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Sabayon
(Zabaione) Yolks of three eggs.
Granulated sugar, two ounces.
Marsala or sherry wine, five tablespoonfuls.
A dash of cinnamon.
First stir with the ladle the yolks and the sugar until they become almost white, then add the wine. When ready to serve, place the saucepan in another one containing hot water and beat until the sugar is melted and the egg begins to thicken.
A three-ingredient custard that lives or dies by heat control. The original assumes you know what a double boiler is and expects you to serve it the moment it thickens.
- The hinge: gentle heat, constant motionThe water in the lower pan should be steaming, not boiling, and the bowl should not touch it. Stop beating for even a few seconds against a hot base and the yolks scramble; there is no recovering a grainy zabaione.
- Quantities in modern termsTwo ounces of granulated sugar is a scant 1/4 cup plus a spoonful — weigh it if you can. Five tablespoonfuls of Marsala is a little over 1/4 cup, which is a generous ratio to three yolks and gives a loose, pourable custard rather than a stiff foam.
- Which MarsalaUse a sweet Marsala (dolce), ideally a Fine or Superiore, not a dry cooking Marsala from the vinegar aisle. Dry sherry works but pushes the dish tart, so taste before you decide whether the sugar is enough.
- "Almost white"That first beating of yolks and sugar is not decorative. Several minutes of steady work by hand, less with a hand mixer, dissolves the sugar crystals and builds the aeration that makes the finished sauce light. A cold, unwhipped start gives a thin custard.
- DonenessIt is ready when the whisk leaves a trail and the foam mounds briefly on itself — around 160F on an instant-read thermometer. Held there, the yolks are also brought to a temperature generally considered safe, which the original had no way to specify.
- A copper or steel bowlRound-bottomed unlined copper zabaione pans were traditional for this dish. A rounded stainless bowl set over a pot does the same job; a straight-sided pan leaves an unwhisked corner where the egg sets.
- Yield and servingThree yolks make two generous or three small servings. Serve warm in glasses immediately, with dry biscuits or savoiardi; it deflates and weeps fairly quickly once off the heat.
Zabaione (also zabaglione, and sabayon in its French form) is one of the small number of Italian dishes that is essentially a technique: yolks, sugar and fortified wine beaten over hot water until the eggs foam and set. Its origins are traditional rather than documented — Piedmont and Venice both claim it, and the name is often traced to San Baudolino of Alessandria, though the connection is folk etymology as much as anything. By the nineteenth century it was familiar as both restaurant and convalescent food, thought nourishing enough to be given to invalids and children, and made to order at the table in the copper pan. Its appearance in Maria Gentile's 1919 collection sits among the book's sweet courses, reflecting a period habit of grouping sweet sauces, cold desserts and drinks together; the Marsala, meanwhile, points to Sicilian supply even where the dish was Northern-made, that wine having been produced for the English market since the late eighteenth century and reaching Italian kitchens as an everyday sweet fortified wine.