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Orange Cream
Whip a pint of cream until there will be but one-half the quantity left when skimmed off. Soak half a package of gelatine with half a cup of cold water; grate into it the rind of two oranges, one cup of sugar; then put the half pint of unwhipped cream into a double boiler; pour the yolks of six eggs, well beaten, into it; stir constantly until it begins to thicken, then add the gelatine. Remove from the fire and after it stands a couple of minutes add the orange juice and sugar. Beat all together until about as thick as boiled custard; then add the whipped cream. After mixing thoroughly, put into moulds to harden. Serve with sweetened cream.
A moulded Bavarian cream in all but name: an orange custard set with gelatine and lightened with whipped cream. The writing is compressed and the quantities double back on themselves, so read the whole thing before starting.
- The cream, decodedThe opening instruction reflects an older whipping method, in which cream was beaten and the stiff froth skimmed off as it rose, leaving thinner cream beneath. The recipe's own measure is what matters: half of the pint is left unwhipped, and that is the "half pint of unwhipped cream" the custard calls for. With modern heavy cream, whip 1 cup to soft peaks and set aside, and use a separate 1 cup for the custard.
- Half a package of gelatinePackaged granulated gelatine of the period was commonly around an ounce a box, though sizes varied by maker, so half a package is probably in the region of 1/2 oz — two of today's 1/4 oz envelopes, about 14 g. That is a firm set suitable for turning out of a mould; if you want a spoonable cream rather than a sliceable one, one envelope is closer.
- Sugar appears twiceOne cup of sugar is listed with the gelatine and orange rind, then "the orange juice and sugar" is added again later. There is only one cup in the dish. Rub the rind into the sugar to draw out the oils, and add both to the custard off the heat with the juice.
- The hinge: do not let the custard boilSix yolks in the half pint of cream will curdle much above about 180F. Cook over barely simmering water, stirring constantly, to 170-175F — thick enough to coat a spoon. Once it breaks, no amount of beating brings it back.
- Add the juice off the heatThe recipe is right to hold the orange juice until the custard has stood a couple of minutes. Acid poured into hot egg custard encourages curdling, and gelatine loses some setting power if boiled with acid.
- Folding in the whipped cream"Beat all together until about as thick as boiled custard" means cooling the base until it begins to thicken but has not set. Fold the whipped cream in at that point; too warm and it deflates, too cool and it sets in lumps. Setting the bowl in cold water and stirring speeds this along.
- Moulding and unmouldingRinse the moulds with cold water rather than oiling them. Chill at least 4 hours, preferably overnight; to turn out, dip the mould briefly in warm water and invert onto a cold plate.
- YieldSomewhere between 1 and 1 1/2 quarts of finished cream — six to eight servings, or one large mould. The "sweetened cream" served alongside is presumably pouring cream with a spoonful of sugar rather than whipped.
Under its French name this is crème bavaroise, a custard set with gelatine and lightened with whipped cream, and by 1900 it appears regularly in the American "fancy dishes" chapter. Its spread owes a good deal to industrial gelatine: before the granulated product, many cooks extracted their own jelly by boiling calves' feet or isinglass for hours, and a moulded cream was a mark of a serious kitchen with serious labour behind it. Granulated gelatine sold by the packet — the form this recipe assumes when it says "half a package" — collapsed that work into a few minutes of soaking, and moulded creams, charlottes and snows are a common feature of household books of the period. The orange flavouring is characteristic too: rind grated into the gelatine along with the sugar, so the oils are captured, with the juice held back until the custard is off the fire.