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Vanille Custard Frothed
1077. Sweeten and flavour one pint of milk with vanilla. Beat the whites of seven or eight eggs to a stiff froth; and, when the milk boils, take out a table-spoonful of the froth and let it set in the milk, turning it once. Put it on a sieve to drain, then another, and another. When there is a sufficient quantity, strain the milk and make it into custard in the usual way, eight or nine eggs to a pint of milk. Pat the custard when cold into a glass dish, and place the frothed whites upon it.
This is a floating-island dessert: meringue poached in the milk that afterwards becomes the custard, so nothing is wasted. The whole thing turns on heat control at two separate stages.
- Do not let the milk boil hardDespite the wording, a rolling boil will shred the meringue and toughen it. Bring the milk to a bare shiver, around 180F, and hold it there while you poach.
- Poaching the frothA tablespoon of stiff white needs about 60 to 90 seconds on the first side and half that after turning. It should feel just set and springy; overcooked meringue weeps and collapses on the custard.
- The eggs for the custard"Eight or nine eggs to a pint of milk" probably means yolks, since the whites have already gone into the froth, though the text says only "eggs". Nine yolks to a pint gives a very rich pouring custard; six is closer to modern taste.
- Cooking the custardStir over low heat or a water bath until it coats the spoon, 170 to 175F. Above about 180F the yolks scramble; strain it as the recipe says, which also removes any stray meringue.
- Flavouring with vanillaSplit a vanilla pod into the milk and infuse it off the heat for 20 minutes, then reheat. Extract works but should go in after the custard is off the heat, as the aroma boils away.
- SweeteningNo quantity is given. About 3 tablespoons of sugar to the pint of milk suits the custard; a tablespoon beaten into the whites at the end of whisking makes the meringue more stable.
- Draining"Then another, and another" means poach in batches, a few spoonfuls at a time, laying each drained batch on a sieve or cloth. Crowding the pan makes the pieces stick together.
- Yield and servingA pint of milk and this many eggs serves four to six. Assemble only shortly before serving; the meringue slowly seeps liquid into the custard and thins it.