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Sabajone, or Sabaillon
Mix eight very fresh yolks of eggs with three glasses of Madeira or sherry, sugar to taste, and a little cinnamon. Put all into a saucepan over a quick fire; do not let it boil, but beat it constantly till it rises and is of the consistency of thick cream. This is an excellent pudding sauce, but in Italy it is poured into glasses and served at balls, etc., as a custard. Probable cost, 2s.
A Victorian rendering of Italian zabaglione, written for a cook who already knows that egg yolks and heat are a nervous partnership. The whole recipe turns on temperature control.
- The hinge: never let it boilYolks curdle once the mixture gets much past the temperature of a stirred custard, so it must be held below a simmer while it foams and thickens. Work in a bowl over barely simmering water rather than directly on the burner as written, and pull it off the heat the moment it mounds on the whisk.
- "Three glasses"A wineglassful in Victorian usage is about 2 fl oz, so three glasses is roughly 6 fl oz, or 3/4 cup. With eight yolks that gives a fairly loose sabayon; use closer to 5 fl oz if you want it stiff enough to stand in a glass.
- "A quick fire"Means a brisk, hot fire on a range top. On a modern hob that translates to medium heat under a water bath, not high heat under the pan itself.
- Sugar to tasteFor eight yolks, 4 to 6 tablespoons is a reasonable starting point. Whisk the sugar into the yolks before any heat so it dissolves and protects the yolks from setting too fast.
- The wineMarsala is the Italian standard; Madeira and sherry, named here, were the fortified wines readily to hand in an English house and work well. Use a medium-dry style, as a cream sherry plus added sugar will cloy.
- CinnamonA pinch of ground cinnamon rather than a stick, since the sauce is never held long enough to infuse. Grated lemon zest is another flavouring found in Italian versions if you would rather not stray from type.
- Egg safetyThe mixture may thicken before it reaches 160F, so do not assume the heat of cooking has made it safe. If you are serving it cold in glasses, particularly to anyone vulnerable, check with an instant-read thermometer.
- Yield and servingEight yolks make roughly 3 cups of foam, enough for six to eight small glasses or sauce for a large pudding. It collapses fairly quickly, so make it last and serve it at once.
- Probable costTwo shillings was a real outlay in a book of this period. It marks this as a party dish rather than everyday cookery.
Zabaglione, spelled here in one of the many nineteenth-century English attempts at the word alongside the French sabayon, is a whisked wine custard generally traced to northern Italy, with Turin among the origins usually cited. The note that Italians pour it into glasses and hand it round at balls is telling: in an English kitchen it was treated first as a pudding sauce, poured over a plain steamed or baked pudding, while the Continental habit of taking it warm from a glass was still worth explaining to the reader.