Saxon Pudding

Pouding saxon (Saxon pudding) teaches the souffléd panade, and the one true thing to know before touching the pan is this: the rise is earned on the stove, not in the oven. Dry the milk, butter, sugar, and flour until the paste gathers firmly and leaves the saucepan clean. If it remains wet, the whites spend all their strength carrying excess moisture, and the pudding never properly rises.

The original formula assumed a fierce range, a separate basin, a row of buttered moulds, and another pair of hands ready to beat the whites. No saucier, standing stockpot, or salamander belongs to this branch of the grammar. At home, one heavy saucepan replaces the basin and cooking pan, an electric mixer replaces the whisking arm, and four ramekins replace the service moulds. I have scaled the formula to three-fifths so its five eggs become three while every defining ratio remains intact. The separate basin was brigade scaffolding and can go. Drying the panade, folding the whites, and poaching in a bain-marie must stay. They are the dish.

When it is right, the Pouding saxon rises into a softly rounded, butter-gold pudding with a fine, tender crumb, ready for a generous pool of English custard or Sabayon. Watch the panade without blinking. Once that is properly dried, the whites and the gentle water bath do the rest.