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Italian Cream
Soak one-third box gelatine half an hour in cold milk, put a quart milk on to boil, and when boiling stir in yolks of eight eggs well beaten, add one cup and a half of sugar and the gelatine; when the custard begins to thicken, take it off and pour into a deep dish in which the eight whites have been beaten to a stiff froth; mix well together and flavor to taste; put in molds, and allow four hours to cool. This cream is much more easily made in winter than in summer.-Mrs. N. P. Wiles, Ripley.
A molded gelatin custard in the bavarian-cream family, written when gelatine came in a box rather than an envelope. Two things decide whether it works: the temperature at which you pull the custard, and how much gelatine you actually use.
- Do not let the custard boilEight yolks in a quart of milk will thicken between 170 and 180F; past that they curdle and no amount of beating will bring them back. Stir constantly over moderate heat and take it off as soon as it coats the spoon, which is what "begins to thicken" means here.
- "One-third box gelatine"A box of the period is usually reckoned at about an ounce, though sizes varied by maker, so a third is roughly 9 g — a little over one modern envelope (each 7 g, 2¼ tsp). That is on the light side for a quart of milk plus eight whipped whites; two envelopes gives a cream that unmolds cleanly without turning rubbery. Bloom it in about ½ cup of the cold milk.
- Add the gelatine off the heatBloomed gelatine dissolves at around 120-140F, and prolonged boiling weakens its setting power. Stir it into the finished custard after it comes off the stove rather than into the boiling milk, as the original directs.
- Raw whitesThe whites are folded into hot custard, which warms but does not pasteurize them. If you are serving anyone pregnant, elderly, very young or immune-compromised, use pasteurized whites or carton egg whites.
- Folding, not mixing"Mix well together" will deflate the froth if taken literally. Pour the hot custard down the side of the bowl and fold in thirds, quickly, while the custard is still warm enough to stay fluid — once it begins to set the whites will refuse to combine.
- FlavoringPeriod taste for this dish ran to vanilla, grated lemon rind, sherry or a spoonful of rosewater. Add it with the whites, after the heat, so it is not driven off.
- Molding and turning outRinse the molds with cold water or film them with neutral oil. Four hours is a minimum; overnight is safer for a quart-plus mold. Dip briefly in warm water to release.
- YieldAbout 1½ quarts of set cream, or 8 to 10 servings — a single large mold or eight individual cups.
- The winter remarkGelatine sets poorly in a warm larder, and before mechanical refrigeration a cold pantry was the only chilling available. With a refrigerator the season no longer matters.
Buckeye Cookery and Practical Housekeeping (1877) belongs to the era when packaged sheet and shred gelatine had made molded creams practical for ordinary households — earlier cooks had to boil calves' feet or isinglass for hours to get the same set. "Italian cream" was a loose 19th-century American name for a gelatine-set egg cream lightened with whipped whites, closely related to what French kitchens called crème bavaroise; the "Italian" label is sometimes said to come from the earlier English fashion for naming rich molded creams after continental origins rather than from any documented Italian original, though the explanation is not settled. Like many entries in this book, it arrives with a contributor's name and town attached — Mrs. N. P. Wiles of Ripley — a reminder that the collection was assembled from working Ohio kitchens rather than written by a single author.