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Hidden Mountain
Six eggs, a few slices citron, sugar to taste, three-quarters of a pint of cream, a layer of any kind of jam; beat the whites and yolks of the eggs separately, then mix and beat again, adding the citron, the cream and sugar; when well beaten put in a buttered pan and fry, cover with the jam and garnish with slices of citron; to be eaten cold. - Mrs. J. C. Gould.
This is a fried egg-and-cream custard, closer to a thick sweet omelet than to a baked custard, and the whole thing depends on gentle heat.
- Low heat, and patienceSix eggs beaten with cream will scorch and curdle over anything brisk. Use a wide skillet over low heat, butter it well, and let the mass set slowly, drawing the edges in as it firms; the surface should stay pale. Finishing it covered, or a few minutes under a low broiler, sets the top without browning.
- Three-quarters of a pint of creamAbout 1 1/2 cups if the book means a US pint, about 1 3/4 cups if English (imperial) measure was intended. Either works. Use heavy or whipping cream, not half-and-half, which sets thinner and weeps.
- CitronCandied citron peel, sold in blocks or diced around the winter holidays. It was a familiar ingredient in nineteenth-century American kitchens and is now mostly a specialty item; candied lemon or orange peel substitutes without much loss. Chop the citron for the batter finely, and reserve whole thin slices for the garnish.
- Sugar to tasteRoughly 1/4 cup for this quantity of egg and cream, and no more if the jam is sweet. The citron adds its own sugar.
- Beating the whites separatelyThis is what gives the dish its lift; beat them to soft peaks. Note that the recipe itself directs you to mix the whites and yolks and beat again, and the mixture is fried in a pan rather than baked.
- Jam layerSpread it after the custard has cooled somewhat, or it slides off and thins into syrup. A firm preserve holds the shape better than a loose jelly.
- Serving and yieldServes six as a dessert course. It is meant to be eaten cold, but an egg-and-cream dish should not stand out at room temperature for hours; chill it and serve within a day.
A recipe titled "Hidden Mountain" appears in Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management and in a good many English and American compilations after it, with much the same wording as here "a layer of any kind of jam" paired with a raised, beaten-egg custard. The name describes the trick rather than the flavor: the puffed egg mass rises into a mound. The reliance on candied citron also places it: before reliable year-round fruit, preserved peel and jam were how a cook produced a fruit dessert in any season.