madbaker: (Bayeux cook)
madbaker ([personal profile] madbaker) wrote2007-04-09 08:00 am

I'm not lying.

This week's Resolution Recipe: Creme Bastarde.

Take lots of egg whites, and put them in a potful of milk, and let it boil. Then season it with salt and a little honey, then let it cool, & draw it through a strainer, and take fair cow milk and draw it with all, and season it with sugar, & look that it be sharp with vinegar and sweet; and serve it forth for a pottage, or for a good baked meat, whatever that you wish.

4 egg whites
1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp whole milk
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp honey
1 Tbsp turbinado sugar

Mix egg whites and 1/4 cup milk in a saucepan. Bring to a low boil while whisking gently; remove from heat when it solidifies. Mix in salt and honey. Let cool, strain if needed, and mix in 2 Tbsp milk and sugar. Serve with pretty pictures drawn in a balsamic vinegar reduction.

What worked: Slightly bland, but not scary. Tasty enough and it went nicely with less-than-stellar strawberries and lemon loaf cake.

What didn't: The first time I made the balsamic reduction I cooked it too long; balsamic taffy is... interesting. It also had a distinct caramel flavor from overcooking, so I tossed it and started over. I used a squeeze bottle to make a series of dots on the creme but I couldn't taste it.

Arguably there should be more milk in this. I like the fluffy pudding result, though.

Will I make it again? It's one of the dishes for Mists Bardic, so yes. I probably would anyway, though.

What I'm reading: Eric Brown, Threshold Shift