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Tea Cakes
Sift one pound of flour onto a pasteboard, make a well in the center of it, in which put one saltspoonful of salt, one tablespoonful of sugar and one-half pound of slightly-warmed butter. Mix all well together, then stir in four well-beaten eggs and enough cold water to form a stiff paste. Knead the paste well with the hands, then roll it out to about one-fourth of an inch in thickness. Cut the paste into rounds with a tin-cutter about four inches in diameter, butter a baking-dish, lay the pieces of paste on it, brush them over with a paste-brush dipped in water and sift a small quantity of powdered-sugar over the top of them. Bake the cakes in a moderate oven, and serve when cold.
A rich egg-and-butter paste cut into rounds and baked flat — closer to a French sablé or a plain tea biscuit than to anything a modern reader would call a cake. The measurements are all by weight, which makes this easier to reproduce than most recipes of its age.
- The hinge: keep the paste stiffThe dough should be firm enough to roll at a quarter inch without sticking, so add the cold water a spoonful at a time and stop early. Four eggs and half a pound of butter carry a great deal of moisture already, and a slack paste will spread into a puddle in the oven.
- Weights, not cupsOne pound of flour is about 3½ to 4 cups scooped and levelled; weigh it if you can. Half a pound of butter is two American sticks, 225 g.
- SaltspoonfulA saltspoon is a quarter teaspoon. One tablespoon of sugar in a pound of flour makes these barely sweet — the sweetness is meant to come from the sugar sifted over the top.
- Slightly-warmed butterThis means pliable and soft to the finger, not melted or oily. Softened butter mixes into the flour by hand far more easily; if it liquefies, the paste can turn greasy.
- PasteboardA pastry board, not cardboard. Any clean counter does, though marble stays cool and helps here.
- A moderate ovenConventionally read as about 350°F / 175°C. Expect roughly 15 to 20 minutes for quarter-inch rounds — pull them when the edges are set and just colouring, since the sugared tops should stay pale.
- Baking-dishRead this as a flat baking sheet. Butter it as directed, or line it with parchment.
- The water-and-sugar finishBrushing with plain water rather than egg wash helps the sifted powdered sugar cling and set as a thin sugar surface. Use a light hand; a heavy layer will scorch before the cake is baked.
- YieldSomewhat over two pounds of paste, giving roughly 18 to 24 four-inch rounds depending on how often you re-roll the scraps. Cool completely before serving, as instructed — they firm up considerably.
Oscar Tschirky, the maître d'hôtel whose name fronts this 1896 book, was not a cook by trade, and the collection reflects the working repertoire of a very large hotel kitchen rather than one man's invention. The technique of sifting flour onto a board, opening a well and working the fat and eggs in by hand is a classic French counter method.