“‘A beautiful bird!’ said Arthur, after inquiring the price, and finding it proportionate to the size. ‘With a rasher of ham, and an egg made into sauce, and potatoes, and greens, and an apple pudding, Peg, and a little bit of cheese, we shall have a dinner for an emperor. There’ll only be she and me--and you, Peg, when we’ve done.’”
A cook of roughly the same moment, setting down the same dish.
404. INGREDIENTS.--1 pint of milk, 2 eggs, 3 oz. of pounded sugar, 1 tablespoonful of brandy. _Mode_.--Put the milk in a very clean saucepan, and let it boil. Beat the eggs, stir to them the milk and pounded sugar, and put the mixture into a jug. Place the jug in a saucepan of boiling water; keep stirring well until it thickens, but do not allow it to boil, or it will curdle. Serve the sauce in a tureen, stir in the brandy, and grate a little nutmeg over the top. This sauce may be made very much nicer by using cream instead of milk; but the above recipe will be found quite good enough for ordinary purposes. _Average cost_, 6d. per pint. _Sufficient_, this quantity, for 2 fruit tarts, or 1 pudding.
Sources: The passage is from Charles Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby, free to read in full at Project Gutenberg. The recipe is from Beeton, The Book of Household Management of 1861, also free in full. Both are in the public domain in the United States. The binding above is ours — burgundy cloth, tankard stamp.