Ok I need some help with this recipe for a soft custard

Custard: <LI>10 ounces chicken stock , 6 ounces egg whites , 1½ teaspoon salt, 6 peppercorns

For Custard:
Preheat oven to 300F. Simmer chicken stock for 5 minutes with pepper until infused. Remove from heat and season with salt. Whisk egg whites into the stock and then pass mixture through a sieve into a bowl. Pour custard into ovenproof ramekins. Place custard in a bain-marie and bake for 17 minutes.

I have attempted this twice now and keep ending up with egg drop soup that will not become custard. Should I let the stock cool down more? Would pouring the stock into the whites to temper them work any better? Should I just fine another recipe?

I've never made this, but I think I would allow enough time for the stock to get back down to room temperature/lukewarm before adding the egg whites.

This seems like a very odd custard recipe to me-- I've never seen one that only calls for egg whites. You definitely need to let the stock cool, but even if you do get this to set up without coagulating, I wonder how good the texture will be.

What is the reason for leaving out the egg yolk? Concerns about cholesterol? If so, I think that recent scientific thinking has moved away from rigidly looking at egg yolks as bad guys. And I don't think your custard will thicken without yolks. Many custard recipes omit the whites and just use the yolks--that's where the thickening happens. The standard ratio is 6 egg yolks to thicken two cups of milk or cream.

If you want to make an egg white "custard" I would suggest that you whisk some of the chicken stock with cornstarch to make a slurry and then add it to the rest of the mixture--cornstarch is what thickens packaged stovetop cooked puddings. It'll probably thicken the mixture in a waterbath in the oven. But I don't think you are ever going to get a creamy custard consistency without egg yolks or cream. Or you could make a "no-panna cotta" (panna means cream) by whisking your eggwhites and stock in a double boiler and then adding some softened Knox gelatin until the gelatin melts and then chilling the mixture in ramekins. they could be gently warmed before serving.

Thanks you both for your suggestions. I wonder if there was a recipe translation problem and the ingrediant should have been egg yolks NOT egg whites. I will try 6 yolks to 10oz of stock and add 4 oz of cream as well. Since a crab salad will be added on top of the custard, I will still have the the makings of a savory custard.

I thought the same thing and just did a quick Google search and found this. Ah, no thank you!