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Macaroni Pudding, Parisian
Simmer six ounces of macaroni for fifteen minutes in water salted slightly. Drain, and cut it into pieces of equal length. Grate two ounces of Parmesan cheese, and mince the white meat of a chicken, or the breast and merry-thought of a fine fowl, a slice or two of boiled ham, quite free from fat, seasoned with a pinch of salt, if necessary, and a very little pepper. Moisten the mince with a cup of thick cream, and two table-spoonfuls of rich gravy. Stir the macaroni with the mince, add the yolks of four eggs, and the whites of two, and steam for three-quarters of an hour in a buttered mould. Serve with a rich veal gravy, flavoured with onion and tarragon, and more grated cheese in a dish. Sufficient for three or four persons.
A steamed savoury custard bound with macaroni, cooked meat and cheese — closer to a timbale than to anything called pudding today. The hinge is the steam: gentle, covered heat sets the egg without curdling it, so keep the water below a rolling boil.
- Merry-thoughtThe old name for the wishbone, and in carving the wishbone with the flesh attached to it; the recipe treats it as separate from the breast. Any cooked white chicken meat serves; something in the region of 6–8 oz total with the ham suits 6 oz macaroni.
- Macaroni, then and nowVictorian macaroni was long hollow tubes, sold in straight lengths, which is why the recipe says to cut it into equal pieces. Fifteen minutes suits that older, thicker pasta; modern dried elbow or ziti wants 6–8 minutes, drained a shade firm since it goes on to steam for another 45.
- The mouldA buttered 1-quart pudding basin, charlotte mould or metal bowl. Cover the top with buttered paper or foil tied down, stand it on a trivet in a pan with water halfway up the sides, lid on, and keep the water at a bare simmer.
- Egg proportionFour yolks and two whites give a rich, tender set rather than a rubbery one. The mixture is done when a skewer in the centre comes out clean and the custard reaches about 175°F; a hard boil in the pan will make it weep.
- Cream and gravy"Thick cream" means double or heavy cream, not cream thickened with flour. Take the cup as a rough measure of about 8–10 fl oz. The "rich gravy" is reduced meat stock or jus, not a floury sauce — two tablespoons is for flavour, not body.
- The sauceA veal gravy is a reduced veal stock; a good reduced chicken stock stands in without much loss. Infuse it with a little onion and a sprig of tarragon, strain, and hand the extra Parmesan separately as instructed.
- Turning outLet the mould stand five minutes off the heat before inverting, or the centre will slump. Serve at once; it firms and dulls as it cools.
- YieldThe original's three or four persons is accurate as a light main course, or six as a first course.
The dish is presumably called "Parisian" because moulding a mixture in a buttered form and setting it with egg over steam is French kitchen practice hat filled the entrée course of nineteenth-century dinners. Macaroni had been in English cookery books since the eighteenth century as an expensive imported Italian good, and by the 1870s it appears to have been more widely available, yet it still carried enough continental gloss to appear in dressed-up dishes like this one. The recipe also suggests the period's thrift working alongside its formality: the white meat of a cooked fowl and a slice of lean boiled ham may well be leftovers, rebuilt into something that could be turned out whole at table and served with its own sauce.