No. 367

Custard Cream of Chicken or Game

Creme Bain-Marie de Volaille ou de Gibier

Cut either a three pound chicken, or two grouse, or two partridges into four parts, remove the lights and kidneys, wash well and cook them in two quarts of water seasoned with salt, a few parsley stalks, half an ounce of chervil, six ounces of turnips, and four ounces of minced celery; boil, skim, and let simmer until the chicken or game be cooked, then strain the broth through a napkin. With twelve raw egg-yolks mix one quart of this broth, adding a very little at the time, and strain through a sieve; fill up some small cups to an eighth of an inch from the top; place these cups in a low saucepan with boiling water sufficient to reach to half their heighth, then set them on the fire and as soon as the water is ready to boil, push the saucepan into the oven; when firm to the touch, remove them, and serve them either hot or cold as required.

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For the Modern Kitchen

A savory royale — clear poultry or game broth set with yolks and baked in a water bath — from the invalid cookery chapter of Ranhofer's The Epicurean. The whole dish turns on gentle, even heat: the custard must set, never boil.

Oven heatRanhofer gives none, as the water bath was expected to govern it. Bake at 300-325F; the custard is done when it reaches about 175F at the center and no longer trembles loosely when the cup is nudged. Above roughly 185F the yolks curdle and the custard weeps.
Do not let the bath boilThe instruction to bring the water "ready to boil" on the stovetop and then move the pan to the oven is meant to give the cups a head start, not to cook them. Once the water actually boils, the custards pit and go grainy. Keep the bath at a bare shiver.
"Lights and kidneys"Lights are lungs. Neither they nor the kidneys are wanted here; both muddy the broth. Birds bought today come dressed, so there is usually nothing to remove.
Grouse and partridgeWild-shot American game may not be sold; what game dealers offer is farm-raised, though imported wild birds occasionally appear. Farmed partridge, quail or squab work as written; two birds of about a pound each stand in for the three-pound chicken.
Herb quantityHalf an ounce of chervil means fresh chervil, stalks and all — roughly a generous handful. If chervil is unavailable, a mix of parsley and a very little tarragon comes closest; dried chervil is not worth using.
Broth strengthTwo quarts of water reduced over the cooking of the bird should yield a light but well-flavored broth. Only one quart of it goes into the custard; the rest is worth keeping. Skim carefully, since fat left in the broth breaks the set surface.
The egg ratioTwelve yolks to a quart is a rich, firm royale — more or less the classic proportion for a custard that will be turned out or eaten with a spoon. Temper the hot broth into the yolks a little at a time, exactly as written, then strain to catch any thread of cooked egg.
YieldAbout five cups of finished custard, filling ten to thirteen small cups or ramekins of three to four ounces each. Filled to an eighth-inch from the rim, they take roughly 25-35 minutes depending on size.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer, chef at Delmonico's in New York for over thirty years, put a full section of broths and light dishes for invalids into The Epicurean (1894), and it reflects a nineteenth-century conviction that the sickroom deserved the same technique as the dining room. A crème bain-marie is a savory royale — the same yolk-and-broth custard that French kitchens cut into shapes and floated in consommé — here served whole in its cup as a concentrated, easily eaten form of nourishment for someone who could not manage solid meat. Game birds were thought especially restorative and were commonly prescribed for convalescents, which is why grouse and partridge appear beside plain chicken.