No. 3282

Echaudes

Arrange one pound of sifted flour in a circle on the table; in the center lay two ounces of butter, two ounces of sugar, a well-crushed piece of carbonate of ammonia the size of a hazel-nut, a pinch of salt and eight whole eggs; mix all well together, obtaining a very smooth paste, but not too firm, working it so that it attains considerable body. Flatten this paste to an inch and a half in thickness with the rolling-pin, lay it on a floured tin sheet and leave to rest for two or three hours in a cool spot. Invert this paste on a lightly floured table and cut it into pieces; roll each of these to form a string an inch and a half in diameter, then divide into three-quarter-inch lengths. Lay these cakes on their cut end on a round floured pan cover; boil water in a vessel larger than this cover; at the first boil take the water from the fire, invert the cover over and pour boiling water on this to detach the pieces of paste; return the vessel to the fire without letting the water boil, and shake it about. As soon as the pieces of paste rise to the surface remove them with a skimmer and throw into a pan of fresh water, leaving them in for twelve hours, changing the water every four hours; then drain, range then at some distance apart in hermetically closed hinged baking sheets, and bake in a hot oven for twenty to twenty-five minutes.

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For the Modern Kitchen

An échaudé is a scalded cake: poached first, rested in cold water, then baked dry and hollow. Ranhofer's instructions assume a professional bakeshop, and two or three details need translating.

The hinge: never let the water boilThe water is taken off the fire before the cakes go in and returned only to a bare shiver. A rolling boil tears the soft paste apart and leaves you with shreds rather than plump dumplings.
Carbonate of ammoniaThis is baker's ammonia, ammonium carbonate, still sold for springerle and similar dry cakes. A piece the size of a hazelnut crushed is somewhere around half a teaspoon to a teaspoon. It works only in small, thoroughly dried goods; it smells sharp during baking and the odour bakes out.
ProportionsOne pound of flour to eight whole eggs is about 450 g flour to 400 g egg, a soft paste. That is why it must be worked hard for body and then rested cold before it can be handled.
"A round floured pan cover"Any flat floured board, sheet pan back or tray will do. It is simply a carrier that lets you tip the cut pieces into the water all at once without deflating them.
The twelve-hour soakThe cold water firms the poached paste and rinses its surface, though the recipe does not say what the soak is for. Do it in the refrigerator rather than on a counter, and change the water as directed.
"Hermetically closed hinged baking sheets"Apparently hinged, clamping plates of the sort used for wafers and some rolls, though the book does not describe them. A heavy baking sheet with a second sheet weighted on top gives a similar constrained bake, though the cakes will be less regular.
A hot oven"Hot oven" in this period is generally read as around 425-450F (220-230C). The point is to drive the moisture out fast so the interior sets dry.
YieldA pound of flour at three-quarter-inch cuts gives roughly three to four dozen small cakes. They keep well in a tin and are meant to be eaten dry, with coffee or tea.

A Little History

Échaudé means simply "scalded," and the name describes the method rather than the flavour: a paste dropped into hot water, cooled, then baked. Cakes of this kind are documented in France from the medieval period, sold by street bakers in Paris and long associated with Lent and with the fairs of the Midi, where échaudés and their close relatives survive in Provence and the southwest. They belong to the same broad family as the pretzel and the bagel, all of which pass through a bath before the oven. Ranhofer, who ran the kitchens at Delmonico's and published The Epicurean in 1894, files it among breakfast cakes.