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Orleans Pudding
Put one ounce of gelatine into a basin with a quarter of a pint of cold water, and let it soak for half an hour. Whisk the yolks of five eggs thoroughly, and add very gradually a pint of hot milk or cream, and six ounces of powdered sugar. Put the custard into an enamelled saucepan over a gentle fire, and stir until it begins to thicken; add the soaked gelatine, and stir until this is dissolved. Put half an ounce of picked currants, half an ounce of stoned raisins, and an ounce of finely-minced candied peel into a saucepan with a quarter of a pint of brandy, and simmer gently for twenty minutes. Oil a plain round mould; spread a thin layer of cream at the bottom, say about half an inch in thickness; strew a little of the fruit upon this, and let it set, and then a layer of NAPLES BISCUITS finely crumbled, and a layer of crushed ratafias. Repeat until the mould is full. Put the pudding into a cool place until it is firmly set; if possible, place it in ice. Turn it on a dish, and garnish with dried cherries and strips of candied peel. Time, ten minutes to thicken the pudding. Probable cost, exclusive of the brandy, 2s. Sufficient for five or six persons.
A moulded gelatine custard layered with liqueur-soaked fruit and biscuit crumbs — a cold sweet from the age when a copper mould was the centrepiece of the table. Most of the work is in the setting, not the cooking.
- The hinge: do not let the custard boilFive yolks to a pint of milk thickens at about 175-180F; a boil scrambles it and the gelatine will not save it. Stir constantly over low heat until it coats the back of a spoon, then take it off and add the soaked gelatine to the residual heat.
- Imperial pints and gillsA pint here is 20 fl oz, not 16, and a quarter pint is a gill — 5 imperial fl oz, about 140 ml. Scale the whole recipe together or the set will be wrong.
- Gelatine strength has changedAn ounce of Victorian gelatine is not necessarily equivalent to an ounce of modern powder, which is generally stronger and would tend to give a rubbery, sliceable block. Use the setting ratio on the packet for the total quantity of liquid — the milk, the soaking water and the brandy syrup together — aiming for something firm enough to unmould but still spoonable.
- Naples biscuits and ratafiasNaples biscuits are dry finger-shaped sponge biscuits — savoiardi or ladyfingers are the direct descendant. Ratafias were tiny hard almond macaroons, historically flavoured with bitter almond; modern amaretti or almond macaroons stand in.
- The brandy fruitA gill of brandy simmered twenty minutes with the fruit reduces to a thick syrup and drives off much of the alcohol, leaving the currants and raisins plump. Watch it near the end — a shallow pan of spirit reduces faster than the timing suggests.
- "Ten minutes to thicken" is not the total timeThe stated time covers the custard only. Building the mould in setting layers takes an hour or more, and the finished pudding needs at least four to six hours chilled, preferably overnight, before it will turn out cleanly.
- Oiling and unmouldingA flavourless oil, wiped thin, is still the best release. To turn out, dip the mould to the rim in hot water for five seconds, dry it, and invert onto a chilled plate.
- YieldFive or six as written; the original 2s cost excludes the brandy.
Orleans Pudding belongs to the large family of Victorian moulded creams — cabinet pudding, diplomat pudding, charlotte russe — in which a set custard is built up in layers with sponge biscuits and steeped dried fruit, then turned out whole. The construction depended on two things: commercial gelatine, which by the later nineteenth century could be bought in sheets or shreds rather than boiled down from calves' feet, and a genuinely cold larder — the direction to "place it in ice" points to a household with access to ice. The French-sounding name follows the period habit of dressing an English mould in a continental title, and is generally decorative rather than evidence of any particular link to Orléans. Naples biscuits and ratafias could be bought from the confectioner, though recipes for making both at home were also in print.