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Apricot Custard
Line a pie-dish with a good short crust. Spread smoothly at the bottom a layer of apricot marmalade about an inch in thickness, and pour over it a custard made of 1 pint of new milk, 3 eggs, and 1 teaspoonful of ground rice, a little sugar, and 4 drops of the essence of almonds. Bake in a quick oven. Time to bake, fifteen minutes.
A custard tart with a layer of apricot preserve beneath the filling. The stated fifteen minutes is the one figure not to trust: a pint of milk thickened with three eggs will not set that fast at any temperature that leaves the pastry intact.
- Oven temperature and real timingA "quick oven" is usually read as roughly 400-425F. Start there for the first 10-15 minutes to set the pastry, then drop to about 325-340F and bake until the custard is just barely wobbling at the centre, commonly 35-45 minutes in total. Baked hot the whole way through, the egg proteins tighten and the custard weeps.
- Blind-bake the crustA wet custard poured onto raw short crust gives a soggy base. Line the dish, chill it, and blind-bake at 400F for about 15 minutes before the marmalade goes in.
- New milkThis means fresh whole milk, straight from the day's milking. Use whole milk; for a richer set, replace a third of it with single or heavy cream.
- Apricot marmaladeIn this period "marmalade" was not restricted to citrus; it means a thick, reduced fruit preserve. A good stiff apricot jam works. Anything loose will bleed up into the custard, so reduce it in a pan and cool it first.
- Ground riceClose to rice flour, though ground rice is normally a slightly coarser grind. A teaspoon in a pint does little real thickening; it works mainly as insurance against curdling and splitting. Whisk it into a little of the cold milk before adding the rest.
- Essence of almondsNineteenth-century essences varied a good deal in strength; modern almond extract is at least more consistent. Four drops is a reasonable starting point; taste the custard before it goes in the dish, since almond flavour swamps apricot quickly.
- An inch of preserveThat is a generous layer by current taste; across a 9-inch dish it comes to something like three to four cups, and it makes a very sweet tart. Half that depth suits most palates, and the recipe's unspecified "little sugar" can then be kept to a tablespoon or two.
- YieldFills a 9-inch pie dish and serves six. Cool at least an hour before cutting; a warm custard tart will not hold a clean slice.