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Orange, Isinglass Jelly
Take half a dozen ripe oranges, one lemon, and one small Seville orange. Pare off the rinds of half of them very thinly, pour over the peel a quarter of a pint of boiling water, and let them infuse for half an hour. Squeeze out the juice of the fruit and strain it carefully. Dissolve one ounce of isinglass, or gelatine, in three-quarters of a pint of water, mix with it the strained liquid in which the rinds have been soaked, and a quarter of a pound of loaf sugar, and stir over the fire, skimming carefully until it is on the point of boiling; then add the strained juice, stir and skim the liquid again, draw the saucepan to the side of the fire for two or three minutes, and pass the jelly through a tamis until it is clear and bright. A table-spoonful of whisky may be added, and will be considered an improvement by many persons; a blade of saffron will deepen the colour. Pour the jelly into a damp mould, and put it in a cool place until it is set. If it is not clear, clarify it according to directions given under CALF'S FOOT JELLY. Probable cost, 2s. Sufficient for a pint and a half mould.
A clear moulded fruit jelly of the late Victorian dessert table, straightforward once the archaic setting agent and straining cloth are translated. The hinge is temperature: bring the sweetened gelatine liquid only to the point of boiling and add the fresh juice off the heat, or the flavour cooks flat and the set weakens.
- Isinglass versus gelatineIsinglass is dried collagen from the swim-bladders of sturgeon and related fish, sold in sheets, ribbons and shreds, and of less standardised strength than modern refined gelatine. Historical quantities are generally larger than modern ones: one ounce (28 g) of powdered or leaf gelatine in a pint and a half of liquid would give a rubbery set, and roughly half that is nearer what a firm turn-out jelly needs today.
- Liquid quantitiesA quarter of a pint is 5 fl oz (140 ml) for the peel infusion, three-quarters of a pint (425 ml) for the gelatine. British Imperial pints throughout, so the finished pint-and-a-half mould is about 850 ml and serves six to eight.
- The Seville orangeA bitter marmalade orange, in season only in midwinter. Its job here is acidity and a faintly bitter edge against six sweet oranges. Out of season, use the juice of a second lemon plus a strip of grapefruit peel in the infusion; the balance will not be identical but the jelly will not be cloying.
- Loaf sugarRefined sugar sold in a hard cone and broken off as needed, prized because it was clean and free of the molasses and impurities that clouded jelly. A quarter of a pound is 4 oz (115 g) of ordinary granulated sugar.
- A tamisA tammy cloth, a fine woven straining cloth stretched over a frame. Two layers of damp muslin or a jelly bag in a sieve do the same work. Let it drip; squeezing forces through the pulp that makes the jelly cloudy.
- A blade of saffronA single stigma, not a pinch. It is here purely for colour, and more than one thread will push the flavour into the jelly, which is not wanted with orange.
- Paring the rindsOnly the coloured zest, no white pith, and only from half the fruit as directed. Pith infused in boiling water turns the jelly bitter and clouds it.
- Setting and unmouldingA cool place means the refrigerator now: four to six hours, or overnight. Damp the mould with cold water rather than oiling it, and to turn out, dip briefly in hot water to the rim and invert onto a wetted plate so the jelly can be slid into position.
- Probable costTwo shillings, given as a guide to the Victorian housekeeper pricing a dinner. Cassell's quoted costs throughout, which is why oranges and an ounce of isinglass together read as a considered expense.
Clear moulded jellies were a display dish first and a dessert second, and their prestige rested on transparency: a jelly you could read print through advertised a cook with patience, a good tammy cloth and access to clarified stock or refined isinglass. Isinglass, prepared from the swim-bladders of sturgeon and imported largely through Russia and later from other fisheries, was the fashionable setting agent before commercially milled gelatine became cheap and reliable in the second half of the nineteenth century; Cassell's offering "isinglass, or gelatine" as alternatives catches exactly the moment of changeover. The Seville orange in the list is a seasonal marker, since bitter oranges reached British kitchens in a short winter window and were otherwise turned into marmalade. The cross-reference to calf's foot jelly points back to the older method, where the gelatine was extracted at home by long boiling of feet and then clarified with egg white and shell, the labour that isinglass was bought to avoid.