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Custard Pudding
Put into a thin pudding-mould one tablespoonful of caster-sugar, and move it about on the stove until it begins to brown. When the mould is completely lined with the sugar, pour in one pint of milk boiled with the peel of half a lemon, and four eggs beaten in with it, and sweeten to taste. Put the mould in a saucepan with hot water to half its height, let the water simmer gently for half an hour, turn the pudding into a mould, and serve hot.
This is a crème caramel under a plainer name, and it behaves like one: the whole thing turns on keeping the water bath below a simmer despite what the text says.
- The hinge: keep the water below a simmerA gently simmering bath will drive the custard past 185F and curdle it into something weeping and grainy. Hold the water at 170-180F, barely trembling, and the custard sets smooth. If your stovetop cannot hold that, bake the mould in its water bath in a 325F oven instead.
- Caramel first, and work dryA tablespoon of caster sugar melted directly in the mould is a dry caramel. Swirl rather than stir, take it to a medium amber, then tilt immediately to coat the sides before it seizes. The mould will be dangerously hot at that point -- caramelisation runs well above 320F -- so handle it with a folded towel and let it cool a minute before the custard goes in.
- Caster sugarSuperfine sugar. Ordinary granulated works for the caramel; for sweetening the custard, superfine or a spoonful of granulated dissolved in the hot milk avoids grit.
- A pintAn American pint, 16 fl oz or 2 cups. With four eggs that is a rich ratio, closer to a firm flan than a pouring custard.
- Temper and strainThe wording implies the eggs go into boiled milk, which will scramble them if done all at once. Whisk the hot lemon-infused milk into the beaten eggs in a thin stream, then strain through a fine sieve into the mould to catch chalazae and any lemon peel.
- Lemon peelPared zest only, no white pith, and steep it in the milk off the heat for ten minutes or so for real flavour before straining it out.
- "A thin pudding-mould"Thin metal, so the heat passes quickly. A 1-quart metal charlotte mould or four 6 oz ramekins both work; ramekins set in about 25 minutes, a single quart mould nearer 40 to 45.
- DonenessThe centre should wobble as a single mass when the mould is nudged, and a knife inserted an inch from the edge should come out clean. Carryover heat finishes the middle.
- Turning outThe text says to turn it into a mould, almost certainly a slip for a dish. Run a knife round the edge and invert onto a rimmed plate so the caramel syrup has somewhere to go. Served hot it will be loose; an hour of chilling makes it cut cleanly, and the caramel liquefies either way.
- YieldFour modest servings.
Oscar Tschirky, the Waldorf's celebrated maître d'hôtel, published his cook book in 1896, and its dessert chapters lean heavily on the French repertoire that defined hotel dining in New York at the time. What is printed here as a plain custard pudding is the classic crème renversée au caramel, in which the mould is lined with burnt sugar so the finished custard arrives wearing its own sauce. Lemon peel steeped in the milk appears in English and American custard recipes long before vanilla extract became a pantry staple. The recipe directs that the pudding be cooked in a saucepan of hot water rather than an oven — an instruction worth reversing today.