Pudding Malakoff

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •2-quart (2 L) Charlotte mould, pudding basin, or straight-sided bowl
• •Medium heavy-bottomed saucepan
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Large heatproof mixing bowl
• •Balloon whisk
• •Flexible spatula
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Shallow serving platter

Instructions

1. 1

   Cook the fruit marmalade

   Melt the butter in a wide saucepan over medium heat. Add the diced apples, pears, and sugar, then cook for 20 to 25 minutes, stirring more often as the fruit softens. Crush some of the pieces against the pan while leaving others distinct. The marmalade is ready when a spoon drawn across the pan leaves a clean path and no watery juice runs into it. A loose compote will make the pudding slide apart, so keep cooking until it is thick and spreadable. Transfer it to a shallow dish and cool completely.

2. 2

   Plump the dried fruit

   Warm the water and sugar just until the sugar dissolves, then let the syrup become tepid. Add the currants and sultanas and leave them for 30 minutes, until swollen and supple. Drain them thoroughly and blot away the surface syrup. They should be plump, not wet, because spare syrup would dilute the custard between the layers.

3. 3

   Make the crème anglaise

   Sprinkle the gelatin evenly over the cold water and leave it to bloom for 5 minutes. Heat the milk in a saucepan until small bubbles gather at the edge. Whisk the five yolks with the custard sugar until smooth, then pour in the hot milk gradually while whisking. Return everything to low heat and stir constantly with a flexible spatula until the crème anglaise reaches 180 to 183°F (82 to 84°C) and coats the spatula in an even film. Do not let it boil. If tiny curds appear, pull the pan from the heat, whisk in 2 tablespoons of the measured cold cream, and strain immediately. Ça se rattrape. Stir the bloomed gelatin into the hot custard until completely dissolved, then pass the custard through a fine sieve.

4. 4

   Find the setting point

   Set the bowl of custard over an ice bath and stir steadily, scraping the sides, until it is cool and has the body of loose pouring cream. Stir in the remaining pasteurized heavy cream without whipping it. This preserves the book's proportion of one part fresh cream to approximately two parts custard. Continue stirring over ice until the mixture coats a spoon but still pours in a continuous ribbon. If it sets too far, hold the bowl over tepid water and stir just until fluid; if it is still thin, return it to the ice for a few minutes. This texture decides the pudding.

5. 5

   Soak and layer

   Brush the inside of the mould with the thinnest possible film of neutral oil. Pour in a half-inch layer of the cream custard and chill it for 10 to 15 minutes, just until tacky. Put the soaking kirsch in a shallow dish and turn each ladyfinger through it briefly, saturating the biscuit without leaving it to collapse. Arrange a close layer of biscuits over the custard, cutting pieces to fill the gaps. Coat the biscuits generously with half the cold apple-pear marmalade, then scatter over half the currants, sultanas, almonds, and candied orange rind. Cover with another layer of custard. Repeat the soaked biscuits, marmalade, fruit, almonds, and orange rind, then finish with the remaining custard. If the custard firms while you work, loosen it over tepid water for a few seconds rather than forcing it into lumps.

6. 6

   Chill until fully set

   Tap the mould gently against a folded towel to settle the custard into every gap. Cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours, preferably overnight. Do not freeze it. Gelatin sets by patient chilling, and freezing gives the custard a wet, brittle texture when it thaws.

7. 7

   Whisk the cold sabayon

   Put the four sabayon yolks, sugar, water, and kirsch in a heatproof bowl. Set it over a saucepan of barely simmering water, making certain the bowl does not touch the water, and whisk without stopping until the mixture triples in volume, reaches 160°F (71°C), and falls from the whisk in ribbons that remain visible for several seconds. If the edge becomes grainy, lift the bowl off the heat at once and whisk in the ice water a teaspoon at a time. Ça se rattrape. Set the bowl over fresh ice and continue whisking until the sabayon is cold, light, and softly ribboning. Refrigerate it for no longer than 1 hour.

8. 8

   Unmould and serve

   Dip the mould in warm water for 5 seconds, dry the outside, and invert it onto a chilled serving platter. If it holds fast, return it to the water for another 2 seconds; too long will melt the outer custard. Lift the mould straight upward. Spoon some of the cold kirsch sabayon around the base and offer the rest at the table, letting each portion receive a generous ribbon. À table!

Chef Tips

• •The marmalade in this entry is the thick apple-pear preparation, not breakfast orange marmalade. Cook it until almost no free juice remains; the candied rind supplies the orange note.
• •Choose crisp, dry ladyfingers rather than soft sponge fingers. Dry biscuit drinks in the kirsch and keeps its shape, while a tender fresh cake dissolves before the custard has set.
• •Use pure, dry kirsch, not sweet cherry liqueur. Kirsch saturates the biscuits and perfumes the sabayon, so a syrupy bottle makes the finished pudding cloying.
• •Pasteurized heavy cream is the honest home equivalent to the very fresh raw cream assumed by the source. Keep it uncooked and cold, but do not whip it; the gelatin-set custard provides the structure.
• •Powdered gelatins vary in strength. This formula assumes standard 200-bloom gelatin. Weighing the 7 grams is more reliable than trusting the spoon.

Advance Preparation

• •Cook the apple-pear marmalade and plump the dried fruit up to 2 days ahead. Keep both covered and chilled, then bring the marmalade to a spreadable consistency before assembly.
• •Assemble the pudding the day before serving. An overnight chill gives the custard a clean slice and lets the kirsch settle through the biscuits.
• •The moulded pudding keeps for 2 days under refrigeration. Make the cold sabayon shortly before service and hold it for no longer than 1 hour so it retains its light ribboning texture.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 285g)