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Veal Custard
Break three fresh eggs into a bowl (take out the specks), and beat them till light. Stir into them gradually half a pint of boiling veal gravy, add a seasoning of salt and cayenne, a pinch of powdered mace, and a tea-spoonful of lightly-grated lemon-rind. Butter some cups, and three-parts fill them with the custard. Bake them in a gentle oven till they are set, then turn them upon a dish, and pour a little good veal gravy round them. If preferred, the custard may be baked in a small dish edged with pastry. Time to bake the custard, fifteen to twenty minutes.
A savoury baked custard of the royal-custard type, meant as a garnish for clear soups or as a light entrée. It is simple, but it lives or dies by oven temperature.
- The hinge: gentle heat"A gentle oven" is a slow one, roughly 300-325F in modern terms, though the book gives no figure. Standing the cups in a water bath reaching halfway up their sides is a modern safeguard rather than part of the original instruction. Too much heat tightens the egg proteins so the custards weep and turn granular or pitted instead of slicing clean.
- Half a pintIn this English book, half a pint is 10 fl oz; the American half pint is 8 fl oz. Either works with three eggs, but 8 fl oz gives a firmer custard that unmoulds more reliably, 10 fl oz a softer, more spoonable set.
- "Veal gravy"Not a thickened brown sauce. Victorian veal gravy is a clear, well-reduced stock from veal knuckle and trimmings, gelatinous enough to set lightly when cold. A good unsalted veal or chicken stock, reduced until it is distinctly sticky on the lips, is the modern stand-in; the gelatine helps the custard turn out whole.
- TemperingPour the boiling stock into the beaten eggs in a thin stream while whisking, exactly as written. Reversing the order scrambles them. Strain the mixture afterwards and skim the foam, or the surface will bake full of bubbles.
- The specks"Specks" most likely means blood or meat spots, and possibly the white cords (chalazae) anchoring the yolk; either way they are picked out so they do not show in a pale, unsweetened custard.
- DonenessFifteen to twenty minutes is right for small cups, but judge by feel: the custard should be set at the edge with a slight wobble at the centre, around 170-175F internally. Let the cups stand five minutes before turning out.
- SeasoningMace is the outer covering of nutmeg, warmer and less sharp; ground nutmeg used sparingly is the nearest substitute. Season the stock before combining, since you cannot taste and correct once the eggs are in.
- YieldThree eggs and a half pint of stock fill four small dariole moulds or ramekins, or one shallow pastry-edged dish serving three or four as a light course.
Savoury custards of this kind belong to the older tradition of the royale, a stock-and-egg mixture baked, cooled and cut into small dice or fancy shapes to garnish clear soups o French kitchens and absorbed wholesale into English cookery in the nineteenth century. The underlying method matters more than the dish: the fixed relationship between eggs and liquid governs everything from a quiche to a cr icme caramel, and a savoury version makes the point that custard is a structure, not a sweet. Veal gravy was the natural liquid because veal's mild flavour and heavy gelatine made it the neutral foundation of the whole sauce repertoire, which is also why it has largely dropped out of home cooking as that repertoire contracted.