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Lemon Whip
Mix two ounces of sugar with the juice of a lemon, and pour it into a glass dish. Mix the white of an egg beaten to a froth with a pint of cream and two ounces of castor sugar; whisk it well, then pour it on the sugar and lemon-juice, and serve.
A Victorian cold sweet of the syllabub family, written with the terseness typical of Cassell's. The instructions leave out the two things that decide whether it works: what kind of cream, and how the components come together.
- The hinge: keep the lemon at the bottomThe sweetened juice goes into the dish first and the whipped mixture is poured on top. Stirring acid through already-whipped cream can thin or curdle it, so resist the urge to stir the dish once assembled. Diners spoon down through the foam to the sharp syrup beneath.
- "Whisk it well" needs interpretingWhipping a raw white together with a pint of cream from the start is slow and unreliable. Whip the cream with the castor sugar to soft peaks, beat the white separately to a firm froth, then fold the two together lightly. Over-whisking after the white is in will collapse the whole thing.
- CreamThis is a British book, so the pint is an imperial one, 20 fl oz, or about 2½ US cups. Use heavy or double cream at 36 per cent fat or above; single cream will not hold, and any cream below about 30 per cent fat is unreliable.
- SugarTwo ounces is roughly a quarter cup, used twice over, once with the juice and once in the cream. Castor sugar is superfine sugar; granulated will dissolve eventually but leaves a gritty foam if you are quick about the whisking.
- Raw egg whiteThe white is never cooked. If serving to anyone pregnant, elderly, very young or immune-compromised, use pasteurised egg white, sold in cartons, or omit the white and rely on the cream alone for volume.
- LemonOne lemon means roughly 2 to 3 tablespoons of juice against 2½ cups of cream, which is restrained by modern taste. A little finely grated zest rubbed into the sugar sharpens it without adding more liquid.
- Timing and yieldWhips of this kind weep within an hour or two as the acid works on the cream and the froth drains. Assemble no more than thirty minutes before serving, keep it cold, and expect six small glasses from the quantity given.
The lemon whip belongs to the long English line of syllabubs and creams: cold, unbaked sweets built on whipped cream soured or sharpened with citrus and wine, popular from the seventeenth century onward and still standard in Victorian dinner service. The glass dish specified is not incidental. Pressed and cut glass had been cheapening through the nineteenth century until it was within reach of middle-class households, and cold sweets were deliberately composed to be seen through the side of the bowl, with the clear lemon syrup settling beneath a white foam. The recipe demonstrates a principle rather than a showpiece: that whipped cream carries flavour and air, and that acid must be introduced to it with care. It also reflects a kitchen with limited means of keeping things cold. A dish like this was made in the half hour before it went to table, which is still the best way to make it.