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Sorbet of Kirschenwasser
Make some ice as follows. Mix thoroughly a pint of syrup at 35deg, and a pint of Chablis. Strain the mixture through silk into a freezing-pan, and freeze in the usual way. When frozen, flavour it with three table-spoonfuls of kirschenwasser. Put the sorbet into glasses, and serve it at dinner after the roasts.
A wine sorbet in the older sense: a barely-set, half-frozen ice served mid-meal rather than a dessert. Two details govern it — the density of the syrup and the fact that the kirsch goes in after freezing.
- "Syrup at 35deg"This is degrees Baumé, read with a saccharometer, not a temperature. Around 35 Baumé is a heavy syrup of roughly 65 per cent sugar by weight — about 2 parts sugar to 1 part water by weight, boiled just enough to dissolve, then cooled. Without a hydrometer, use 2 cups sugar to 1 cup water.
- Add the spirit lastThe instruction to flavour after freezing is the hinge. Kirsch is about 40 per cent alcohol and further depresses the freezing point; folding it in at the end keeps the texture while preserving the aroma, which is volatile and blows off in a long churn.
- KirschenwasserGerman Kirschwasser, sold today simply as kirsch — a clear, unsweetened cherry brandy. Cherry liqueurs such as maraschino or Cherry Heering are sweetened and will throw the sugar balance out.
- ChablisThe point is a dry, high-acid, unoaked white. Any lean Chardonnay, Aligoté or similar will do; avoid anything oaked or off-dry, as the syrup supplies all the sweetness the mixture needs.
- Straining through silkA fine sieve or a doubled square of muslin does the same job. It is there to catch undissolved sugar and any wine sediment, both of which show up as grit in a smooth ice.
- "Freeze in the usual way"A freezing-pan packed in ice and coarse salt, turned and scraped by hand. An ice-cream machine works, but stop while the mixture is still slushy; a granita-style tray, raked with a fork every 30 minutes, is closer to the intended consistency.
- Yield and serviceA pint of syrup plus a pint of wine gives about a quart, which is eight to ten small servings. Chill the glasses, and expect it to slump within a few minutes; sorbets of this period were often served soft rather than firm.
- "After the roasts"The iced course fell partway through a long formal dinner as a cold interval; this recipe places it after the roasts. In a modern meal it sits equally well before dessert or after a rich main course.
The wine-and-spirit sorbet belongs to the elaborate late-Victorian dinner, where an iced course was served partway through the meal to break the succession of hot dishes — the French sorbet, or the related punch à la Romaine. The word itself is generally traced through Turkish şerbet to an Arabic word for a cold sweetened drink. Kirschwasser, distilled from whole cherries in the Black Forest and in Switzerland, was among the flavourings used in English kitchens of the period, alongside maraschino and curaçao.