In German cuisine there are a ton of different soup dumplings. A clear beef consommé is traditionally the first course of a multicourse German meal. And because only sipping beef broth is a little boring there’s always some kind of dumpling floating inside.
I’ve already shown you how to prepare semolina dumplings, pancake strips, and bacon dumplings. Today, I want to introduce you to egg custard. It’s also known as royale and is basically a soft mixture of egg and milk that is allowed to slowly set over moderate heat.
Egg custard is an essential part of the German marriage soup which includes a variety of different dumplings like semolina dumplings, egg custard, bone marrow dumplings, liver dumplings, and small Maultaschen (meat dumplings).
Gentle and even heat is the key to silky smooth egg custard
I can’t stress enough the importance that you allow the eggs to set gently. Don’t rush the process. Strain the eggs through a sieve and patiently wait for the custard to set in the water bath. If the heat is too high the egg custard will look like Swiss cheese.
Egg custard with large air bubbles inside still tastes good but the texture is a little unpleasant. It doesn’t have that addictive creaminess to it. It’s light and fluffy but it doesn’t look pretty.
You can cut the egg custard however you want. I prefer to use my cookie cutters to give the pieces different shapes. But there’s nothing wrong with cutting the custard into squares or diamonds with a knife.
You don’t want to soak the egg custard in the broth for a long time. As with all soup dumplings, the piping hot broth gets poured over the dumplings at the table. There’s nothing worse than a soup full of mushy soup dumplings that you just spent a lot of effort to prepare.
Savory Egg Custard (‘Eierstich’)
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 2 eggs, size L
- freshly grated nutmeg, to taste
- salt, to taste
- butter, for greasing
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 300 °F (150 °C).
- Heat plenty of water to 160 °F (70 °C). It’s best to use a thermometer to measure the water temperature. Pour the hot water into a large casserole or any other large ovenproof dish so that it is about 2 inches deep. Place inside the oven.
- Heat up the milk to about 140 °F (60 °C) on the stovetop or in your microwave. Crack the eggs into a small bowl and whisk them lightly until smooth. Pour in the milk and continue whisking lightly. Stop once the mixture is smooth. Don’t whisk too vigorously as you don’t want to introduce air bubbles into the custard. Season the egg-milk to taste with nutmeg and salt.
- Grease the surface of a small casserole or any other ovenproof dish that will fit inside your water bath with butter to make it nonstick. Strain the egg-milk through a fine-mesh sieve into your greased casserole or ovenproof dish. Remove any remaining air bubbles on the surface with a spoon and cover tightly with aluminum foil. Place in the water bath inside your preheated oven. Let the custard slowly coagulate which usually takes between 45-60 minutes. Take the set custard out of the oven. It’s best to let it cool down before slicing. Once chilled, invert the custard onto a cutting board. Slice the custard into the shape of your preference or use cookie cutters to make it look fancy.
- To serve, ladle some hot broth on top of your custard and enjoy as a soup.
Thank you