London Syllabub

This is a "syllabub under the cow" — the milk was meant to be squirted straight from the udder into the wine bowl from a height, so that it arrived warm, aerated and curdling. Everything about the recipe follows from that, and the substitutions below are what make it work in a kitchen.

• The hinge: force and frothThe milk wants to hit the acidic wine warm and full of air rather than be stirred in. Warm whole milk to roughly blood heat, then pour it into the bowl from a foot or more above, or froth it first with a milk frother or a whisk and pour it in a thin stream from height. Poured in gently and cold, the curd is likely to be thin and watery.
• QuantitiesA pint and a half of wine is about 3 cups by US measure, nearer 3 3/4 if the pint is imperial, as it likely is here; "near two quarts of milk" is about 7 cups. That yields roughly 2 1/2 quarts of syllabub, enough for perhaps twelve to sixteen glasses — the scale of a party, and it halves and quarters without trouble.
• Use pasteurised milkThe original assumes a cow in the yard. Ordinary whole pasteurised milk is the sensible substitute; ultra-pasteurised milk is often said to froth less stably, so choose plain pasteurised if you have the choice. Skimmed milk will not give the creamy top layer the dish is made for.
• "Rather sharp" wineThis is the real instruction about the wine, and it is a chemical one: the acid sets the curd. Modern port is generally sweet, and a dry white with brisk acidity — a Riesling, a Muscadet, a dry sherry cut with white wine — will set the syllabub more reliably. The note that a less sharp wine "will require more" is sound advice.
• Sugar and nutmeg"A good deal of sugar" for this volume means roughly 1/2 to 3/4 cup, dissolved in the wine before the milk goes in; grate the nutmeg fresh, about half a whole nut. Taste the sweetened wine first, since the milk dilutes it considerably.
• ServingServe within an hour, in glasses rather than bowls. The point of the dish is the layering — a foamy curd on top, sweet spiced whey beneath — and a thin syllabub of this sort was often drunk from the glass rather than spooned. It will separate further as it stands, which was expected.