Sabayon: Sweet & Savory

A culinary flirtation

By Francine Spiering  |  Photos by Raymond Franssen

The Italian dessert known as zabaglione dates back several centuries, and like all delicious concoctions, this fluffy custard of egg yolks, sugar, and a sweet wine (like the Piemontese Moscato d’Asti or Sicilian or Marsala) likes to travel. When it arrived in France, its name was localized to “sabayon,” and the thick velvety sauce was embraced as part of the classic cuisine.

I used the French name for these recipes because they illustrate the nature of classic French cuisine with its repertoire of cooking techniques: Each technique that you master can be applied to a range of dishes. Sabayon is about an equal ratio of yolk, liquid, and sugar (for a sweet version), and continuous whisking over steaming hot water in a double boiler. It is about the flavor you give it, the liquid you pick, and whether you decide on sweet or savory.

Timing is a vital component to the success of a sabayon. A watched pot never boils, they say, but the reverse goes for a double boiler: Watch it! Sabayon will curdle beyond repair if you don’t pay attention to the moment your emulsion comes together. It takes mere minutes to form thick ribbons of sauce.

Once you have the technique down, nothing is stopping you from making sabayon last-minute, even with dinner guests watching your every move. Have a pot of simmering hot water at the ready, chat leisurely, cream yolks and liquid in a bowl, laugh at a joke, place the bowl over steaming hot water, apologize for a noisy minute or three, whisk vigorously, and surprise your guests with a hot-from-the-pot sabayon before they even finish their story.

 

 

Sour Ale Sabayon with Strawberries

Ripe, sweet, juicy strawberries in the prime of their season really don’t need anything other than greedy fingers to pick and eat them. But they do love the hoppy, fruity, and creamy hints in this sour ale sabayon, and even more so if that sour ale is barrel-aged! Luckily, the East Bay has several breweries making barrel-aged sour ales. Check out Fieldwork, Headlands, Ghost Town, Almanac, and Original Pattern to see what they’re brewing with fruit and aging in barrels.

Serves 4

• 1 pint fresh ripe strawberries
• ½ cup (6 large) egg yolks
• ½ cup organic sugar
• ½ cup barrel-aged sour ale, divided

Clean and hull the strawberries. Leave whole or cut into halves or quarters. Divide the strawberries among 4 bowls. Set aside.

Use a double boiler (or combine a pot and bowl wide enough to sit over the pot). Cream together the yolks, sugar, and half the ale in the top pot. Bring water in the lower pot to a boil and turn heat down to a simmer. Place bowl over simmering water and whisk as the mixture warms up, thickens, and doubles in volume. When your whisk starts to draw thick ribbons, drizzle in the remaining ale while whisking, until you have a consistency a little thicker than heavy cream (not too runny). It takes about 3–5 minutes. Take it off the heat and pour sabayon directly over the prepared strawberries. Serve right away.

 

 

Savory Shellfish Sabayon with Pan-Grilled Calamari and Pickled Rhubarb

This savory sabayon has the smoothness of a light hollandaise. Served with pan-grilled calamari and pickled rhubarb, it makes a delicious appetizer or a full meal with roasted potatoes and a green salad.

Serves 2 (meal) to 4 (appetizer)

• 1 pound cleaned calamari*, cut into 2-inch pieces
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
• 4 egg yolks
• ½ cup shellfish stock**
• Pickled rhubarb (Make ahead with recipe below.)

*Click here for our guide to cleaning calamari and our argument for why you want to do it yourself.

**Your stock could be a well-seasoned (preferably homemade) shrimp or lobster broth or even the cooking liquid from moules marinière. In a pinch, I’ll use store-bought clam juice and add salt to taste.

Toss calamari in a bowl with the olive oil. Heat a skillet over high heat and add calamari. Pan-grill until calamari firms up and begins to brown on the edges, about 3–5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Transfer to a plate and keep warm in a preheated 250°F oven.

To make the sabayon: Cream yolks and stock together in a heat-safe bowl that will serve as the top of your double boiler. Bring water to a boil in the bottom pot of the double boiler and turn down to a low simmer. Place the bowl over (but not touching) the low simmering water. Whisk yolks and stock as the mixture warms up, thickens, and doubles in volume, about 3–5 minutes, depending on the closeness to the hot water. The moment your whisk draws thick ribbons in the sauce (consistency of custard sauce) take the sabayon off the heat and, while whisking, season to taste with salt and pepper. While still warm, scrape directly from the bowl into a shallow serving bowl (or individual shallow bowls) and arrange the calamari and pickled rhubarb on top. Serve.

 

Quick-Pickled Rhubarb

Rhubarb soaks up the sweet flavors in this pickling juice to become a perfect accompaniment for hearty meats and seafoods. Use fresh, crisp rhubarb stalks and make sure to discard the leaves, which have high levels of oxalic acid, making them unsafe to eat.

• 2–3 rhubarb stalks
• 1 cup orange juice
• ½ cup water
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2–3 slices fresh ginger
• 1–2 slices jalapeño

Slice rhubarb stalks into ½-inch pieces. (Slice thinner if you use thicker stalks.) Place slices into a clean mason jar.

In a small saucepan, combine orange juice and water with sugar, salt, ginger, and jalapeño. Bring to a boil and then turn off the heat. Pour mixture into the mason jar over the rhubarb slices. Add a lid to the jar and let cool. Transfer to the fridge and let stand for at least 24 hours. After that, the pickled rhubarb is ready to eat. Quick-pickled rhubarb keeps for up to two weeks in the fridge.