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Lemon Cheese for Tartlets
To the juice and grated rind of two lemons add beaten yolks of three eggs, one cup of sugar, and a half-cup of butter. Beat well and cook in double boiler until thick.
This is lemon curd under its older northern English name. The whole method hangs on gentle heat: the yolks must thicken without scrambling.
- The hinge: keep the water below a simmerSet the double boiler over barely trembling water and do not let the pan touch it. The curd is generally done around 170F, when it coats a spoon and holds a line drawn with a finger; the sugar and acid give it some protection, but take it much past that and the yolks are liable to curdle, and beating will not bring them back.
- Stir, do not beat, once it is on the heatThe instruction to "beat well" applies to combining the ingredients off the heat. Over the water, stir steadily with a spatula or whisk, reaching the sides and bottom; expect ten minutes or more, and judge by thickness rather than the clock.
- Butter measureA half-cup is 4 oz, one stick. Cut it into pieces and add them cold at the end, off the heat, for a glossier set than melting it in at the start.
- Grated rindTake only the yellow zest; the white pith is bitter. Rubbing the zest into the sugar first with your fingers pulls out more oil than grating it into the liquid. Strain the finished curd through a sieve if you want it smooth.
- Yolks onlyThree yolks with a cup of sugar gives a soft, spoonable set rather than a firm one. It will thicken considerably more as it chills.
- Yield and shellsAbout 1 1/2 cups, enough to fill roughly 24 small tartlet shells or one 8-inch tart. The shells should be blind-baked and cooled; the curd is not baked again.
- KeepingBecause it is butter and egg, this is a refrigerator preserve, not a shelf-stable one. Press plastic wrap onto the surface and use within a week.
"Lemon cheese" is the older British name for what is now generally called lemon curd, and it appears in British household books well into the twentieth century. The word cheese here is generally taken to mean a thick fruit paste set firm enough to cut or spread rom son cheson cheese and apple cheese — a usage thought to work by analogy with moulded cheese rather than with dairy curd. Its place in a book of fruit recipes reflects the lemon's standing in the period: an imported fruit bought a few at a time, valuable enough that both juice and rind were used.