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German Sauce for Puddings
Beat the yolks of half a dozen fresh eggs for about twenty minutes; put one-fourth pound of sugar into a lined saucepan with one-fourth pint of marsala; stir it over the fire until hot, then move it to the side, as it must not be permitted to boil. Stir the beaten yolks in with the wine, and add the strained juice of a small lemon. Whisk the sauce at the side of the fire until well frothed and thickened, when it will be ready for serving.
This is a sabayon under a German name: yolks, sugar and fortified wine whisked over gentle heat until foamy. Everything depends on keeping the pan below a simmer.
- The hinge: never let it boilYolk-and-wine sauces curdle quickly once they get much past the point where the yolks begin to set, so keep the heat gentle: whisk over barely simmering water rather than direct flame, and take it off as soon as it holds a ribbon on the whisk. "Move it to the side" and "at the side of the fire" both mean indirect, moderate heat.
- Quarter pint of marsalaRead as a US quarter pint this is 4 fl oz (1/2 cup); an English quarter pint is 5 fl oz. Either works, and the difference only shows as a slightly looser sauce. Use a sweet Marsala such as a Fine or Superiore Dolce.
- Quarter pound of sugarAbout 1/2 cup plus a tablespoon of granulated sugar, roughly 115 g. With six yolks this makes a distinctly sweet sauce, in line with period taste.
- Twenty minutes of beatingThat is a hand-whisk instruction. A few minutes with a stand mixer or electric beaters gets the yolks pale and thick, which is all the recipe is after.
- Lined saucepanIn period usage this generally meant tin-lined copper, specified because bare copper reacts with acid and discolours egg. Any stainless or enamelled pan does the same job; avoid unlined aluminium with the lemon juice.
- Egg safetyThe sauce is cooked, but only just. If serving to children, pregnant women or anyone immunocompromised, use pasteurized eggs or verify 160F with a thermometer and hold it there briefly.
- Yield and servingEnough for six to eight portions. It deflates quickly, so whisk it as the pudding comes to table and spoon it over warm.
The sauce is Italian zabaglione in all but name, and its appearance here as "German" reflects a nineteenth-century looseness about attaching national labels to frothed wine custards. German cookery had its own close relative, Weinschaumsauce or wine-foam sauce, usually built on Rhine wine rather than Marsala and served over steamed and boiled puddings; this version splits the difference by using the Sicilian fortified wine.