Cream of Chestnuts with Caramel Sugar

Cook a pound of skinned chestnuts in water with a quarter of a vanilla bean, then rub them through a sieve into a vessel, and add six whole beaten eggs and four yolks, also half a pound of sugar; dilute with a pint of raw milk, mix well, and pass the whole through a sieve. Pour into the bottom of a plain timbale mold one gill of sugar cooked to caramel; when cold butter the sides of the mold, and fill it up with the chestnut preparation; set the mold into a saucepan with hot water to half its height, leave it on the fire, and just when it reaches the boiling point cover and keep it cooking slowly, or else place it in a slack oven to maintain the liquid at the same temperature without boiling for fifty to sixty minutes, or until the preparation is firm to the touch in the center. Invert the cream on a dish, and cover it with the caramel sugar found on the bottom of the mold.