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Baked California Pudding
Beat well three eggs with three-quarters of a pint of milk, sweeten to taste with sugar and flavor with a few drops of essence of almonds, add three-quarters of a wine-glassful of pale brandy; stir the preparation over the fire until it has become thickened, then move it off; put some small pieces of stale sponge-cake into a pie dish with an ounce and a half of thinly-shredded citron peel, pour the custard over it and leave it for half an hour. Then slightly warm six ounces of butter and beat it with an equal amount of fine sugar until frothy. Spread this mixture over the pudding and bake for an hour, and serve either hot or cold.
A brandied sponge-cake custard with a creamed butter-and-sugar crust baked on top. The custard is cooked twice, which is where most of the difficulty lies.
- The hinge: do not let the custard boilThree eggs to 1½ cups milk is a thin custard, and "stir over the fire until thickened" means to about 175F over low heat or a bain-marie, until it coats a spoon. A few seconds too long and it curdles.
- MeasuresThree-quarters of a pint is 1½ cups (US), taking the 16-oz pint. A wine-glass in this period is usually reckoned at about 2 fl oz, so three-quarters of one is roughly 1½ fl oz -- about 3 tablespoons of brandy.
- Essence of almondsNineteenth-century almond essence was often true bitter-almond oil, potent and used a drop at a time. Modern almond extract is the standard substitute; ¼ teaspoon is plenty for this quantity.
- Citron peelAn ounce and a half is about ¼ cup shredded. Candied citron is still sold at holiday season; candied orange or lemon peel behaves the same way, though it is sweeter and less resinous.
- OvenNo temperature is given. A butter-and-sugar topping over a set custard wants a moderate oven, 325–350F, for the stated hour; hotter and the sugar crust darkens before the interior sets. A water bath is worth using if your oven runs hot.
- The toppingSix ounces butter creamed with six ounces sugar is a very rich lid — it melts and reforms into a crackling sugar crust rather than staying a frosting. Spread it while the pudding is cold or it will simply slide off.
- Sponge cakeStale sponge is specified because fresh cake collapses into paste. Day-old plain sponge, ladyfingers or panettone cut in cubes all take up the custard without disintegrating; the half-hour soak is not optional.
- YieldThe recipe specifies only "a pie dish"; something around 9 inches suits these quantities, serving six or so. Cold, it slices cleanly; hot, it must be spooned.
Oscar Tschirky's 1896 collection is largely a working reference to the international hotel repertoire of the 1890s, and this belongs to the English cabinet or bread-and-butter pudding family -- stale cake, custard, candied peel, spirits -- dressed up with a creamed sugar crust. The "California" in the name is unexplained: the recipe calls only for "pale brandy," and any link to California brandy is guesswork, though California brandy production was established in the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys by the 1880s and was advertised in the East as a domestic alternative to Cognac. Dishes of this kind made use of cake that would otherwise have been wasted.