Heaven In Your Spoon–Cold Sabayon!*

Gentle Reader, While I’m closeted writing a novel I hope you’ll enjoy reading, it’s been suggested I post pieces from earlier years … years when I was freshly widowed, living in or near L.A. with my dog, waiting for Bill to appear. Do please bear with me!

A View from 15 years ago: *Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Sabayon—thick frothy custard, France’s version of zabaglione (just yolks, sugar, and spirits)—chilled and lightened with whipped cream, oh my! This is the confection my friend Julia brought to enjoy with champagne on the occasion of my mother’s 99th birthday. I was fascinated because I’ve only tasted sabayon that was rushed from stove to table. Whipped cream not only tempers the sweetness but lightens the already ethereal texture. Could not wait to make it.

I was in the mountains when I got the chance, back in my beloved Idyllwild where Gene and I lived for twenty years. Old friends got together for supper and I brought along the cold sabayon. It took a sturdy whisking arm, but was easy enough to make even in the kitchen of a small mountain cabin. An advantage was that custard and cream had to chill so I could prepare both in advance and go for a long walk with little Cakes. It was an ideal dessert to carry to a party.

The recipe I used for the custard was in an old “Joy of Cooking.” I looked up others on the Net just now and found one of Julia Child’s/Jacques Pepin’s…Nigella Lawson’s…Tyler Florence’s…and several magazine sources. Some use Prosecco in place of Marsala or sherry and everyone’s proportions are different.

I discovered cold sabayon is fashionable served with large strawberries for dipping. I would think that would put the focus on the berries when I think the sabayon’s the thing. It occurred to me that, were I to add one element, it would be thin shavings of dark chocolate on top—Nigella Lawson suggests this—but is it gilding the lily?

At any rate, so many versions of this dessert are proof that it is a foolproof mixture—you can use more or fewer yolks, more or less sugar and Marsala (or sherry or Prosecco) in the custard and fold in as much or as little whipped cream as you like and it will work. More sugar and it will be sweeter. More spirits and it will be thinner—but have more flavor. I opt for flavor. I seem to have used more whipping cream than most, but, hey, the lighter and creamier the better by me.

More than proportions of ingredients, it is the gentle cooking of the custard—to ensure the yolks won’t curdle or be grainy—and the whisking—to insure all will be billowy—that create the heavenly texture. I wondered why one can’t use an egg beater, but recipes uniformly want a whisk, so who am I to question authority? Some recipes call for testing at the end with an instant-read thermometer, and the required temps vary from 140 to 170 degrees—funny. I didn’t have such a thermometer in my kit bag, just used the good old coating-the-back-of-a-wooden-spoon trick.

A few steps will insure success: use a double boiler…be sure the water beneath barely simmers and that the bottom of the top pot does not touch the water below…cool the thickened custard rapidly (just whisk over ice water and now the bottom of the pot SHOULD touch the water)…chill not just the cream but the bowl and beaters  before whipping…fold the whipped cream into the custard no more than a couple of hours before serving—whipped cream thins out and would start to thin out the custard.

However. The custard can be prepared a day in advance—just cover the surface with waxed paper** and refrigerate. If need be, whipped cream will hold for several hours if you place it in a sieve lined with a damp cloth, set it over a drip-catching dish, cover, and refrigerate.

This is the way I made the sabayon…um, with one exception. I packed a bottle of sweet Marsala by mistake. The sabayon was delectable but the flavor would have been nuttier, more complex, with dryer wine.

Cold Sabayon (6 to 8 servings)

In the large top of a double boiler or a big stainless steel bowl, whisk together 8 large egg yolks and ½ cup granulated sugar.

Whisk vigorously until light. Whisk constantly while drizzling in 1 cup dry marsala or sherry.

Set over barely simmering water and whisk constantly, vigorously, reaching every part of the mixture, until the custard has increased many times in volume and coats a wooden spoon so that it makes a track when you run a finger through it. Allow 10 to 15 minutes (enough time to compose a limerick or haiku).

Place the pan or bowl over a big bowl of ice water and continue whisking till cool. Cover and refrigerate.

Whip 2 cups best quality heavy whipping cream until soft peaks hold. If more than 2 hours before using, chill as described above.

Up to 2 hours before serving, fold the whipped cream into the cold custard and smooth into a chilled 6-cup serving bowl.

Cover and keep cold until serving in small bowls in beautiful billowy dollops–colorful petals of edible flowers–the likes of roses, nasturtiums, pansies, marigolds, sunflowers–sprinkled on top?

**At the writing of this recipe, I called for plastic film, but these days I try to avoid all contact with plastic.