Observation. – Custards should be made in a pan that is well tinned and rinsed, with a spoonful of water, to prevent the ingredients sticking to the bottom. Two or three marbles, by rolling about, may have the same effect. Custards should not boil, but ought to be taken off the fire before attaining that degree of heat. They may be baked in china coffee cups; sometimes a little puff paste is put round the edge and vandycked.
Almond Custards.
Take a pint (mutchkin) of cream, blanch and beat four ounces almonds with two spoonfuls of rosewater, sweeten it to your taste, and add spiceries if you incline; beat up the yolks of four eggs, and stir all together in a pan over the fire till it is thick; do not let it boil; pour it into cups and bake them in the oven, or before the fire.
Rice Custards.
Take a pint (mutchkin) of sweet milk, stir in two ounces ground rice, set it on the fire to boil, and add two ounces fresh butter; let all boil for some time, then add two eggs beat light. Keep stirring on the fire until they thicken, but not to boil again; season it with lemon grate, sugar, &c. Or, boil in a quart of cream or milk, some mace, nutmeg, or cinnamon; strain it, add some whole rice boiled in water or milk, and a little brandy; sweeten, and add two or three yolks of eggs beat up, put it over the fire, stir it till it grows thick, and then pour it in cups; either bake or serve them hot.
Lemon Custards.
Take half a pound sugar and the juice of two lemons, the rhind of one pared very thin, the other boiled tender, and pounded, or rubbed through a sieve; add two gills of wine, let them boil some time, take out the lemon peel and a little of the liquor, which cool; pour the rest into the dish, or dishes, intended for it. Beat up four yolks and two whites and mix with the cool liquor; strain it into the dish and mix all together, set them in boiling water on a slow fire; when done enough, grate the rhind of a lemon on the top and brown it over with a hot iron.
Orange Custards.
Boil the skin of a bitter orange tender, and beat it smooth in a mortar, add a spoonful of brandy and the juice of the orange, four ounces sugar and the yolks of four eggs; beat all well together ten minutes, and add by degrees a pint (mutchkin) boiling hot cream, or milk. Keep beating them till cold, pour them in cups and set them in a dish of hot water; let them firm, and stick orange peel on the top. It is served either hot or cold.
Beest Custards.
Set a pint of beest* over the fire, with a stick of cinnamon, or other spiceries, to flavour it; let it be boiling hot, take it off and have ready mixed a spoonful of cream and the same of flour, with the grate of a lemon or a few drops of the essence; pour the hot beest in by degrees, stirring it all the time; sweeten, and bake it either in crusts or cups.
Baked Custards.
Take a pint (mutchkin) of cream, boil it with spiceries, and when cold mix in the yolks of four eggs and two whites cast up, and a little sack or brandy, with sugar; pour it in cups and bake them.
Plain Custards.
Take a pint (mutchkin) of sweet cream, put it on the fire with some cinnamon and lemon peel; let it boil until it has the flavour wanted, but keep stirring one way. Cast the yolks of eight eggs till light, stir in a gill of cold cream, and put it by degrees to the hot cream; add spiceries and sweeten it to your taste, pour it in cups and bake them; a little wine may be added.
Egg Cheese, or Curd Puff.
Take three pints of new milk, boil it with eight ounces sugar; cast the yolk of two dozen eggs light, add a pint (mutchkin) sherry, or other white wine, and the juice of three lemons; boil the rhind among the milk; when the milk has boiled stir in the eggs, wine, and lemon juice. Let all boil till it curdles like cheese, pour it into a sieve to drain all the whey from it; put it into moulds, made of tin and pierced with small holes; they are in the form of steeples, temples, &c. Press the curd hard, that all the whey may run from it; let it remain to firm, then turn it carefully out into a dish, pour round it cream seasoned with spiceries and sugar. This makes a very beautiful appearance in a desert, or as a middle dish.
Almond Butter.
Take four ounces almonds, blanch and pound them very fine, with new milk or rosewater, two pints (a choppin) cream; beat very light the yolks of twelve eggs, and mix with the cream; add a pint (mutchkin) new milk to the almonds, mix them well and strain it amongst the cream. Set the whole on the fire and continue stirring until it turns to a tender curd; put it into a drainer, that all the whey may run from it, and press it a little; then put it into a mortar with eight ounces pounded sugar, and, if you chuse, a little lemon grate, or spiceries; work it to a paste, and serve. It may be pressed into moulds according to fancy.
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* Bovine Colostrum, which can be substituted for eggs.
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