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Maraschino Bavaroise
Put one ounce of isinglass, four ounces of sugar, the strained juice of two lemons, and a pint of water into an enamelled saucepan; bring to the boil, and let it simmer for ten minutes, then strain it into a basin; add three table-spoonfuls of maraschino and a dessert-spoonful of brandy, and set it aside to cool. When just becoming a light jelly, whip half a pint of cream to a stiff froth, and add the jelly spoonful by spoonful to it, beating all the time. Continue beating for about ten minutes, till it becomes very thick, then pour into a well-weted mould, and set aside in a cool place for some hours.
A late-Victorian Bavarian cream, set with isinglass rather than gelatine and flavoured with true maraschino. The technique is sound; only the setting agent and the liqueur need translation.
- IsinglassDried fish swim-bladder collagen, once the standard clear setting agent and no longer a kitchen staple. Powdered or leaf gelatine replaces it, though not reliably ounce for ounce, and modern brands differ in strength; around half an ounce (about 14 g) is a reasonable starting point for this quantity, to be adjusted to the brand. Bloom it in cold liquid rather than boiling it for ten minutes.
- The hinge: catch the jelly at the right momentEverything depends on adding the jelly "when just becoming a light jelly" — syrupy, thickening at the edges, not yet set. Too warm and it will slacken the cream and separate into a clear layer under a foam; too cool and it seizes into rubbery threads through the mixture.
- Enamelled saucepanSpecified because the lemon juice would take up metal from untinned copper or cast iron. Any modern stainless or enamelled pan does the job.
- MaraschinoThe clear, dry cherry-stone liqueur from the Dalmatian coast, not the sweet red syrup that soaks cocktail cherries. Luxardo and similar bottlings are the intended article; substituting cherry syrup will make the cream cloyingly sweet.
- CreamHalf a pint of Victorian cream was rich; use double or heavy cream, whipped to soft-to-firm peaks. Whipped fully stiff before folding, it will be difficult to combine without knocking the air out.
- Beating for ten minutesWith a hand whisk this was necessary to keep the mixture aerated as it thickened. An electric mixer on low, or steady folding over a bowl of iced water, achieves the same in a fraction of the time — the aim is a thick, pourable mousse, not a longer beating.
- Setting and unmoulding"A cool place for some hours" meant a larder; four hours in the refrigerator is ample, overnight is safer. Wetting the mould, as directed, is what lets it turn out — dip the mould briefly in warm water and invert onto a chilled plate.
- YieldRoughly a pint and a half of finished cream, serving six to eight in a charlotte mould or in individual glasses.
The bavarois as we know it — a flavoured custard or jelly lightened with whipped cream and set in a mould — was codified in early nineteenth-century French practice and is often said to have come out of Carême's generation of chefs, though the name's connection to Bavaria has never been satisfactorily explained; one traditional account links it to a much older hot drink of tea, milk and syrup called bavaroise served in Paris cafés. The maraschino itself came from Zadar on the Dalmatian coast, distilled from marasca cherries with their crushed stones, and by the 1890s it was a fixture of the English store cupboard for flavouring ices, jellies and creams — a genteel bottle to keep beside the brandy.