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Sabyon Sauce
Grated rind and juice 1/2 lemon 1/2 cup white wine or 1/4 cup Sherry 1/3 cup sugar 2 eggs Mix lemon, wine, sugar, and yolks of eggs; stir vigorously over fire until it thickens, using a wire whisk; pour on to whites of eggs beaten stiff.
A lemon sabayon, thickened over heat and lightened with beaten whites. The whole thing lives or dies on how gently the yolk mixture is heated.
- Use a bowl over water, not direct heat"Over fire" here means over a low flame with constant whisking; a metal bowl set over barely simmering water gives you the same result with far less risk of scrambling. The yolks should thicken to a foamy ribbon that briefly holds its shape, around 160-170F.
- The hinge: never let it boilIf the yolk mixture is allowed to simmer it will grain and curdle, and once badly broken it is unlikely to come back. Pull it off the heat the moment it mounds on the whisk and keep whisking for a few seconds off the flame.
- Fold, do not stir"Pour on to whites" means pour the hot yolk foam over the stiff whites and fold gently. Stirring will knock out the air and leave you with a thin custard.
- Wine measuresThe recipe asks for half a cup of white wine but only a quarter cup of sherry. Sherry is fortified and often sweeter, which may be why less is wanted, though the recipe does not say. Either way, use something you would drink; bottled "cooking sherry" is salted.
- SugarA third of a cup is about 2 1/4 oz (65 g), on the modest side for a dessert sauce. Taste after the yolks thicken and adjust before the whites go in, since sugar dissolves poorly in the cold foam.
- Raw whitesThe whites are never heated beyond what the hot yolk mixture provides, which is not enough to pasteurise them. If serving anyone elderly, pregnant, very young or immune-compromised, use pasteurised shell eggs or leave the whites out and serve the sabayon as it comes off the heat.
- Yield and servingTwo eggs with half a cup of liquid make a modest quantity of foam, enough for a few small servings. It will begin to weep fairly quickly, so make it just before it goes to the table and spoon it over steamed or sponge puddings, poached fruit, or berries.
Sabyon is one of many English spellings of the French sabayon, itself borrowed from the Italian zabaglione, a whisked custard of egg yolks, sugar and sweet wine. The Marsala version is the best known, though that pairing is a later association rather than the origin of the dish. The technique is related to hollandaise on the savoury side, in that egg yolk whisked over gentle heat with an acid liquid gives a stable, thickened body. Sauces of this kind turn up among the pudding sauces of American domestic-science cookery around the turn of the twentieth century, when boiled puddings and plain sponges were everyday desserts. The lemon rind and the option of sherry rather than white wine may point to a household with fortified wine on hand.