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Lemon Custards
1079. Beat the yolks of eight eggs till they are as white as milk; then put to them a pint of boiling water, the rinds of two lemons grated, and the juice sweetened to the taste. Stir it on the fire till thick enough; then add a large glass of rich wine and half a glass of brandy; give the whole one scald, and put it in cups, to be eaten cold.
A water custard rather than a milk one: the yolks carry all the richness, and the lemon and wine do the rest. Everything depends on heat control.
- The hinge: never let it boilYolks set at about 160-175F and curdle above that. Cook over a bain-marie or the lowest possible flame, stirring constantly, and pull it off as soon as it coats the back of a spoon.
- Temper the eggsAdding a full pint of boiling water to beaten yolks in one go will scramble them. Pour it in a thin stream while whisking hard, then return the mixture to gentle heat.
- A pint"A pint" -- If this is a post-1824 imperial pint it is 20 fl oz, roughly 2 1/3 US cups; an older wine pint would be 16 fl oz, so the volume is not certain. Eight yolks to that much water gives a loose, pourable custard rather than a spoonable one.
- "Sweetened to the taste"Two lemons yield roughly 5-6 tablespoons of juice; 5 to 7 tablespoons (about 65-90 g) of sugar balances it. Dissolve the sugar in the hot water before it meets the yolks.
- Zest first, juice secondGrate the rinds while the lemons are whole and firm, taking only the yellow. The white pith turns the custard bitter, and pith is what you get if you grate a lemon after squeezing it.
- "Rich wine" and "one scald"Probably a sweet fortified wine - sherry, Madeira, Marsala. A period wine glass is commonly reckoned at about 2 fl oz, so a "large glass" is perhaps 3-4 fl oz, with the brandy half of whatever the glass holds. The final scald reads as a brief return to heat only, well short of simmering, to take the raw edge off the spirit.
- StrainingPass the finished custard through a fine sieve before potting. This catches any threads of set yolk and the grated rind, which has already given up its oil.
- Yield and servingAbout six to eight small custard cups or glasses. Chill at least three hours; the surface will set slightly. Grated nutmeg or a strip of candied peel would not be out of place, though the recipe specifies no garnish.
Custards made with water rather than milk appear in English cookery of the period, and they sit close to the older family of posset and caudle - hot drinks of eggs, wine, sugar and citrus taken from a cup, which may account for the wine and brandy here and for the setting in cups rather than baking or turning out. The high recipe number points to a large collected compendium, the sort that gathered recipes in numbered sequence with little comment.