No. 3031

Stuffed Eggs

Œufs Farcis

Choose seven or eight large, fresh and very white eggs; saw off the top of the shell on the roundest end so as to make an opening three-quarters of an inch wide; empty the eggs into a bowl, wash the shells and leave to drain well. Beat the eggs up lightly, add to them a few spoonfuls of rich raw cream, four spoonfuls of powdered lady fingers, six or seven spoonfuls of powdered sugar, some cinnamon and a grain of salt. Butter liberally the bottom of a flat saucepan, pour in the eggs and thicken while stirring over a slow fire, the same as for scrambled eggs. When the preparation is done to perfection, mix in two or three spoonfuls of lady fingers cut up in small dice, and with this fill the shells one by one; lay each one when done into a separate egg cup; cover the opening with a small pyramid of the same cake cut small, and dress the egg cups on a dish.

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For the Modern Kitchen

A sweet scrambled custard returned to its own shells and served in egg cups — a trompe-l'œil dessert that depends entirely on not overcooking the eggs. Ranhofer's measurements are loose even by his standards, so treat the proportions as a ratio rather than a formula.

The hinge: low heat, constant motionThis is a stirred custard in all but name, and sugar and cream do not protect it from curdling. Cook over the lowest possible flame, stirring without pause, and pull it off while it is still loose and glossy — it firms as it sits in the warm shells.
"Spoonfuls" is ambiguousRanhofer does not say what size spoon he means here. Taken as tablespoons for eight eggs, that gives roughly 3 tablespoons cream, 4 tablespoons crushed ladyfinger crumbs and the six or seven tablespoons of sugar he specifies, which is sweet; reduce the sugar if you prefer. Adjust so the raw mixture pours like heavy cream, not batter.
Raw cream"Rich raw cream" meant unpasteurized cream straight from the dairy. Heavy cream or double cream is the substitute; the mixture is cooked, so pasteurized cream costs you nothing but a little flavour.
Lady fingersSavoiardi, sold in most supermarkets in the tiramisu aisle. "Powdered" means ground fine in a food processor or crushed under a rolling pin; the diced ones folded in at the end and heaped on top should be small enough to eat with a teaspoon.
Opening the shellsA serrated knife or a proper egg topper works better than a saw. Tap and cut rather than crush, and keep the shells upright in a carton once emptied so the rims stay intact.
Wash the shells properlyThe outside of an eggshell is the dirty part. Scrub, then hold the empty shells in boiling water for a minute or set them cut-side up in a 250F oven until bone dry before filling with cooked custard.
Cinnamon and salt"A grain of salt" is a pinch. Cinnamon to taste — about a quarter teaspoon for eight eggs keeps it a background note rather than a spice pudding.
Yield and serviceSeven or eight filled shells, one per person as a light dessert course. They must be served warm and soon after filling; the custard weeps and the crumb topping softens on standing.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's summing-up of some thirty years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and this recipe sits among the elaborate entremets that came late in a formal dinner — dishes admired as much for their conceit as their flavour. Serving a sweetened custard back inside the emptied shell, capped with a little pyramid of crumbs and set in an egg cup, is a piece of table trickery: the guest is presented with what looks like a plain soft-boiled breakfast egg. Filled and disguised eggshells go back much further than Delmonico's, appearing in Renaissance and early modern European cookery in both savoury and sweet versions, and the French title œufs farcis normally denotes the savoury kind. Ranhofer uses powdered ladyfingers as the body of the custard, one of several period methods of thickening creams and puddings with sponge biscuit.