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Snow Eggs
To whites 5 eggs add pinch salt, and whip to very stiff froth; gradually add 1 tablespoonful powdered sugar and few drops flavoring. Scald 1 quart milk in large pan. Shape whites in tablespoon, drop a few at a time in hot milk. Turn until cooked. Lift out with skimmer, lay on glass dish. When all are cooked, make custard with egg yolks, milk, and 3 tablespoonfuls sugar, and serve with eggs.
This is the dish usually called oeufs à la neige or floating island: meringue poached in milk, then floated on a soft custard made from the yolks. The whole thing turns on heat control, since neither the poaching milk nor the finished custard should ever boil.
- Keep the milk below a simmer"Scald" means bringing the milk just to the point where it steams and shivers at the edge of the pan, roughly 180F, not to a rolling boil. Meringue dropped into boiling milk swells, then collapses and weeps.
- Poaching timeSpoonfuls of stiff white need about 2 minutes on the first side and 1 to 2 more after turning. They should feel set and springy; longer and they go tough and rubbery.
- The sugar looks lightOne tablespoon of powdered sugar to five whites gives a barely sweet, very firm meringue that holds its shape in the milk. Other versions often call for more, 2 to 4 tablespoons; more sugar makes a softer, glossier egg that is more fragile to poach.
- Flavoring"Few drops flavoring" is unspecified; vanilla extract is the likeliest reading, though almond, lemon or rose were also used. Err on the light side, since the recipe asks only for a few drops.
- Which milk for the custardThe recipe does not say, and one reasonable reading is that you reuse the quart the meringues were poached in, strained to remove stray shreds. Expect to have lost some to evaporation and absorption, so top it up if needed.
- Cooking the custardWhisk the five yolks with the 3 tablespoons sugar, temper in the hot milk, and stir over low heat or a water bath until it coats a spoon, around 170 to 175F. Past 180F the yolks scramble and the sauce breaks.
- Vessel and assemblyThe "glass dish" is a shallow serving bowl. Pour the cooled custard around the meringues rather than over them, or spoon the custard in first and float the eggs on top.
- Yield and servingFive whites make roughly 12 to 16 spoon-shaped eggs, enough for 4 to 6 servings. Serve cold, within a few hours; the meringues gradually leak into the custard and thin it.