Vermicelli Pudding

Pouding de vermicelle teaches the quiet law of molded custards: the water around the mould must tremble, never boil. Milk-soft strands, yolks, butter, and folded whites will set into something resilient enough to turn out yet tender under the spoon. Before you touch a pan, fix that gentle poach in your mind.

The source sends the cook to Tapioca (No. 2493), replaces its starch with vermicelli, and assumes a generous cylinder mould, two saucepans, and enough hands to cool one mixture while another is whipped. Here the proportions are halved for four people, a 1-quart charlotte mould replaces the professional cylinder, and a mixing bowl replaces the second saucepan. That extra pan was brigade scaffolding. The butter in two additions, stiffly beaten whites, bain-marie, and seven-minute rest are the dish and remain. One cook, one stove, one evening.

Keep the strands lining the mould long enough to make their own pattern. They should trace the finished pudding in butter-gold lines, not disappear into crumbs. The step that decides everything is the bain-marie: hold it below a boil and the pudding sets evenly; let it churn and the custard tightens around the edges before its heart is ready.