Wine Jelly
One pint cold water, poured on one paper of Cox's gelatine, let it stand one hour, add one and one-fourth pounds sugar, the rind of one lemon, and the juice of three, one pint wine, one quart boiling water; strain and set away to harden.
A molded wine jelly of the calf's-foot tradition, made easy by packaged gelatine. The whole recipe hinges on how much gelatine a "paper" of Cox's actually was, since the liquid here comes to two full quarts.
- A paper of Cox's gelatineCox's Sparkling Gelatine was sold in packets often reckoned at roughly one ounce, or about four modern quarter-ounce envelopes, though packet sizes varied and no single figure can be pinned down. This is the one genuinely ambiguous measure in the recipe. Four envelopes is the usual ratio for eight cups; for a jelly firm enough to unmold, five is safer.
- Total liquidOne pint cold water plus one pint wine plus one quart boiling water is 64 fl oz, or 8 cups. Scale the gelatine to that figure rather than to the packet.
- The wineNineteenth-century wine jelly commonly meant sherry or Madeira, though port, claret and other wines all appear; the recipe specifies only 'wine'. It goes in uncooked, so the finished jelly is mildly alcoholic and not a children's dish.
- SugarOne and a quarter pounds is about 2 3/4 cups granulated. That is very sweet to modern palates; two cups still sets and tastes cleaner against three lemons' juice.
- Lemon rindPare it in strips with no white pith, which turns the jelly bitter, and let it steep in the hot liquid rather than sitting in the cold soak. It is removed at the straining.
- StrainingThe point of straining is clarity, not grit. Pour through a jelly bag or doubled flannel without squeezing, and do not stir the last cloudy inch of the bowl into it.
- Setting"Set away to harden" would have meant a cold larder or the ice chest. Cool to room temperature, then refrigerate at least six hours, or overnight if it is going into a mold. The alcohol weakens the gel, and this much sugar can lengthen the setting time.
- YieldEight cups, which fills a large ring mold and serves ten to twelve. It can also be set in individual glasses.
Before packaged gelatine, a wine jelly began with calves' feet simmered for hours, the stock skimmed, clarified with egg white and eggshell, and only then flavored — a full day's work that marked the dish as a luxury for invalids and company suppers alike. J. & G. Cox of Edinburgh, whose sparkling gelatine is named here, were among the Scottish firms that industrialized the process in the nineteenth century and sold it in ready-measured papers, which is why a recipe like this one can be written in three lines. The dish kept its old associations even after it became easy: a cool, clear, faintly alcoholic jelly was considered light enough for the evening meal, and it was widely recommended for the sickroom on the same reasoning. The heavy sugar is a period signature.