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Swiss Cream
Mix in a basin one and one-half teaspoonfuls of caster-sugar with the yolks of eight eggs and the grated yellow peel of one lemon, and set it in a larger one containing boiling water. Beat the eggs well, and then whisk in gradually one-half pint of French white wine. Turn the cream into a glass dish, and serve it immediately.
This is a sabayon by another name: yolks, sugar, citrus zest and wine whisked over hot water until foamy. It stands or falls on heat control and on serving it the moment it leaves the pan.
- The hinge: gentle heat, constant whiskingThe recipe sets the basin in a larger one of boiling water; in practice a gentler heat, barely simmering, is safer. Whisk without stopping; if the yolks stop moving against the hot bowl they scramble, and a broken sabayon is difficult to bring back.
- The sugar quantity looks wrongOne and a half teaspoons of caster sugar for eight yolks is far less than most comparable wine creams, and the printed measure may be an error for tablespoons or ounces. Taste and judge as you go rather than trusting the figure as printed.
- Caster sugarSuperfine sugar, sold as such in the US or made by pulsing granulated sugar briefly in a food processor. It dissolves into the yolks quickly, which matters when the mixture is only over the heat for a few minutes.
- Half a pint of wineIn an American kitchen that is one cup; if you are working from an Imperial pint it is ten fluid ounces. "French white wine" is not specified further; a dry still white such as Chablis or Muscadet is the likely reading, though a sweeter wine will give a richer cream if the sugar is increased.
- DonenessThe cream is ready when it has increased greatly in volume and a ribbon drawn across the surface holds for a second or two. An instant-read thermometer is worth using: 160F is the usual figure given for yolks being safely cooked, though the foam may reach the ribbon stage before that.
- Lemon peelGrate only the yellow zest, stopping before the white pith. Rubbing the zest into the sugar first with your fingertips pulls out more of the oil than adding it to the yolks alone.
- Serve immediately means immediatelyThe foam begins to weep within a few minutes of leaving the heat. Warm the glass dish or individual glasses beforehand and have everyone at the table before you start whisking.
- YieldEight yolks and a cup of wine make a generous four to six servings in small glasses.
Wine creams of this kind run through nineteenth-century European cookery under a dozen names — Italian zabaglione, French sabayon, German Weinschaum — and the "Swiss" label attached to several English and American versions is a loose geographical gesture rather than a claim of origin. What distinguishes them is the substitution of wine for the milk or cream of an ordinary custard, so the dish sets as a warm foam rather than a spoonable pudding, and must therefore be made to order. That suited a hotel kitchen, where a cream carried out still trembling was as much a piece of service as a piece of cookery.