When made correctly this delicious custard sauce should be light and slightly foamy, with a delicate taste of alcohol, slightly sweet, rich and creamy.
Ooo la - so it only takes about 5 minutes to make from start to finish, but it’s not exactly easy peasy to get it just right!
Ingredients:
Count 3/4 egg yolk per person - but you will need a minimum of 3 egg yolks to make it work. So for example if you are only 2 persons use 3 yolks or for 6 people use 5 egg yolks.
1/4 teaspoon of white sugar per egg yolk.
1/2 teaspoon of muscat wine per egg yolk. Or for 5 egg yolks add about a 1/4 cup. As seen in class it’s a splash;)
Équipement :
A strong whisk.
Double boiler - best if top half is a stainless steal bowl, as it’s easier to whisk all of the egg yolk nicely together.
Start by boiling the water in the double boiler bottom over the stove top, leaving heat on low.
Separate the eggs with yolks going into the stainless steal bowl - double boiler top pan. Before putting it onto the hot water begin whisking vigorously until the yolks are paler and form a ribbon - 1 minute. Add the sugar - keep whisking for another minute.
Place your bowl with egg yolks on the heat. Keep whisking the yolks - it will start to thicken, take off the heat if you see it’s scrambling - you’ll need to keep whisking to avoid this! Put it back on the heat and add the muscat wine - all the while keep whisking vigorously! Finally within another 2 minutes total time you should see it getting foamy, thicker, and turning into a uniform emulsified creamy sauce - there is a moment when you see it’s happening.. it’s all one creamy light pale yellow foamy sauce.. and will now coat the back of a spoon. The final test is to taste - to ensure the alcohol has burned off - that it’s not too strong of an alcohol taste.. if it seems a bit too strong then put it back on the heat and whisk vigorously for another 30 seconds to further burn off the alcohol.
This marvelous sauce is wonderful on fresh fruits, seared peaches or on my fig cobbler.
I often make it and serve it as the sauce for the floating island dessert instead of cream anglais, as it makes for a nice change!
Bon Appétit!