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Cornstarch Sauce No. 2
1 cup sweet milk 1 teaspoon cornstarch 3 teaspoons white sugar 2 eggs (yolks only) Stir until cooked, then add the yolks of the 2 eggs. After it is cooked and while it is hot, add vanilla and other flavouring.
A thin pouring custard thickened with both cornstarch and yolks, meant to be ladled over steamed or baked puddings. The written order of operations is muddled — the yolks go in near the end and must then be cooked gently, not left raw.
- Read the method in this orderWhisk the cornstarch and sugar into the cold milk, heat while stirring until it thickens and loses any raw starch taste, then temper in the beaten yolks off the direct heat and return it briefly to low heat. The yolks need to reach about 170-180F to thicken and be safe; above roughly 185F they scramble.
- "Sweet milk"Ordinary fresh whole milk, named to distinguish it from sour milk or buttermilk, which older cookbooks used constantly in baking. Whole milk gives the right body; skim makes a watery sauce.
- Cornstarch quantityOne teaspoon per cup of milk is a very light set — this is a sauce that coats a spoon, not a pudding. If you want it thicker, go to two teaspoons rather than adding more yolk.
- SugarThree teaspoons is one tablespoon, which is barely sweet by modern standards for a dessert sauce. Two to three tablespoons per cup will taste closer to a modern dessert sauce, particularly over a plain steamed pudding.
- Flavouring lastThe instruction to add vanilla while hot is right in intent but works better slightly off the boil — vanilla extract is alcohol-based and its aroma volatilises. "Other flavouring" is left unspecified; almond, lemon rind, nutmeg or a spoonful of brandy or sherry would all be in keeping with sauces of the period.
- StrainingPour through a fine sieve into a warm jug. This catches any bits of set egg and any starch lumps, and takes ten seconds.
- YieldAbout one cup, enough for four modest servings. It thickens further as it cools; hold it over warm water or thin it with a splash of milk before serving.
Pudding sauces occupy their own section in many North American cookbooks of the early twentieth century because steamed and boiled puddings were a standard everyday dessert, and a plain pudding without sauce was often said to be unfinished. This one sits between two traditions: the true egg custard sauce, which relies on yolks alone and demands careful heat, and the cheaper cornstarch sauce, which uses starch to do the thickening and can be made by anyone. Cornstarch became widely available to home cooks in the second half of the nineteenth century, and manufacturers promoted it hard as an economical stand-in for eggs. The Five Roses Cook Book was published by the Lake of the Woods Milling Company to sell flour, and its recipes were gathered from Canadian housewives, which accounts for the terse, assumed-knowledge style of the instructions.