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Claret Sabayon
Place in a basin two egg yolks and the white of one, two ounces fine sugar, the zest of the rind of quarter of a sound lemon and one and a half gills claret. Stir briskly with a whisk for five minutes, then strain it through a napkin into a saucepan; set the pan on the fire and stir continually until it is hot, but do not allow to boil. Remove and serve as directed.
A red-wine sabayon in the French manner: the same foam as Italian zabaglione, but built on claret rather than Marsala. Everything hinges on gentle heat.
- The hinge: never let it boilThe recipe brings the mixture only to hot, never to a boil. Boiling curdles the yolks and the sauce breaks into sweet wine with scrambled egg in it. A bowl over barely simmering water gives more control than a pan on direct heat.
- GillsA gill is half a cup in American measure, so one and a half gills is about 3/4 cup (180 ml). British gills of the period ran to 5 fl oz, which would give closer to 7.5 fl oz (about 215 ml); the smaller reading gives a sauce that thickens more readily.
- Two ounces fine sugarWeight, not volume: about 57 g, or a scant 1/3 cup of caster sugar. Superfine dissolves into the cold wine before the pan ever sees heat, which may be why it is specified.
- ClaretIn period usage claret means red Bordeaux. Any dry, moderately tannic red works; something very oaky or high in alcohol may taste harsh against the sugar and egg.
- Zest, not pithThe rind of a quarter lemon means the coloured outer layer only, pared off in strips so it can be caught by the straining cloth. Grated zest would be harder to strain out cleanly and would speckle the sauce.
- Straining through a napkinA fine sieve or a doubled square of muslin does the same job: it removes zest, chalazae and any thread of set white. Do it before heating, as instructed, because straining afterwards knocks the air out.
- The odd whiteTwo yolks plus one white rather than yolks alone. The extra white would lighten the mixture; yolks alone give a richer, denser sauce closer to a custard.
- Yield and servingEnough warm sauce for two to four, spooned over poached pears, a plain sponge or stewed fruit. It will not hold: serve within a few minutes of leaving the pan or it slumps and weeps.
Sabayon is the French spelling of the Italian zabaglione, a whisked foam of egg yolk, sugar and wine generally traced to Piedmont, where Marsala became the usual flavouring. In hotel and restaurant cookery the preparation often functioned less as a dessert in its own right than as a warm sauce to be poured over something else -- "serve as directed" points to a serving instruction elsewhere in the volume. Claret in place of Marsala turns a pale gold foam a dusty rose.