Sabyllon
This is a French pudding sauce, and a good one, for both fruit or almost any kind of pudding. Put two yolks and one whole egg, one cupful of sugar into a little stew pan; beat them well. Then put the saucepan into another, or cook in a double boiler; beat the eggs briskly with the egg whisk while you gradually pour in a half cupful of sherry; when the sherry is all in, the eggs will begin to thicken; then take it from the fire and add a little lemon juice. Water may be used and not sherry wine.
A sabayon in all but spelling: three egg components, sugar and fortified wine whisked over water until foamy. The whole recipe hinges on heat control.
- Keep the water below a simmerThe bowl or upper pan should sit over barely trembling water and ideally not touch it. Too much heat and the eggs curdle rather than foam, and once they have curdled no amount of whisking brings the foam back.
- "Take it from the fire" is the doneness cuePull it as soon as the mixture thickens and holds a ribbon from the whisk for a second or two. It will continue to set from residual heat, and the sauce is meant to be pourable rather than stiff.
- Egg proportionsTwo yolks plus one whole egg is a small batch by modern standards, yielding only a few servings' worth of sauce.
- That much sugarA full cup of sugar to three eggs is very sweet for current palates, especially over fruit. Two-thirds of a cup gives a sauce that still whisks up properly and stands better beside a sweet pudding.
- The sherryUse a dry to medium sherry such as amontillado; cream sherry pushes the sugar higher still. Marsala is the usual choice in the Italian zabaglione and can be substituted, though it is sweeter and more assertive.
- The water versionSubstituting water for sherry gives a blander, less acidic base, so the lemon juice at the end matters more in that case. Add it off the heat, a little at a time.
- "A little stew pan"Any deep, narrow saucepan or a metal bowl. Depth matters more than width, since the mixture expands considerably as you whisk.
- Serving and holdingSabayon is best used within a few minutes of coming off the heat, spooned warm over pudding or fruit. If it must wait, set the pan in cool water, whisk occasionally, and accept that it will deflate somewhat.
Sabyllon is a variant spelling of sabayon, the French name for the whisked wine custard Italians call zabaglione; the word is generally traced to the Italian, and the dish is usually said to have travelled north with Italian cooks and courts before being absorbed into French pastry practice. American cookbooks presented it, as this one does, as a sauce rather than as a dessert in its own right. The alternative of water instead of sherry may reflect the period's temperance sentiment, though the recipe itself gives no reason for the substitution.