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Harlequin Slices
Yolks 3 eggs 2 tablespoons milk Few grains salt Whites 3 eggs Few grains salt Chopped truffles Beat yolks of eggs slightly, add milk and salt. Pour into small buttered cup, place in pan of hot water and bake until firm. Beat whites of eggs slightly, add salt, and cook same as yolks. Cool, remove from cups, cut in slices, pack in a mould in alternate layers, and press with a weight. A few truffles may be sprinkled between slices if desired. Remove from mould and cut in slices. Serve in Consommé.
This is not a soup but a garnish for one — a two-tone baked egg custard, sliced and layered, meant to float in clear consommé. The whole thing hinges on gentle heat: the custards must set without a single bubble, or they turn spongy and weep into the broth.
- Oven and water bathThe original gives no temperature, only "bake until firm"; a moderate oven of around 325F suits. Set the cups in a pan of hot water reaching halfway up their sides and pull them when the centres are just firm to a light touch — roughly 20 to 30 minutes for small cups. Overbaking gives a honeycombed, watery custard that will cloud the consommé.
- "Small buttered cup"Use straight-sided ramekins or small custard cups of about 4 oz, buttered well so the set custard turns out clean. Straight sides matter more than size: you want a block you can slice into even sheets.
- The yolk and white mixtures differThe yolks get two tablespoons of milk; the whites get none. Do not add milk to the whites or they will not hold a clean cut. Beat both only enough to combine — froth becomes bubbles, and bubbles show in the finished slice.
- Strain before bakingNot in the original, but pass each mixture through a fine sieve. It removes the chalazae and any stringy albumen, and it is the difference between a custard that slices like fudge and one that tears.
- Layering and weightingChill both custards thoroughly before slicing — cold, firm custard cuts cleanly with a thin knife dipped in hot water. Layered slices bond only by pressure and gelation, so line the mould with plastic wrap, weight it with a small can, and refrigerate several hours before unmoulding and cutting the final checkerboard slices.
- TrufflesA fresh black truffle is a luxury purchase; a small jar of preserved truffle peelings, blotted dry and chopped fine, gives the same visual speckle. Truffle oil will not work here — it flavours the broth and does nothing for the pattern.
- ServingThree eggs should give enough garnish for roughly six to eight cups of consommé, depending on how thickly you cut. Add the slices to the hot soup in the plate or cup, not to the pot: simmering breaks them up and muddies a clear broth.
- Where it belongs in the bookWhere it belongs -- This is a garnish rather than a soup in itself: the slices are served in a good clear consommé, which does require stock.
This is a version of what French kitchens call royale — a firm, unsweetened egg custard baked in a mould and cut into shapes to garnish clear soup. The professional repertoire of the late nineteenth century listed dozens of them, plain, green with spinach purée, red with tomato, and the two-tone kind assembled from separately baked yolk and white custards to give a checkerboard, from which the name harlequin is generally traced to the diamond-patterned costume of the commedia dell'arte figure. Truffles were being imported into American cities by this date, though the phrase "if desired" quietly acknowledges what they cost.