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Brandy, Lemon
Take the thin or yellow rinds only of two small lemons, and cover them with half a pint of the best French brandy; let them stand in a closed-up bottle for a fortnight, then strain off the spirit and keep it corked closely for use. A syrup of two ounces of loaf sugar, and a quarter of a pint of water may be added if a sweet brandy lemon is desired. Probable cost, 2s. 3d.
An infused brandy rather than a cooked preparation, used by the spoonful to flavour puddings, custards, icings and mincemeat. The whole thing hinges on taking rind and no pith.
- Zest only"Thin or yellow rinds only" means the coloured outer layer, pared with a peeler or sharp knife. Any white pith carried over will make the brandy bitter, and sugar does not hide it.
- Imperial measuresHalf a pint here is the imperial half-pint, 10 fl oz, or about 1 1/4 US cups. The quarter pint of water for the syrup is 5 fl oz, roughly 2/3 US cup.
- Loaf sugarLoaf sugar was refined white sugar broken from a cone; ordinary granulated sugar is the direct equivalent. Two ounces is about 1/4 cup, and it should be dissolved in the water over heat and cooled completely before it meets the spirit.
- "Best French brandy"A plain VS cognac or Armagnac is a reasonable modern stand-in. Avoid brandy-flavoured spirits with added sugar and colouring, which fight the lemon.
- Two small lemonsIf your fruit is large, the zest of one plus a little of a second is about right. Choose unwaxed fruit, since the wax and any fungicide sit exactly where the flavour does.
- The fortnightTwo weeks in a sealed bottle at room temperature, out of direct light, is about right for a full extraction. Taste at a week: once the oils are out, longer steeping only draws bitterness from whatever pith remains.
- Yield and keepingAbout 10 fl oz unsweetened, or roughly 15 with the syrup added. Strained and tightly corked, the unsweetened version keeps well; the sweetened one is best used sooner.
- The cost note2s 3d is the price in pre-decimal shillings and pence, almost all of it the brandy.
Cassell's places this among the store-cupboard preparations a well-run Victorian kitchen kept ready, alongside vanilla and almond flavourings and bottled essences of every kind. Lemon oil lives in the zest and dissolves readily in alcohol but not in water, so steeping pared rind in spirit was a common domestic way of capturing it long before commercial extracts became cheap and reliable rind from lemons whose juice had gone into something else. Recipes of this type appear in English household books from the eighteenth century onward, usually filed with the ratafias and cordials, and Cassell's distinguishes between the plain version and a sweetened one, for use "if a sweet brandy lemon is desired". The same principle underlies limoncello, which substitutes neutral spirit for brandy and a great deal more sugar.