A guide to modern cookery

The quantities given below are suited to a custard of medium consistence, but if a thicker custard were desired, the number of egg-yolks would have to be proportionately increased, and vice-versa. The quantity of sugar also varies, subject to the consumers’ tastes, and, as the amount used (except in the case of unreasonable excess) does not affect the consistence of the custard, it may be graduated from three to ten or twelve oz. per quart, as taste may dictate. Six oz. of sugar per quart of milk constitutes a happy medium. English custard admits of all the aromatic essences used for entremets, but the one which suits it best is vanilla. When this fast-named flavour or that of filberts, almond pralin, or coffee is used, it is well to put the required quantity to infuse for twenty minutes in the boiling milk, after the latter has been measured off. Chocolate is first melted and then gradually added to the custard before it is cooked. Other aromatic essences or liqueurs are added to the custard after it has been strained. English custard admits of two methods of preparation :-— Recipe A.—Put twelve raw egg-yolks and three-quarters Ib. of powdered sugar in a bowl. Mix the sugar a little with the yolks, and stir the latter briskly with a spatula until they have entirely absorbed the sugar, and the resulting paste is white and has reached the ribbon stage. Then pour one quart of boiling milk into the paste, little by little, mixing the whole the while with a whisk. Then put the preparation on the fire, stirring it with a spatula, and cook it until it approaches the boil and properly coats the withdrawn spoon. Take care not to let it boil, for this would turn the preparation. In any case, when the sauce is intended for hot sweets, by adding a tablespoonful of arrowroot, it may be prevented from turning. When the custard is cooked, as already explained, strain it, either through a Strainer, into a bain-marie, if it is to be served hot, or through a sieve into a large, enamelled basin, where it should be frequently stirred to be kept smooth while cooling. Custard prepared in this way forms the base of all icecreams, of which I shall speak later on. It may serve as an adjunct to all cold or hot sweets which allow of a sauce. When, while it is still lukewarm, it is combined with its weight of best butter, it constitutes the delicious butter cream, which is the richest and most delicate of the pastry-cook’s confections. Finally, if eight melted gelatine leaves per quart of cooled milk be added to it, and it be mixed with twice its volume of whipped cream, it represents the preparation for ‘‘ Cream Bavarois’’ and ‘‘ Russian Charlottes.’’ Recipe B.—Melt six oz. of sugar in one quart of milk; boil, and pour the mixture, little by little, over twelve egg-yolks, whisking the latter briskly the while. When this custard is to be moulded, or is intended for a Cabinet Pudding, or some other similar preparation, which must be ultimately poached, strain it as soon as it is mixed, without cooking it. If, on the other hand, it be intended for an accompaniment, or for the preparation of butter creams or ices, cook it as directed in Recipe A. 2398—DISHED ENGLISH CUSTARD (To Accompany Cold or Hot Stewed Fruit) For this purpose English custard is made from only ten eggyolks per quart of milk. Serve it in shallow silver or porcelain dishes; sprinkle its surface copiously with icing sugar, and criss-cross it with a red-hot iron. 23909—FRANGIPAN CREAM As in the case of English custard, Frangipan custard varies in the quantities of its ingredients in accordance with its purpose and the taste of its consumers. The recipe given below is an average one, which the reader will be able to modify, in regard to consistence, by increasing or decreasing the amount of flour.