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Rum Blancmange
Rub the yellow rind of two fresh lemons upon eight good-sized lumps of sugar. Soak an ounce of gelatine in a cupful of milk, and when it is swollen pour upon it a pint of boiling milk or cream, or half milk and half cream. Stir it until the gelatine is dissolved, then add the lemon-flavoured sugar and the well-beaten yolks of five or more eggs mixed with an additional half pint of milk or cream. Stir the blancmange over the fire till it is quite hot, let it cool a little, then put with it four table-spoonfuls of rum, and a pinch of saffron dissolved in a table-spoonful of water, and continue stirring till it is almost cold. Pour it into a damp mould, and put it in a cool place till stiff. Squeeze the strained juice of a lemon over it before sending it to table. Time to prepare, about one hour. Probable cost, if made with milk, 1s. 8d., exclusive of the rum. Sufficient for a quart mould.
A moulded egg custard set with gelatine — closer to a cold sabayon than to the cornflour blancmange of later British cookery. Two things decide whether it works: the temperature you take the custard to, and how much gelatine you use.
- Gelatine, halvedVictorian sheet gelatine was probably weaker and less consistent than what is sold now, and period recipes generally call for more of it. A full ounce (28 g) of modern powdered gelatine would set something like two quarts to a firm set; for a quart mould use about half an ounce, roughly 14 g or two standard envelopes. If you use sheet, weigh it rather than counting leaves, since strengths differ by grade.
- The custard temperature"Quite hot" means thickened, not simmering. Take it to 175-180F (80-82C) on a thermometer, where it will coat a spoon and the yolks are pasteurised; past 185F it scrambles. Gelatine also begins to lose setting power if held near boiling.
- Rubbing sugar on lemon rindDragging a sugar lump across the zest pulls out the citrus oils — the same principle as an oleo-saccharum. Eight good-sized lumps is about 2 oz (55 g) of sugar, which is all the sweetening the dish gets. If you use granulated, rub the zest into it with your fingertips instead.
- MeasuresImperial pints here, so the pint of scalded milk is 20 fl oz (570 ml) and the half pint 285 ml, plus a cupful for soaking. Total liquid comes to a little over a quart, which is why the mould is filled exactly. Four tablespoonfuls of rum is about 60 ml.
- SaffronA pinch steeped in a spoonful of water is here mainly for colour, giving the pale gold of a rich cream. It can be left out, though saffron does carry a faint flavour of its own.
- When to add the rumIt goes in off the heat, once the mixture has cooled a little, so the alcohol and aroma survive. Adding it to a hot pan drives both off. Stirring until almost cold keeps the yolks and gelatine in suspension so the finished mould is not layered.
- The mouldRinsing the mould with cold water and leaving it wet is what lets the set custard slip out. Chill at least four hours, or overnight. To turn out, dip the mould in warm water for five seconds and invert onto a wetted plate so you can slide the blancmange into position.
- Yield and servingA quart mould serves six to eight. The lemon juice squeezed over at table is a sharpener against a sweet, eggy, spirit-heavy custard — add it just before serving, not before setting.
Blancmange renders blanc manger, "white food" or "white eating," and the medieval original was exactly that: pounded almonds or capon breast with rice and sugar, white by design. By the time Cassell's dictionary appeared in the 1870s the name had loosened to mean almost any moulded sweet, and commercial gelatine — sold in sheets and, increasingly, in cheap packets — had replaced the laborious calf's-foot and isinglass jellies of earlier households. That shift is what makes a recipe like this one possible for an ordinary cook. The saffron and rum push the dish well away from whiteness, which tells you how far the word had drifted from its meaning. The costing in shillings and pence, with the rum priced separately, is a standard feature of Cassell's entries.