks of two eggs, and beat thoroughly over a slow fire, till it froths and looks like custard. The sauce must on no account boil, or it will curdle. Just before serving, add the juice of a lemon. Time, a few minutes to prepare. Probable cost, 3d., exclusive of the wine. Sufficient for nearly three-quarters of a pint of sauce. This is a very good sauce for a boiled pudding.
This is a sabayon in all but name, and it behaves like one: the whole thing succeeds or fails on temperature control. Everything else is a matter of translating Victorian measures.
- The hingeThe warning against boiling is the recipe. Yolks begin to thicken at around 150F and set by about 160F, rather higher when diluted with wine and sugar, and past that point they scramble into grains no amount of whisking will smooth. Work in a bowl over barely simmering water rather than directly on the burner, and pull it the moment it holds a ribbon.
- Half a pint of wineAn Imperial half-pint is 10 fluid ounces, about 1 1/4 US cups. A dry-ish German white is the obvious choice for a sauce with this name, though any light unoaked white works; nothing tannic or heavily wooded.
- Three large lumps of sugarVictorian loaf sugar was broken from a cone, so lump size varied. Reckon 2 to 3 tablespoons of granulated sugar in total, and taste after the lemon goes in, since the acid will make it read drier.
- Tempering the yolksPour the hot wine onto the yolks in a thin stream while whisking, not all at once. Dumping hot liquid into two lone yolks sets them before they can disperse.
- Whisk continuously"Beat thoroughly" means without pause. The froth is aerated foam, not thickening from starch or reduction, so the sauce is only as light as the air you have beaten into it.
- The lemon lastAdding acid at the start makes the yolks more likely to break. The recipe's 'just before serving' puts it at the very end, which is right.
- Yield and servingNearly three-quarters of an Imperial pint is a generous 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 US cups, enough for six to eight servings. Serve it within a few minutes of making; it deflates and separates as it cools and will not revive.
- What to put it on"A boiled pudding" means the steamed suet or sponge puddings of the period. It suits any dense steamed or baked pudding, and works equally well over poached pears or a plain sponge cake.
Sauces of wine, sugar and egg yolk whisked to a foam over gentle heat are common across Europe: Italian zabaglione, French sabayon, and in German-speaking kitchens Weinschaumsoße, literally "wine foam sauce," served warm over steamed puddings and cakes. The "German" label sits with a period habit of naming continental sauces by nationality, though the book gives no explanation of its own. The costing detail is characteristic of the book's house style, the price here being given "exclusive of the wine." The wine's acidity may also help the yolks thicken at a lower temperature than they would in milk alone.