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Custard Royale
Beat slightly the yolks of two eggs and then beat into the yolks one entire egg. Add one-half cup of beef stock, a little salt, pepper and a few grains of cayenne. Pour the mixture into a shallow pan or dish so that the mixture will be about one-half inch deep. Set this pan into another holding boiling water and place both in a moderate oven, as the custard should set without bubbling and without forming a brown crust on top. When cold, cut in fancy shapes with vegetable cutter. Use care in placing these in the soup that they do not break. When used in consommé, they give the name "Consommé Royale" to the soup.
A savory baked custard cut into shapes to float in clear soup. It is easy but unforgiving: the whole point is a smooth, sliceable set with no bubbles, no browning, and no weeping.
- Moderate ovenRead that as 325-350F. Anything hotter will puff the custard and give it the honeycombed texture that makes it crumble in the bowl.
- The hinge: gentle heatThe original calls for setting the pan into another holding boiling water, but it also insists the custard set without bubbling; in practice keep the bath below a simmer once it is in the oven, since a rolling bath drives bubbles through the custard and the shapes will fall apart in the soup.
- ProportionsTwo yolks plus one whole egg to half a cup of stock is a stiff ratio by dessert-custard standards, and deliberately so. It has to hold an edge when cut, not quiver.
- Strain before pouringNot in the original, but pass the mixture through a fine sieve and skim any foam off the surface. Chalazae and air bubbles are the two things that spoil the cut face.
- Depth and timingHalf an inch is the working depth. At that thickness it will set in roughly 20 to 30 minutes; test by tilting the pan, and pull it as soon as the center no longer flows.
- Beef stockUse a well-flavored, clear, unsalted or lightly salted stock. Commercial broth is often salty enough that the "little salt" should be omitted entirely, and gelatin-heavy homemade stock sets firmer than the recipe expects.
- Cool completely before cuttingChill the custard thoroughly, loosen the edge, and turn it out onto a board. Warm royale tears; cold royale cuts cleanly with a small aspic or vegetable cutter.
- Yield and serviceHalf a cup of stock plus three eggs fills a small pan and should garnish roughly six to eight cups of consommé, added at the last moment, in the bowl rather than in the pot.
Royale is the standard French kitchen term for a savory egg custard set in a bain-marie and cut into rounds, diamonds or stars as a garnish for clear soup, and consomm\ Ithin and transparent by design, so anything added to it must be firm, cut to shape, and incapable of clouding the liquid. Royales were also made with pur\ Idifferent shapes.